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 At a recent campus event, the director of parking and the Berkeley chancellor were introduced as the two most powerful men on campus (with some humorous ambiguity about the top spot). Parking director Nadesan Permaul '72, M.A. '73, Ph.D. '90, now has a further claim to power: on July 1, he began a two-year term as president of the 90,000-member California Alumni Association. The son of Indian immigrants, Permaul was born in Chicago in 1949, but his family moved four years later to southern California, where the prejudices typical of the era were in full force. (Permaul's father was initially denied civil service work because of his color.) Permaul's parents placed great emphasis on giving their three children an education that could improve their lives, and Nadesan grew up loving school, especially history. In high school, he was voted class president twice and student body president his senior year. His older brother, who had gone to UCLA, urged Nadesan to set his sights on the two best schools in the state, Stanford and Berkeley. Nadesan's own choice was Claremont Men's College, which accepted him, but which the family could not afford. A scholarship from the California Alumni Association made the difference, and Permaul arrived at Berkeley in the fall of 1967. During his first week on campus, he attended an evening rally on Sproul Plaza, with 10,000 students listening to professors on the steps speak against the Vietnam war. He journeyed to Memorial Stadium and thought, "My, this is beautiful!" He also did what probably few freshman ever have: he spent time in the Bancroft Library reading about the history of the campus. "I found out this was rather a fabulous place," Permaul recalls. The Third World College Strike, which took place during Permaul's junior year, also made an impression. As an East Indian, Permaul wasn't allowed to join with Blacks, Asian Americans, or Hispanics in their organizing groups. "It was a revelation," he says. "I understood the reason for my exclusion, because each of these groups was attempting to promote its own identity. But it was also a lesson in the limits of that kind of thinking." Permaul earned his B.A. in political science in 1972 and then went on to graduate school in political theory. He was well on his way to a Ph.D. and an academic career when the bottom dropped out of the academic market. In 1980, Permaul took a job on campus, in recreational sports, which he held for eight years before spending the next five as an executive assistant in campus facilities. Since 1994, he has served as director of parking and transportation. Along the way, Permaul completed his Ph.D. with a dissertation on how the American national character has been shaped by differing cultural perspectives. He now teaches a course each semester in American Cultures subjects, in addition to his full-time campus job and now his duties as CAA president. "I viewed the Alumni Association for a period of time like a lot of other former students do," he says. "I thought this was an organization for well-to-do alums, most of whom didn't look like me and didn't know me." But in 1997, prompted by Executive Director Jim Burk '61 and former CAA President Rick Russell '77, Permaul was brought onto the Board of Directors. "I am deeply committed to the strategic planning process now underway in the Association," says Permaul about his presidential term. "How should the Alumni Association look in years to come? What should its role be on campus? What are its short-term tasks, and how do they tie into a healthy and long-term fiscal program?" Permaul is well aware that the student body has undergone a metamorphosis from his day. "We have to find a way of tying our undergraduates, from very diverse backgrounds--many of whom have never had a college experience in their family--to this University in a traditional way, of making them want to give back to this great public institution." Always a close student of history, Permaul knows that whereas the California Alumni Association used to be the only voice of alums at Berkeley, the campus now has the Berkeley Foundation, which does fundraising for the campus. "I would like to see the Alumni Association be positioned so that we are both important to and good partners with the Foundation and the campus. And yet it's also crucial that the California Alumni Association, one of the few independent alumni associations in the country, brings to the table the unique voice of Berkeley--the historical Berkeley, which has always been so independent." The Class of 2006 This summer, ten alumni began three-year terms on CAA's Board of Directors  Douglas Adams '59 grew up in Salinas and followed his older brother to Cal. "I had basically a great experience on campus," he says. Doug tried physics, but didn't like the math, and wound up graduating with a degree in economics. He was president of the Sigma Nu fraternity. During his business career, he had been CEO and CFO of small businesses, gaining experience in marketing, accounting, sales, and personnel matters. Now retired, he has worked on several nonprofit boards and has served as chair of the Peninsula Children's Center in Palo Alto and the Foundation of the Rotary Club of Menlo Park, where he lives with his wife Judith '61. One of his daughters, Wendy, received an MBA from the Haas School of Business in 1997. A long-time Lair of the Golden Bear camper, Doug recently became involved with CAA's Achievement Award Program and was appointed last year to the CAA Board to fill a vacant seat. Now beginning his own three-year term, he believes that his broad business and board experiences can help the Association.  Carlene Davis '88 was born and raised in Los Angeles and was the first in her family to attend Cal. One day, walking through Sather Gate, she says: "It hit me that I was not going to be a lawyer like my father or a teacher like my mother." She decided instead to go into public policy, and majored in political science. She was elected to the ASUC Senate her junior year. After earning a master's in public affairs at the University of Texas, Carlene returned to Los Angeles, where she has worked in policy, advocacy, community outreach, nonprofit management, and public administration. For the past two years she has been director of child care for the City of Los Angeles Commission for Children, Youth and Their Families. One thing she values most about her Cal days is the lifelong friends she made on campus. She is interested in diversity and in seeing to it that the broadest spectrum of students feel welcome at Berkeley. "I had a good, well-rounded experience at Cal; but, after Proposition 209, things have changed. I want the campus to be a place where all students can have the same wonderful experience I had."  Ceci Flinn '89, a third-generation Cal grad, grew up in Alamo with parents who are huge supporters of Cal. (Her father, Dave Flinn '60, was CAA president a decade ago.) Ceci wanted to come to Berkeley, among other reasons, so that she could work at the Lair, which she had attended since she was eight months old. Dance and landscape architecture were her main passions in college. Told she was too short for the crew team at Cal, she made a team in England while in graduate school at the University of London. She has since become an elite rower, a senior national champion in several events, and winner of international medals. After London, she moved to New England, where she practiced landscape architecture and is now in business management for design professionals. From her alumni activities in London and Boston, where she was president of the Cal Alumni Club of New England, Ceci brings to the Board her hope to improve the experience of alumni away from California.  Katy Foulkes '63 is a member of what she claims was the last traditional Class at Cal: "Women still wore skirts!" She grew up in Piedmont, with her grandparents and both parents preceding her at Berkeley, and all six of her brothers and sisters also graduating from Cal. "My father said he would pay for all of us to attend college if we went here," she says. She graduated with an English major in three and a half years, then taught English for a year in Colombia. She was a social worker before starting her own family (two of her three children are Cal graduates: son Mike '90 won the Brad King Award earlier this year; daughter Jennifer '90 is currently a Ph.D. student in social welfare). Katy has served as a city council member and mayor of Piedmont; she is now in her third term as elected representative for East Bay MUD. She has also been president of the Berkeley-Oakland-Piedmont Alumni Club, chair of her Class reunion committee, and involved with the CAA's Achievement Award Program. Helping to maintain diversity at Cal after Proposition 209 is one of her goals on the Board.  Richard McMichael '64, Boalt '69, was born in Berkeley, while his father was in the service, but grew up in New York and then southern California. He applied to Ivy League colleges but came to Cal, among other reasons, "because $54 a semester is what it cost." He liked his Econ 1A class so much that he decided he had found his major. McMichael says that a formative experience in college was touring Europe as a member of the Men's Glee Club. After serving in Vietnam for two years, Rick attended Boalt Hall. He has served as CEO or general manager of four different real estate development companies, and has just retired from Weyerhaeuser Real Estate Company in Federal Way, Washington. He has been involved in the Puget Sound Alumni Club, and says of his Board duties: "Having spent seven years at Cal, and receiving two degrees pretty much on the state nickel, I wanted to give back."  Dave Pearson '74, who was born in San Francisco and grew up in Millbrae, was preceded at Cal by his father and older brother. "Berkeley was a transformational experience," he says, "coming as I did from a protected suburb to Berkeley in the fall of 1969. People's Park and then Nixon's bombing of Cambodia both happened in my freshman year." Dave joined the Cal Band, which he calls "a great door-opener to all kinds of people, some of whom remain my best friends," and became a senior officer. After graduating, he worked for a year as an engineer, then returned to campus (and Alumni House) to help organize the Band's Bicentennial Tour. After earning an MBA from Stanford ("My allegiances never wavered!"), he entered the field of financial services; five years ago he left Wells Fargo to become an independent consultant. A founding member of the Cal Band Alumni Association and a member of the CAA Marketing Strategies Group, he now lives in San Mateo with his wife and family. He hopes his business management perspective and experience with nonprofit organizations will be useful to the Board.  Erika Perez '97 was born and raised in Oakland and attended private Catholic schools before venturing to Cal, which "completely exceeded my limited expectations." She became a sociology major after taking Professor Ann Swidler's introductory course. Erika says she came to Berkeley "wanting to be the first female Marxist President." But, after adding business courses to her undergraduate mix, she left Berkeley to become a sales rep for "one of the largest capitalist companies in the world." She still works for IBM, as a client manager in San Francisco. She's chair of the diversity council at her IBM office and says her core values have not changed. At the CAA, she has been a member of the Young Alumni Council, was co-chair (with Steve Ramirez) of the marketing task force for the Achievement Award Program, and helped the Association launch its new Ambassadorship program, which trains CAA Board members to be good representatives of the campus and the Alumni Association.  Steve Ramirez '88, MBA '91, was born in New York but grew up in Marin, and chose Cal for its academic reputation. His most valuable lesson at Cal came from his experience on the debate team, participating in tournaments across the nation and winning the Wollenberg Scholarship for outstanding speech and debate. "I have no fear of getting up in front of people and presenting ideas--critical parts of what I now do for work," he says. Deciding that international culture and business were his passion, he attended the Haas Business School, then got a "dream job" at 20th Century Fox in Los Angeles, which started his career in the entertainment business. He also worked for Warner Brothers and New Line Cinema and is currently a marketing and strategy consultant in Berkeley. Steve was founding president of the Berkeley Entertainment Club, has served the CAA's Mentorship Program, and was on the Young Alumni Council from 1999 to 2001. He was co-chair of the task force that wrote the marketing plan for the Achievement Award Program, and hopes to further that program's effort as a member of the Board.  May Stevens '87 was born in Fresno. Despite the fact that both of her parents and three siblings attended Cal, she checked out both Stanford and Cal. Her judgment: "It was a really beautiful day when I visited Stanford--the most boring place I'd ever been. It was pouring when I visited Berkeley--but I loved the energy of this place." She lays claim to having attended the Big Game in 1982 (and witnessed a certain Play) in her freshman year. Coming from an agricultural family, she majored in political economy of natural resources. After spending six years in operations management in the Bay Area, she returned to the Central Valley, where she and her husband started their own business, automating irrigation districts. She was an early participant in the Tulare-Kings County Alumni Club, served as chairman of the CAA Leadership Scholarship committee, and hosts welcome receptions in her home for students who have been accepted to Cal. She wants to help represent her area on campus, boost the number of Central Valley applicants to Berkeley, and looks forward to working with others on the Board to get the good word out about Cal.  John ("Jack") Van Zander '57 grew up loving the forest during his childhood in Santa Barbara. After a year at UCSB, in 1953 he transferred to Berkeley, where, he recalls, there were only around 16,000 students--and 23 in his graduating class in forestry. "My claim to fame on campus," he jokes, "was playing clarinet in the Cal Band and leading the 'l' in script Cal." After spending nine years with the U.S. Forest Service, he earned a civil engineering degree and then entered private practice on the Monterey Peninsula. He has been with Bestor Engineers, where he is CEO, since 1969. His wife Madeline '58 and son John '93 are Cal alums, while a daughter went to Stanford ("It was right for her!" he protests). On the CAA Board, Jack hopes to use his professional background to aid the Association in its plans to expand Alumni House and renovate the Lair of the Golden Bear. |
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