Student Experience

A ripple effect of support: Alumna Bev Crair uplifts student success 

Alumna Bev Crair (Stevenson ’83, computer science and mathematics) actively supports UC Santa Cruz philanthropically and currently serves as the co-chair for the university’s comprehensive fundraising campaign, Inspiring Change.

June 23, 2026

By Haneen Zain

Bev Crair (Stevenson ’83, computer science and mathematics) launched a successful career in tech from a foundation she traces back to the University of California, Santa Cruz.

After graduating from UC Santa Cruz in 1983 with degrees in both computer science and mathematics, Crair built a career at the forefront of the tech industry, rising to senior vice president of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure at Oracle America before retiring in 2024. Previous to that, she served as vice president of Product Development & Quality at Lenovo and held a variety of senior positions at Intel Corporation.

She credits UC Santa Cruz’s interdisciplinary approach with shaping how she thinks and works, saying that the ability to bring together diverse perspectives to solve complex problems is critical. Crair emphasizes that in a world where people have become increasingly siloed in their thinking, their research, and their conversations, she believes the ability to connect different ways of thinking is what leads to real breakthroughs.

“The problems that we have in the world generally can’t be solved by the way we thought about them before, and they can’t be solved by an individual alone,” Crair said. “You have to be able to integrate different perspectives and different ideas.”

For 25 years, Crair has stayed deeply connected to UC Santa Cruz. Since 2011 she has served on the Baskin Engineering Alumni Advisory Committee and the Baskin Engineering Dean’s Advisory Council, and in 2017 she joined the UC Santa Cruz Foundation Board of Trustees. She has shown up in other ways too: as a keynote speaker at CruzHacks in 2021, and most recently as co-chair of Inspiring Change, UC Santa Cruz’s second-ever comprehensive fundraising campaign announced in 2025.  

That dedication to the university extends to philanthropy. Guided by Tikun Olam, the Jewish principle of repairing the world, Crair and her wife, Lisa Malachowsky, have turned their focus toward areas where giving can have a tangible and lasting impact. For the couple, UC Santa Cruz rose to the top of a carefully considered list because of its interdisciplinary approach, its commitment to first-generation and underserved students, and its pioneering work in marine sciences, among other areas.

Most recently, Crair and Malachowsky have chosen to include UC Santa Cruz in their estate plans. A planned gift of this kind allows donors to designate a portion of their estate to an organization they care about, creating a lasting impact that extends beyond their lifetime.

“Giving an estate gift—a substantial estate gift—allows us to put it in the hands of people who know how to do that, and whose value system is in fact about making things better,” Crair said. “Making an estate gift is leaving a legacy.”

Crair and Malachowsky’s generosity supports various areas across the campus including programs within engineering, sciences, and student success. They are staunch supporters of Girls in Engineering, giving young minds experiential opportunities to engage in STEM. Through their gifts to science programs, they help advance cutting edge work including recent support for elephant seal research at Año Nuevo. Their support of student success programs, including those offered through the Women’s Center and the Lionel Cantú Queer Center, ensure that students have access to the resources they need throughout their UC Santa Cruz journey.

Their gifts over the course of many years reflect a shared belief that investing in students creates a ripple effect extending to their families, communities, and far beyond. 

“When you touch a student, you touch a life; you touch a universe,” Crair said.

For Malachowsky, that ripple effect is also about visibility and representation, and what it means for a student to see themselves reflected in the people around them.

“If we can serve as a visible role model that helps a student in some way—stay in school, graduate, do something positive—that’s important,” Malachowsky said.  

Crair and Malachowsky’s generous gifts will ultimately touch the lives of hundreds of students, leaving a lasting impact and a legacy that reflects their values and commitment to future generations.