Photos by Erik Jepsen/UC San Diego Publications

Private Support to UC San Diego Totals a Record-Breaking $213 Million

In fiscal year 2015-16, the University of California San Diego received nearly 46,000 gifts totaling $212.9 million to help ensure the university’s position as an academic and research powerhouse. UC San Diego, ranked as one of the top 15 universities in the world, received a 20 percent increase in private support over the preceding year. As of June 30, 2016, the total combined endowment for the campus is $1.177 billion, managed by the UC San Diego Foundation and the UC Regents.

“Great things are happening at UC San Diego,” said Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla. “We experienced a truly amazing year, highlighted by a record-breaking increase in charitable gifts. Investments in UC San Diego are returned in many ways: through life-saving discoveries, the development of students into leaders, social mobility and economic growth. Together, with our talented campus members and university supporters, we can continue to make a positive impact on our campus, community and the world.”

Boundary-breaking research was supported with $128.9 million in private funds. Interdisciplinary research plays a critical role on campus, including the recently launched Microbiome and Microbial Sciences Initiative to study methods for manipulating microbiomes for the benefit of human health, and the launch of the Contextual Robotics Institute to develop safe, useful and human-friendly robotics systems to advance how people live.

Private support ensures UC San Diego’s position as an academic and research powerhouse

Foundations provided the largest source of private support in FY 2015-16, up 59 percent with a total of $108.7 million. In an effort to probe the first moments of time after the Big Bang some 13.8 billion years ago, a consortium of researchers is planning a new observatory in Chile to measure the cosmic microwave background. The $40 million initiative, known as the Simons Observatory, is funded by grants from the Simons Foundation and the Heising-Simons Foundation.

The largest beneficiary of private funding on campus was health sciences, with donors designating a total of $93.3 million. Gary and Mary West provided $11.8 million to create a state-of-the-art senior emergency care unit to be housed within the Emergency Department at the future Jacobs Medical Center. The Gary and Mary West Senior Emergency Care Unit will enhance care for older adults and enable a multi-year medical research initiative in partnership with the West Health Institute.

Gary and Mary West provided a gift to create a senior emergency care unit within the Jacobs Medical Center 

Endowed gifts totaled $39.0 million. Over $7 million in endowed funds established faculty chairs to help recruit and retain stellar scholars. Richard Hertzberg and Carol Dean Hertzberg committed $5 million to launch the Center for Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, which included $1.5 million to establish the Presidential Chair for Climate Change Adaptation. Joy Frieman, who has been searching to find a suitable way to honor her late husband, a former Director of Scripps Oceanography, gave $2.5 million to establish the Edward A. Frieman Endowed Presidential Chair in Climate Sustainability and fund lead gifts for an endowed postdoctoral fellowship and graduate fellowship.

Last year, donors gave $16.8 million to help UC San Diego students. A $4.3 million bequest from Mary Andrews Haag will provide merit-based scholarships to undergraduates. Scholarships help attract outstanding students like Katie Hutchins, who graduated in June. The physiology/neuroscience major plans to attend physical therapy school. Yet, without scholarship support, UC San Diego might not have been a reality for Hutchins.