Unova Gives $100,000 to Discovery Center

Woodland Hills-based Unova Inc. has become the third donor to give $100,000 to the Ventura County Discovery Center, joining Dan and Marilyn Smith of Agoura Hills and California Prudential Realty.

“They’re saying we believe in you and know you can do it,” said Carrie Glicksteen, executive director and a founding member of the center.

At Tuesday’s Thousand Oaks City Council meeting, where the donation was announced, Glicksteen said she hoped the gift would inspire other companies and individuals to help get the project off the ground.

Officials need to raise $23 million to build a science center.

They are shooting for a 2002 opening for the proposed 60,000-square-foot hands-on museum on city-owned land next to the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza. Right now, the Discovery Center has a limited number of science-related lessons it takes to schools.

“The ball is rolling,” said Alton J. Brann, Unova chairman and chief executive. “We felt that early money is hard to get, so we decided a $100,000 gift early in the life of the project would help bring it to fruition.”

Though Unova is based in Los Angeles County, Brann said many of his employees live in the western San Fernando Valley and eastern Ventura County.

The company manufactures systems and machine tools for the automotive, aerospace and metal-working industries.