“Pour it Forward,” Beer Lovers!
UC Davis Online Master Brewers Program launches
crowdfunding campaign to support diversity-focused scholarship
Brewing is one of the world’s most historic, dynamic and diverse cultural traditions. But according to a recent survey by the Brewers Association, more than 88% of U.S. craft brewery owners and 89% of brewers are Caucasian (and majority male).
To help increase representation in the brewing industry, UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education is launching “Pour it Forward,” a crowdfunding effort to fund a full, diversity-focused scholarship to its prestigious UC Davis Online Master Brewers Certificate Program.
“Changing an industry takes time, but education and the lifetime of opportunities it represents is the first step,” said Dr. Glen Fox, academic director of the Master Brewers Certificate Program. “By supporting ‘Pour it Forward,’ beer enthusiasts will have a lasting, positive impact on both the scholarship recipient and the industry we are all so passionate about.”
“Pour it Forward” runs from October 1st-31st and is part of the annual “Crowdfund UC Davis” campaign, which raised nearly $800,000 from more than 3,900 gifts in 2020. “Pour it Forward” hopes to raise $16,000 to cover all fees and materials for the Online Master Brewers Certificate Program, including a week-long, in-person bootcamp at UC Davis’ state-of-the-art August A. Busch III pilot brewery and Sierra Nevada Brewing Science laboratory.
The scholarship will be available to students who are committed to diversity, have experience and/or understanding of the barriers traditionally faced by people of color and demonstrate a high potential for leadership in promoting cross-cultural understanding in the brewing industry.
Donations above the needed amount will be used to fund partial scholarships or be added to the Mark E. Ruedrich North Coast Brewing Diversity Scholarship, an endowment established by North Coast Brewing Company and UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education to support diversity, education and opportunity in the brewing industry in perpetuity.
For more than 25 years, the UC Davis Master Brewers Certificate Program has been providing students with an in-depth understanding of brewing science and brewery engineering and preparing them to enter the brewing industry with the potential to rise to the highest levels of leadership within it. To date, the program has graduated more than 850 students from more than 20 countries. For more information on the UC Davis Master Brewers Program and how to support its efforts to increase diversity in the brewing industry, contact Melissa Marbach (mamarbach@ucdavis.edu).
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