Gifts

The University of California today (Sept. 18) began Promise for Education, a six-week crowd-funding campaign to engage students, faculty, alumni, celebrities, businesses, politicians and supporters in a novel drive to raise money for UC student scholarships.

Jonathan D. Jansen, vice chancellor and rector of the University of the Free State and South Africa's first black dean, has been named the 2013 recipient of the Alice and Clifford Spendlove Prize in Social Justice, Diplomacy and Tolerance.

The University of California, Merced, will award the prize to Jansen during an evening ceremony Oct. 28 on campus. 

The ties between the community and the University of California, Merced, will grow stronger thanks to a gift from longtime campus supporters Joel and Elizabeth Wallace.

The Wallaces have given UC Merced $575,000 to establish the Wallace-Dutra Amphitheater and the Yablokoff-Wallace Health Science Research Endowment, which will support the campus’s Community Research, Innovations and Solutions for the Health of the San Joaquin Valley Network (CRIS).

Longtime UC Merced supporters Frederick R. and Mitzie Ruiz have made a generous gift to help generations of students through an endowed scholarship, named in honor of the woman who had a major impact on their lives.

The Rose R. Ruiz Endowed Scholarship and Fellowship Fund will support highly motivated undergraduate and graduate students who face obstacles such as financial difficulties, being first-generation college students and meeting California Dream Act standards.

After six months of intense planning and programming, the winning team of the Mobile App Challenge at the University of California, Merced, will be announced during a showcase finale April 26.

Spurred by a gift from a prominent dairy woman, the University of California, Merced, announced plans today for a center to promote leadership qualities among its diverse student population.

Margo Souza, former president and CEO of Turlock’s Circle H Dairy Ranch Inc., has pledged $1 million to establish The Margo F. Souza Leadership Center — a multi-faceted leadership program — housed within UC Merced’s Office of Student Life.

MERCED, Calif. — UC Merced honored the Pacific Gas and Electric Company with the School of Engineering’s inaugural Vanguard Award today with a special ceremony to thank the company for all it has done for engineering students.

“PG&E is honored to receive the inaugural Vanguard Award from UC Merced’s School of Engineering,” said PG&E President Chris Johns. “More than that, we’re proud to contribute to the foundations of this university — a diverse and environmentally minded campus that’s shaping the leaders and innovators of tomorrow’s energy workforce.”

Students transferring to the University of California, Merced, from California community colleges can apply for financial support thanks to a new endowed scholarship fund from The Bernard Osher Foundation.

The $500,000 gift to UC Merced provides scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 per student to five to 10 transfer students who show the greatest potential to fulfill their educational goals at UC Merced.

University of California, Merced, Chancellor Dorothy Leland will visit Merced High School Oct. 18 as part of Achieve UC, a systemwide initiative to show high school students how they can attain a University of California education.

The idea behind the event is to inspire students to aim for college, then provide them with the information they need to get there.

The UC Merced Yosemite Leadership Program's first full-time leader plans to build on the program's momentum and expand its visibility.