The Campaign for UC Santa Cruz: Campaign update

As our campus celebrates 50 years of original thinking and questioning authority, The Campaign for UC Santa Cruz is building resources for its future. As we collectively enjoy the look back—and the events planned throughout the year—we are moving full speed ahead to ensure we have the resources to continue our extraordinary education and research mission.

Support takes many shapes: chair, barn, banana slug

Gift creates endowed chair in computer science

Impressed by UC Santa Cruz's research in computer science, Mountain View-based Symantec gave $500,000 to endow a faculty chair— the first chair in the University of California system to take advantage of a new matching fund program established by UC President Janet Napolitano. This is also UC Santa Cruz's first corporate-funded chair.

The inaugural holder of the new Symantec Presidential Chair in Storage and Security is Professor Ethan Miller, director of the Center for Research in Storage Systems. The gift supports the Data Science Leadership initiative of The Campaign for UC Santa Cruz.

Philanthropy raising a barn and supporting environmental programs

The same techniques used to build the historic Hay Barn in the 1800s are being used to reconstruct it— including classic timber framing. The project is made possible by a $5 million gift from the Helen and Will Webster Foundation to create a center for environmental programs adjacent to the UC Santa Cruz Farm. The project supports the Coastal Sustainability initiative of The Campaign for UC Santa Cruz.

At last, the beloved mascot of UC Santa Cruz will be understood!

A crowd-funded project to sequence the genome of the banana slug surpassed its goal, with 139 people donating a total of $21,443 for the Banana Slug Genome Project. The results will provide insight on species diversity—and be the subject of hands-on student genomics research. Alumni Ken and Branwyn Wagman (Stevenson '78 and Kresge '79, respectively) got the ball rolling with a challenge gift. They were joined by fellow Slug Leslie Grate (Ph.D. '00, computer engineering) and his wife Lou, a past staff member in the UC Santa Cruz Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology Department, who also did a match challenge. The project supports the Genomics Institute initiative of The Campaign for UC Santa Cruz.

Campaign progress

Now at $190 million

The Campaign for UC Santa Cruz seeks to build resources across campus and in signature initiatives. Publicly launched in October 2013, its goal is to raise $300 million by the end of the campaign to enhance UC Santa Cruz's extraordinary educational environment, high-impact research, and enduring commitment to social and environmental responsibility.

Campaign website gets new design, expanded content

Your key resource for learning about The Campaign for UC Santa Cruz got a major boost with improved navigation and added content. Check it out and see how you can be a part of the future of UC Santa Cruz.