The Dean's Society is a special community of the College of Engineering's most generous benefactors who support the Dean's vision and goals through their annual leadership gifts to the College.

Dean's Society members are among the first to learn of College news and accomplishments and enjoy opportunities to interact with the Dean, Engineering faculty, students, and other Dean's Society members at exclusive events throughout the year.

Dean's Society benefactors are essential to the College achieving its mission of educating leaders, creating knowledge, and serving society.

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Giving Back

"We need to continue to spearhead efforts that will promote innovation here in the United States. Berkeley Engineering does that."
—In Sik Rhee B.S. ’93 EECS; Investor, venture capital and private equity

In Sik Rhee cut his entrepreneurial teeth at 24 when he cofounded KIVA, an application server software company that was acquired by Netscape in 1997 and served as the technical foundation for Netscape’s enterprise software offering. With Marc Andreessen, Rhee then co-founded Loudcloud, a data-center automation firm now called Opsware. Today, he’s a venture advisor with Accel Partners, a leading Silicon Valley venture capital firm.

"What makes the U.S. technology economy stand out is the fact that a large part of innovation starts here, and much of that activity is in the Bay Area,” Rhee says. “We have the innovative lead. But other countries are becoming knowledge-based economies, and they’ll compete."

For Rhee, Berkeley teaches students how the real world works. "There’s a lot more to it than being the smartest engineer who can solve the toughest problem. You need to know how to build value from the technology."