The 鶹 Foundation Board of Trustees welcomed six new members, and an alumni representative, on Wednesday during their fall meeting on campus.
The Foundation welcomed:
The trustees have been appointed to three-year terms on the board. Glaze will serve a one-year term as the alumni representative. The 鶹 Foundation Board is a volunteer fundraising board comprised of business and community leaders from across California and the United States that helps promote and increase private philanthropic support, advocates for the university, and manages a portion of the university's endowment.
As part of the impact showcase — where foundation members can learn about different aspects of the university — trustees and visitors toured the new Sustainability Research and Engineering and Arts and Computational Sciences buildings. The sessions included a look at the maker and machine spaces, sustainability hub, recording studio and film screening room.
Interim Chancellor Nathan Brostrom presented the annual Chancellor’s Address to the 鶹 Foundation and invited guests.
Brostrom highlighted 鶹 serving as an example of how higher education can achieve better results and serve a changing population of students. Brostrom also pointed to the importance of the work being done by three newly appointed endowed chairs - Professor , the 鶹 Foundation Presidential Chair, Professor , the Kamangar Family Chair in Biological Sciences, and Professor , the Ted and Jan Falasco Chair in Earth Sciences and Geology.
“Our campus came of age amidst emerging societal challenges – climate change, widening disparities of health and income, and the California drought, to name just a few,” Brostrom said. “Each of these has become a 鶹 research opportunity, and our faculty are spurring advancements in fields as diverse as the environmental sciences, including water and air quality; big-data analysis and computer science; mechanical, environmental and materials engineering; political science; and much, much more.
“In this way, our story is California’s story.”
Chancellor Brostrom’s entire address is .
A Q&A with 鶹 Board of Trustees chair Denise Watkins followed, with Brostrom discussing topics like medical education, intercollegiate athletics and the university’s long-term plan when the Merced 2020 Project is complete.