Craig Russell ’80 never imagined that his aptitude for math in kindergarten and a love of physics in high school and junior college would culminate in his decision to pursue an engineering education at UCLA, setting the stage for an incredible career and life.

“I was raised by two educators, and they taught me to love education. I also always loved physics. However, I never really thought physics through to its application in a career. Engineering was a step towards what I really loved, which was application,” Russell said.

Russell transferred to the school of engineering at UCLA after two years at junior college, as UCLA offered the right combination of strong academics at an affordable cost. In his first year, his dorm room was on the same floor as the football team’s, which immediately gave him the social network to balance out the difficult academics. He made friends, got a job at the then new coffee shop in Kerkhoff Hall, practically lived at Pauley Pavilion, and dove into learning, head on.

“I had a great lab. I worked for a professor probably over a year, in mechanical engineering and fluid dynamics. We were trying to devise new means of energy transmission; a very early version of what became regenerative breaking in electric cars,” Russell said.

That lab experience gave Russell his first clear view of what engineering as a career could look like. He credits his time at UCLA with preparing him for the future. The lab he was involved in taught him to work with hands-on, problem-solving people, which is exactly what he did the rest of his career.

As graduation approached, Russell was torn between pursing an MBA or heading directly into an engineering career. He applied for several graduate programs while also going through a few interviews — one of which was with Walter Elias Disney Enterprises (now Walt Disney Imagineering). At the time, the company was working on its first overseas venture, Disney Tokyo, and were hiring specifically for that team. Though he had been accepted into a few graduate programs, the idea of taking a chance and joining the Tokyo team was too appealing — after all, he could always go back to school, right?

Within six months, Russell had forgotten all about graduate school. For nearly four decades, he pursued his career at Walt Disney Imagineering, working as part of the leadership of all four of Disney’s parks throughout Asia, as well as two of their domestic parks, and the new Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge themed lands at Disneyland and Disney World.

“In the Disney business, those of us who love it, love it because of the impact it makes forever,” he said.

“Giving back is a simple idea, it’s simple to do, and it’s a meaningful act of following your passion with some money,” Craig Russell said. “It aligns the purpose of helping current students with helping Dean Park drive her ideas in the school, and further the overall mission of the School of Engineering.”

As Russell enters his “semi-retired” era of life, he’s taking the time to think about what alumni engagement looks like to him personally. To him, it’s important to be meaningfully involved with UCLA Samueli, now that he has the time to reconnect. He wants to take advantage of his years of experience and use that to help students in a number of ways.

“I’ve had the chance to work with [Dean] Alissa [Park] on things that I think could be meaningful, not only between UCLA and Disney, which marries the things that are important to me, but on a few other things that are as interesting to me as anything I could work on,” Russell said.

Russell believes in following his passions, whether that’s his work at Disney or his desire to help with social housing, as he’s done with Habitat for Humanity for decades. He’s passionate about giving back to UCLA as well, which is why, he decided to establish a scholarship. Helping students succeed at UCLA Samueli, who might not have been able to otherwise due to financial constraints, just felt right. His scholarship, the Craig, Sandy, and Sean Russell Scholarship, named for his wife and son, helps students achieve their dreams and minimize their financial burdens.

“It corresponds in a lovely way with this desire to have that bookend, at the end of one’s career, where you can ramp up your ability to be involved with your alma mater in meaningful ways,” Russell said. “Giving back is a simple idea, it’s simple to do, and it’s a meaningful act of following your passion with some money. It aligns the purpose of helping current students with helping Dean Park drive her ideas in the school, and further the overall mission of the School of Engineering.”

Russell’s advice for current and future Bruin engineers is simple: make an impact as soon as they can. He said he also believes in finding good mentors, especially ones who see things in you that you might not see in yourself. To him, UCLA is one of the greatest schools in the country. A UCLA degree allows you the freedom to be selective about the places you work and the people you work with. He believes that choosing the right place and the right people will lead to a more meaningful career, and can propel you and your impact even more.

“Give yourself the chance to experiment — know that you’re only 23 years old. If you spend five, six, seven years really perfecting what you love, the other 40 will be blissful,” he said.