Home Away From Home For EWC Students

Toufiq and Ulrike Siddiqi’s contributions to the East-West Center are deep and long-lasting. In 2005, Toufiq and Ulrike established an endowed scholarship to support students studying at EWC. To date, their scholarship has helped over 40 students to earn their graduate degree from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. The Siddiqis got to know these students over the years, frequently inviting them into their home for meals, holidays, and conversations. Their own personal journeys tell us why this scholarship means as much to them as it does to the students.

Born in Hyderabad, India, the late Dr. Toufiq Siddiqi joined the EWC’s Environmental and Policy Institute in 1977. He was a pioneer in the field of environmental research, having helped to found Indiana University’s School of Environmental Affairs before coming to the EWC. While here, he partnered with in-country experts on climate change mitigation policies in China and other Asian countries at a time when such international partnerships were rare. As one of the leading figures in climate change, Toufiq contributed to the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore.

Ulrike (Wetzel) Siddiqi grew up in Goslar, Germany. As a young girl, she dreamed of traveling the world. After studying at the University of Hamburg, she was hired by British Airways to head their nascent accounting unit. She met Toufiq in 1962 in Frankfurt, Germany while he was a PhD candidate in Nuclear Physics at Johann Wolfgang Goethe University. After their marriage in 1966, they lived in Pakistan and Indiana, before settling in Honolulu. In 1981, Ulrike earned an MBA from University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Shidler College of Business while owning and operating Bakery Europa, a wholesale baking company. She was an active member of the Friends of the East-West Center where she helped to found their flagship Host Family Program.

Their legacy lives on in the achievements of all the students they have touched. “Our goal was never just about giving back,” Ulrike emphasizes. “It’s about giving forward. Investing in the dreams of young minds is an investment in our future.”