By Pamela Dean
For years, Elisabeth Fowler has been helping to make the world a better place through both philanthropy and her own hands-on engagement.
She and her husband Greg are committed to supporting the communities they live in and together created the GA Fowler Foundation more than a decade ago to help a variety of causes at home and abroad.
Since its inception, the foundation has worked to address challenges in health care, conservation and education. And Fowler herself has poured her time and energy into numerous nonprofit causes in her Santa Barbara community. So much so that in 2021 she was named Santa Barbara County Philanthropist of the Year, and in 2023, she was honored as the 80th Person of the Year by the Santa Barbara Community Foundation.
“My mother was my role model who believed and demonstrated that in order to make a difference, you had to be engaged,” Fowler said. “The volunteer work that I am involved with is priceless to me and since I have lived in Santa Barbara, I have had the privilege of working with some of the oldest non-profits as well as some of the newest. All of them are so interesting and inspiring.”
CSUCI is fortunate to call Fowler a friend. In 2020, the GA Fowler Foundation began
supporting the University and its students through generous contributions to a variety
of essential areas including the University's Highest Needs, the Peer Mentor Ambassador
Program, and the John Spoor Broome Library.
Most recently, the Foundation made a significant gift to CSUCI’s Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS) program in support of students’ mental health care.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, CSUCI has seen increased demand for counseling and psychiatric services among its student population, many of whom are uninsured or underinsured.
“Mental health is an area of such great need. Supporting students ... is so important to their resiliency and academic success.” —Elizabeth Fowler
“Mental health is an area of such great need. Supporting students, especially first-generation students who may not be fully prepared for the stress of attending college, is so important to their resiliency and academic success,” Fowler said.
The gift helps support CAPS’ partnership with the Community Memorial Health System Psychiatry Residency Program to provide psychiatric consultation and treatment to CSUCI students seeking behavioral health care.
“The Fowler Foundation’s gift to CAPS is making a positive, direct, and measurable impact on mental health support for CSUCI students,” said Kirsten Gabriel, Senior Director of Counseling & Psychological Services. “Through this initiative, residents provide a higher level of behavioral health services, which can be life-saving. Not only do our students benefit from no-cost psychiatric services on campus, but we are also training the next generation of mental health professionals dedicated to serving our community. We are deeply grateful for this support.”