Tom Moebus, vice chancellor of university advancement , lauded the contributions of the UCI Foundation board. This is an outstanding testament to the strong community support for our faculty and students. Chancellor Ralph J. Cicerone finds the increase in private giving both gratifying and exciting. The university receives about a quarter of its annual operating budget from the state, so the quality of the institution increasingly depends on other sources of revenue. Private dollars enable us to build the facilities, recruit the faculty and support the students that allow us to maintain our place as one of the nation's premier research universities.
Private gifts reflect donor interests and university needs.
In recognition of this gift the largest in the university's history the school was renamed the Henry Samueli School of Engineering. The gift was used to establish the Susan Samueli Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. The gift will help UCI medical researchers gain greater insight into how genes cause cancer, which could lead to the development of new ways of preventing the disease. The building will be named the Dottie and George Hewitt Research Hall.