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 year's special events, we are moving full-speed ahead to ensure we have the resources to continue our extraordinary education and research mission.
Mapping our genomic differences
A $2 million gift to UC Santa Cruz from the W.M. Keck Foundation supports the building of the Human Genome Variation Map. The new guide will provide a means to name, identify, and analyze all common variations in the human genome, greatly enhancing both medical research and basic research in life sciences.
The gift comes as UC Santa Cruz celebrates the 15th anniversary of its assembly and posting of the first human genome. In the spirit of that project, when completed, the variation map also will be publicly and freely available to all.
The Keck gift follows earlier support from the Simons Foundation. Building support for the work of the UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute is a key priority of the Campaign for UC Santa Cruz.
Good news for the Cowell Press
Alumna Patricia Rebele (Porter '88) and her husband, Rowland, made a gift of $500,000 to the Cowell Press Endowment, established in 2013 by Cowell and Porter colleges. For more than 40 years the press has served as a center of hands-on creativity in typography and printing. The gift supports the Transformative Student Experience initiative of the campaign.
Bringing back the Quarry
Building on strong student support (a commitment of up to $6.38 million in fees) toward reopening the Quarry Amphitheater, alumni and other friends of the campus have given more than $250,000. Another $1.5 million is needed to reopen the iconic space. Learn how you can be a part of bringing back the Quarry at campaign.ucsc.edu. The Quarry is a priority in the campaign's Transformative Student Experience initiative.
A table's worth of chairs
When UC President Janet Napolitano announced a program to accelerate creation of faculty chairs on the UC campuses with matching funds of $500,000 per chair, UC Santa Cruz was first to take up the offer. And it has now matched donors with all eight chairs available. Chairs bring honor to the recipient and provide critical support for faculty and graduate students.
Donors have funded chairs in each academic division and the library. They are:
Sage Weil Presidential Chair for Open Source Software (see more on the Sage Weil gift)
Jordan-Stern Presidential Chair for Dickens and 19th Century Literature Studies, funded by John Jordan and Michael Stern
Wilton W. Webster Jr. Natural Reserves Presidential Chair, funded by the Helen and Will Webster Foundation
Stephen R. Gliessman Presidential Chair in Water Resources and Food System Sustainability, funded by the Helen and Will Webster Foundation
The Faggin Family Presidential Chair for the Physics of Information, funded by Federico Faggin
Kenneth R. Corday Family Presidential Chair in Writing for Television and Film, funded by the Corday Foundation
Richard L. Press University Librarian Presidential Chair held by UC Santa Cruz Librarian Elizabeth Cowell, funded by the Helen and Will Webster Foundation
Symantec Presidential Chair in Storage and Security held by Professor Ethan Miller, funded by Symantec Corporation
Campaign progress
Now at $210 million
The Campaign for UC Santa Cruz supports excellence across the university through increased private investment in the people and ideas shaping the future. It is bringing critical new resources to each academic division, the library, and to signature initiatives in the student experience, genomics, coastal sustainability, data science, and at the intersection of the arts and sciences.
Learn more
Questions? Contact Campaign Director Rebecca Levy at rebeccal@ucsc.edu or (831) 459-1365.
