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Philanthropic milestones

November 30, 2009

By , Staff Writer 459-2495

  • UCSC successfully met the requirements of a $700,000 challenge grant from the Kresge Foundation to support the modernization and expansion of McHenry Library due, in part, to a $250,000 five-year pledge by UCSC alumnus and Foundation Board member Nion McEvoy. Another highlight for McHenry Library was the acquisition of the complete Grateful Dead Archive, including correspondence, photographs, fliers, posters, other forms of memorabilia, and records of the band.
  • Shakespeare Santa Cruz launched a successful fundraising effort this past year, raising $419,000 in two weeks to meet a requirement that the company raise $300,000 to continue its 2009 season. Funds came from more than 2,000 individual donors throughout Santa Cruz County and nationwide, with the majority of gifts in the $25 to $100 range.
  • Alec and Claudia Webster donated $51,000 to the Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems for the Apprentice Housing Project. Redwood and canvas cabins are being built at the UCSC Farm to house participants in the organic farming apprenticeship program.

  • The George Harlan Campion Living Trust made a $300,000 bequest that enabled Chancellor George Blumenthal to fund a matching gift appeal to faculty and staff for scholarships and fellowships. Faculty and staff donated more than $80,000 to the Chancellor's campaign, and every academic division had scholarships or fellowships that benefited.
  • The David & Lucille Packard Foundation awarded a $875,000 Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering to Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz, an assistant professor of astronomy and astrophysics, to support his research developing the conceptual framework needed to understand the observational data coming from new telescopes and astronomical surveys.
  • The W. M. Keck Foundation awarded a $1.5 million grant to UCSC to establish the W. M. Keck Center for Nanoscale Optofluidics-operated by the Jack Baskin School of Engineering and the Division of Physical and Biological Sciences with electrical engineering professor Holger Schmidt as project lead. The center explores the integration of nanotechnology and optofluidic silicon chips and how this technology can be used to improve biomedical analysis in a wide range of fields.
  • Cisco Systems donated $840,000 for the Network Management and Operations Laboratory, supervised by computer engineering professor Patrick Mantey in the Baskin School of Engineering. In the NMO Lab, UCSC students and faculty collaborate with Cisco managers and engineers in addressing real-world problems encountered by Cisco.
  • The Big Sur Land Trust donated 480 acres on the Big Sur coast, valued at $1.5 million, to the Landels-Hill Big Creek Reserve, which is managed by UCSC on behalf of the University of California Natural Reserve System. The gift provides valuable opportunities for research and education, including monitoring the recovery of plant species after the Basin Complex Fire.