UC Berkeley's Haas school minds its manners Handwritten thank-you notes are apparently in vogue at the UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, and not just for recruiters who hold a student's fate in their hands. The school wouldn't say which bigwigs received the notes, but presumably they would have been folks like Haas MBA alumnus David Eckles, who last year gave $1 million to expand the school's mentorship program for "under-resourced youth," and alumnus Gerson Bakar, who gave $25 million in 2007 to fund new faculty positions. The school maintains that student fees fund only half the cost of running programs, with donations footing the bill for about a third of the remaining expenses. Hundreds of Haas students and staff participated in the note-writing effort, with many sharing specifics on how donors' money directly influenced their education or work, says Tyler Wishnoff, a senior in the Haas undergraduate program.