Irvine Senior Takes Seat as a UC Regent : Education: Jenny Doh is first Asian and first UCI student regent. Joining her on the board is Martha Newkirk of Laguna Beach as alumni representative.

A UC Irvine senior on Thursday became the first Asian and the first representative from UCI to be student regent for the University of California, yet another milestone for the still-growing campus as it enters its silver anniversary year.

Jenny Doh, 23, whose family emigrated to Bakersfield from Seoul, South Korea, in 1974, was chosen as the 16th student regent in February. Thursday’s meeting here at UC Santa Cruz launched her one-year term.

UCI graduate Martha Newkirk, 52, of Laguna Beach also officially took office Thursday as the voting alumni representative on the 26-member board. Newkirk, head of a property investment firm, is the second UCI alumnus to hold that seat.

Both Doh and Newkirk say affirmative action, educational quality and coping with growth are the key issues facing the nine-campus university system.

Doh, a political science major who postponed graduation for a year to serve as student regent, said she also hopes to be a voice for women and underrepresented ethnic minorities within the university.

Student concerns also will be at the top of her list, Doh said, especially ensuring continued financial aid and affordable tuition and student fees.

“When we talk about growth and balancing the budget, you can’t just say we’ll make up part of our debt through raising fees,” Doh said. “I realize fees can’t be at a standstill forever. . . . But we (the regents) have to realize it may make it very difficult for some students to stay in school.”

Newkirk said increasing ethnic diversity is one of the “most important challenges facing us.”

At UCI, minorities make up 30% of the student body and 15% of the faculty.

After hearing a university staff report on efforts to boost the number of women and minorities among faculty, staff and top management, she said the university leaders must “do an even better job than we are now.”

UCI Chancellor Jack Peltason spoke enthusiastically about the two newest regents.

“I’m very proud that she (Doh) was chosen student regent,” Peltason said. “She is a very talented, dedicated person. . . . And I’m happy to be one of her champions.”

And Newkirk, he said, is a measure of UCI’s coming of age, as she and other graduates take positions of leadership within Orange County and the university community.

Newkirk, who owns the realty investment firm Newkirk Enterprises, said she received a Ph.D. in social ecology at UCI in 1981.

“Martha is a classic example of a socially responsible, educated person . . . who is now giving back to the university,” Peltason said.