隐谷

In celebration of the Pollocks' gift, the center's public theater will be named in their honor. Joseph Pollock, a retired physician and a former president of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, is a trustee of The UCSB Foundation and also a member of the center's advisory board. Tom Pollock, a son, is also a member of the center's advisory board. He is a partner of the Montecito Picture Company and also an adjunct professor of film studies at UCSB.

Long-time campus benefactor Sara Miller McCune, a trustee of The UCSB Foundation, pledged $250,000 to generate support for the building project. An anonymous alumni donor matched her gift. In honor of the gifts, the library in the alumni center will be named the Sara Miller McCune and UCSB Alumni Library.

In addition, Jeff Henley, a UCSB graduate, and his wife, Judy, contributed $350,000 for the building. The boardroom will be named for the generous donors, who previously established an endowed chair in economics.

The gifts bring to $8 million the total raised thus far toward a goal of $9.5 million for the privately funded center, which will break ground on Aug. 13. The Mosher Alumni House is named in honor of a lead gift from The Samuel B. and Margaret C. Mosher Foundation. It will serve as a focal point to welcome returning graduates who want to renew their association with the campus and take part in alumni activities. It will also be a gathering place for other visitors with public meeting facilities.

Mahan and his research team will test whether bacteria possess a programmed plan of attack that controls bacterial behavior during the infective process. The researchers suspect that discovery of such a previously unrecognized cellular memory system in bacteria would have major implications toward understanding cellular differentiation and developmental processes that are common to all life forms.

The highly competitive fellowship program is among the nation's largest nongovernmental programs designed to seek out and reward the pursuit of scientific discovery with "no strings attached" support for unusually creative researchers early in their careers. Shea's research spans the fields of theoretical chemistry and biophysics. Work supported by the Packard Foundation will focus on the study of protein folding and aggregation.

In describing her planned gift, Bard said she included the Capps Center in her estate plan to continue the important work of the center long into the future and to honor the legacy of Walter Capps, a popular professor of religious studies at UCSB who served in the House of Representatives. The Capps Center seeks to advance discussion of compelling issues related to the confluence of religion, ethics, and public life through a variety of programs, internships, and fellowships. The center is non-partisan and non-sectarian, and thus encourages dialogue on issues of broad public concern.

It is supported by UCSB, private donations, and grants, including funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). To qualify for the NEH challenge grant this year, the center must raise an additional $1 million by July 31, 2006.

The gift will strengthen UCSB's ability to compete for the most promising graduate students.

Auhll is a generous benefactor of the campus, who also established an endowed chair for the dean of engineering.

CB Gifts at Work

Endowed Chair in Taiwan Studies Established at UC Santa Barbara
May 20, 2003

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) –An endowed chair in Taiwan studies has been established at the University of California, Santa Barbara with a $500,000 gift from a number of individual donors associated with the Taiwanese American Foundation of San Diego.

The benefactors said they made the gift to help position the campus as an international center for the exploration of Taiwan literature, history, and culture.

The professorship will be named in honor of two major 20th Century Taiwanese literary figures, the late Lai Ho, considered the pioneer of Taiwan literature, and the late Wu Cho-liu, a writer whose work represents Taiwanese cultural, political, and social concerns. The endowment will support the teaching and research of an eminent scholar chosen to fill the position.

Endowed chairs are important to the future of the campus because they help anchor an academic program and enable the university to develop a field of study in a more comprehensive way. The newest chair brings the total number of endowed professorships at UCSB to 42.

"This endowed chair will bring increased academic distinction to the campus and further enhance the prestige of our Department of East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies," said UCSB Chancellor Henry T. Yang. "We appreciate both the dedication and the generosity of the donors."

The new endowed chair "will be the next step in a process of building expertise in Taiwan literature and Taiwan studies that has been going on in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies for several years," said Ronald Egan, chair of the department. "UCSB will likely become the focal point of scholarly specialization in Taiwan studies–unequaled elsewhere in the country."

Until the 1980s, when the social and political realities of Taiwan underwent fundamental changes, Taiwan and its distinctive culture had not been common subjects of academic inquiry, Egan explained. Over the last 20 years, Taiwan-related studies have grown significantly, attracting international scholarly attention.

"As scholars increasingly approach the study of Chinese literature and culture from a global perspective, Taiwan studies becomes increasingly important," said David Marshall, dean of humanities and fine arts in the College of Letters and Science. "This generous gift will build upon our strengths in this interdisciplinary area of study."

The Department of East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies at UCSB is considered a leader in the study of Taiwan and its people, especially Taiwan literature. It is home to the first American academic journal devoted to Taiwan literature, Taiwan Literature: English Translation Series, published by the Forum for the Study of World Literatures in Chinese at UCSB. The prestigious journal is co-edited by Kuo-ch??ng Tu, an acclaimed poet, translator, and critic, and a professor in the department. In addition, Emeritus Professor Kenneth Hsien-yung Pai, considered one of the most celebrated living Chinese writers in the world, taught at UCSB for nearly 30 years and still resides in Santa Barbara, where he actively continues his research and writing.

The department offers majors in Asian Studies, Chinese, and Japanese, with emphases on literature, history, religions, and related fields in the humanities, as well as language instruction in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. The program in Asian Studies offers an undergraduate major leading to the B.A. degree and a graduate program leading to the M.A.