UC Santa Cruz - Giving: Barnes profile

Stories of Support

Adilah Barnes (Cowell '72), actor, educator, producer and UCSC supporter.

Adilah Barnes

"It has been a circle very much unbroken," said Adilah Barnes (Cowell '72) as she described the enduring personal relationships and quality education she acquired at UC Santa Cruz, which remain the inspiration for her ongoing commitment to the campus. "I had an opportunity to stretch my wings and soar. I was drawn back to the campus because I wanted to remain a part of it somehow. I wanted to give back to UC Santa Cruz in the same way that much had been given to me."

Barnes has applied the same energy to her work on behalf of UC Santa Cruz as she has to her career as an actor, educator, and producer. She serves on the UCSC Alumni Association Council, staffs student recruitment events in the Los Angeles area, mentors students, and has sponsored internships in her nonprofit organization, the Los Angeles Women's Theater Festival. Barnes also spearheaded the first UC Santa Cruz African American all-college, all-year reunion, which drew more than 200 participants and led to the creation of Black Escargot, UC Santa Cruz's affinity group for African American alumni.

"I had an incredibly growthful experience and opportunity at UC Santa Cruz. I was there during my coming of age," said Barnes, who entered as a first-year student from Oroville, a small town in California's Sacramento Valley, and left with an independent major in Black Theatre and a diverse academic and experiential education. "During my time, I was able to have a balanced education that included a field study in Boston, and an exchange program in Mississippi." She likes to emphasize to prospective students that at UC Santa Cruz, they can pursue both what to learn and how to learn through independent majors and access to what she describes as "a self-designed personal education experience. It was not uncommon to have access to your provost or your professor outside of the classroom. You could knock on their doors, and you could go into their offices in a way that is very unlikely at huge campuses."

"I strongly feel that those who give to UCSC are giving to a university that was created to foster academic, political, and social learning in a very innovative, free, and provocative way," said Barnes, who continues to find time to visit the campus regularly in the midst of her busy acting, teaching, and touring schedule. "Santa Cruz has always been acknowledged for turning out some of the best. Given that, the support of donors will be well spent. Giving to UC Santa Cruz is an investment in our future."