When Nancy Morgan was getting ready to graduate in 1983 with a degree in psychology, she discovered she was a Humanities course shy of meeting graduation requirements. She scanned the list of available classes and found Intro to Feminisms taught by Professor Bettina Aptheker. Nancy registered for the class and her life was forever changed.

Now a practicing psychologist, with an emphasis on women who’ve experienced trauma, Nancy says that, "my experience at UC Santa Cruz taught me how the personal is political”. She saw the world through the eyes of women such as Ntozake Shange, Zora Neal Hurston, Gloria Anzaldua, Toni Morrison and Audre Lorde. “Professor Aptheker gently, thoughtfully and skillfully crafted a platform upon which we would come to know ourselves, others, and the truth that what affects one – affects all.”

After begging Admissions to let her stay on another year, Nancy graduated in 1984 with a double major in Psychology and Women’s Studies. Nancy is from a small town in Colorado, was the first in her family to attend college and supported herself with financial aid and work study while pursuing her education.

Nancy has chosen to make a gift from her estate that will establish The Morgan Scholarship in Feminist Studies. The scholarship will support undergraduate students who are pursuing a degree in Feminist Studies and have financial need. She deeply appreciates UC Santa Cruz and its remarkable professors. Nancy said, “the years that I spent at UC Santa Cruz were the best years of my life”.