C U L T I VAT I N G LEADERS AND CHAMPIONS
Gift of Responsibility
For Duvals, giving is all in the family Asian American studies and business economics. “We thought the best gift we could give him was a gift with responsibility attached,” Glenn Duval said. “And that responsibility is to give back to society and give back to the University of
Glenn and Bettina Duval, below and top right with son Bennett, Dilling and Chancellor Henry T. Yang, hold philanthropy close at heart.
As a senior playing volleyball at UC
He made good on that promise, and
Santa Barbara in 1979, Glenn Duval
then some. Pledging his first donation in
‘80 received a $900 scholarship that
1981, Duval and his wife Bettina have
afforded him the flexibility to focus
since become annual donors to UCSB,
more on sports and school — and less
where their Duval Scholarship supports
on getting by. That modest gift has a
undergraduates with academic promise
reverberating impact still today.
who are participating in research or an
“That was probably the best $900 I ever got in my life,” said Duval, a trustee
honors program. The pair endowed the awards
of the UC Santa Barbara Foundation
fund in the name of their son, a 2011
since 2012. “I thought I’d try to give
Gaucho grad. The scholarship — and
back every year, if possible, so that
managing it on behalf of the family
some other student could have the same
— was the Duvals’ graduation gift
opportunity.”
to Bennett, who double majored in
P A R T N E R S I N I N N O VA T I O N • 1 5
California.” The UC system has been as much a part of the Duvals’ life as philanthropy. Bettina is an alumna of UC Berkeley, as is her own mother and, soon, the couple’s youngest daughter. Their youngest son is now a freshman at Cal. Glenn’s parents and sister all graduated from UCLA. Talk about a legacy. “We are humbled to be able to give financially to the UC and UCSB,” Bettina Duval said. “Both Glenn and I really came from humble beginnings. Giving back became an important value for us and I think it’s the core of who we are.”