Private Support for UCI Skyrockets to $32.8-Million High

Private gifts and grants to UC Irvine soared to $32.8 million in 1988-89, far exceeding the previous year’s record total and continuing a decade-long upswing in private support for the university.

“I’ve said many times the difference between a good university and a great university is the private support,” UCI Chancellor Jack W. Peltason said Tuesday after the donation and grant total were announced.

Such private support, Peltason added, “helps us recruit and retain the people we need to make this a world-class university. . . . It’s not just the stars, but the whole ambiance of the place.”

Last year, UCI raised $19.3 million in private donations, plus $5.4 million in research contracts, for a total of $24.7 million.

The $32.8-million record raised during the past school year puts UCI in at least fourth place in the UC system. UCLA and Berkeley lead the UC campuses in private support for 1988-89, with $104.8 million and $100.4 million, respectively, said Gay Englezos, director of development policy and administration for the UC system. UC San Diego raised $41.8 million in private support, Englezos said, adding that figures for some of the UC campuses had not been filed yet.

Still, John R. Miltner, UCI’s vice chancellor for university advancement, called the private support this past year “unprecedented . . . not only in reaching our $30-million mark, but also in the overwhelming magnitude of several gifts.”

This year, UCI received the largest gift in its history, an $8.5-million personal trust from Edra E. Brophy of Palm Desert to support medical research, teaching programs and patient care at the College of Medicine. The gift, which actually was first offered last summer, is being counted in this year’s fiscal total.

Miltner, who added that there were also more than a dozen grants in the $500,000 range, said the $32.8-million total puts UCI on track toward an informal goal of raising $200 million in a five-year fund-raising drive for the campus.

“What we’re seeing is increased awareness of the strength and vitality of our faculty and academic programs,” Miltner said, adding that eight years ago, private support at UCI was only $4.8 million.

Of the $32.8 million, UCI officials say $14.4 million will go to academic departments for such things as endowed positions, computers and graduate fellowships. An additional $9.6 million will go to faculty members for research projects. Undergraduate instruction will receive $4.7 million, part of which is a $1.2-million grant from the Hughes Foundation for undergraduate teaching in the sciences.

“Historically, 40-50% of our giving has gone to the health sciences,” Miltner said. “It is a very active area of giving because of the desire to cure cancer and fight heart disease.”

The other large donors include Donald L. Bren, chairman of the Irvine Co., who contributed $2.5 million--$1 million last month and the remainder last summer--to launch the Bren Fellows Program, which is designed to attract, retain and support the superstars of the academic world. Francisco Ayala, a noted professor of evolutionary biology, recently was named the first director and fellow of the program.

A number of private gifts went to support the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae, which Miltner said is the world’s only comprehensive database in ancient Greek texts. It contains about 6 million words from the time of Homer in 700 BC to AD 600.

During the 1988-89 academic year, three new academic chairs were endowed, bringing the campus total to 15. The Della Martin Chair in Psychiatry was established with $500,000 from the Della Martin Foundation of Los Angeles. The Erin, Chase and Drew Warmington Chair in the Social Ecology of Peace and International Cooperation was established with a $300,000 pledge from the Robert and Lori Warmington Family Foundation of Costa Mesa. And the Danette (Dee Dee) Shepard Chair in Neurology, which is pending approval from the UC Board of Regents, was established with $500,000 from Donalda M. Pelletier of Laguna Beach.

Other major gifts included a $1-million trust from Reed and Rita Sprinkle of Newport Beach for research in civil engineering; $667,070 from the Irvine Health Foundation to support various health-related research projects, and $500,000 from the Paul L. and Phyllis Wattis Foundation of San Francisco to support schizophrenia research.

Individuals, including alumni, parents and community members, contributed $5.3 million of the $32.8-million private support total. Foundations provided $8.4 million, corporations contributed $6.9 million, and $12.2 million was generated from other sources, including campus-related organizations and trusts, Miltner said.

UC Irvine, Private Support 1988-89 By Purpose

Departmental $14,387,288 Support Research 9,588,728 Instruction 4,714,173 Unrestricted 1,724,309 Campus 1,452,242 Improvement Student Support 774,786 Other 154,324 Total $32,795,850

By Source

Various $11,856,299 Foundations 8,434,877 Corporations 6,864,465 Individuals 5,335,782 Campus-Related 304,427 Organnizations Total $32,795,850

Campus Improvement: 4.43% Student Support: 2.36% Other: .47% Departmental Support: 43.87% Research: 29.24% Instruction: 14.37% Unrestricted: 5.26% Campus-related Organizations: .93% Various: 36.15% Foundations: 25.72% Corporations: 20.93% Individuals: 16.27% Source: UC Irvine