The University of California-Irvine wants to raise $2 billion by 2024—the largest-ever fundraising campaign in the history of Orange County.
The campaign, called “Brilliant Future,” is being headed by James and Sheila Peterson.
“Jimmy P,” as he is known locally, was the chief executive of Microsemi Corp.; the Aliso Viejo-based chipmaker was sold for $10.3 billion last year.
“We’re going to be active chairs, doing our part to inspire and motivate others to donate not only their money, but time and effort,” Jimmy P told the Business Journal.
“We want to revitalize Orange County.”
The campaign will fund four specific areas: health, innovation, arts, and first-generation college students.
$776M Start
The campaign isn’t starting from scratch.
The university has already raised $776 million, 39% of its goal, in cash contributions and pledged donations.
The campaign launched in 2015, but the school opted to keep its big-picture plans in quiet mode until Oct. 4, when the university hosted a series of events at the main campus and at UCI Medical Center in Orange, including an address by Chancellor Howard Gillman and an invitation-only celebration at the Bren Events Center.
UCI has more than 36,000 students and offers 222 degree programs. It’s Orange County’s second-largest employer, with about 24,000 employees. The university said it contributes about $5 billion annually to the local economy.
“Private giving provides the margin of excellence that will help elevate us from being one of the best universities in the country to being one of the best in the world,” a university spokesman said.
Calling Alumni
The second-largest capital campaign in OC’s history also came out of UCI.
The school’s 10-year “Shaping the Future” campaign, which began in 2005, raised just over $1 billion in funds to support energy and the environment, global leadership, health, learning and the mind, and student support.
It funded 500 scholarships and 50 endowed academic chairs, while another portion went to UCI’s endowment, which tripled to about $500 million through the campaign.
Douglas Freeman, former executive vice president at First Foundation Bank, chaired the effort.
The latest fundraising effort will include partnerships with individuals, corporations, and community organizations.
The school also plans to tap its 200,000 alumni for donations. The university has partnered with an undisclosed company to update its alumni database and track down more alumni. It’s already reconnected with some 20,000.
“We want to bring you back home,” Jimmy P said.
Samueli Connection
About half of the campaign’s goal will go toward UCI’s health sector by expanding its colleges and clinical facilities.
Susan and Henry Samueli, the latter of whom co-founded chipmaker Broadcom, will serve as honorary co-chairs for the “transform health and wellness” branch of the capital campaign.
In 2017, the couple donated $200 million, the university’s largest gift ever. Of that donation, about $55 million is going toward building the new Susan and Henry Samueli College of Health Sciences. The remaining $145 million contributed to the university’s endowment for faculty recruitment and student scholarships, among other uses.
The university is expanding its health focus.
It’s elevating the departments of Pharmacy and Population Health into their own dedicated schools. The university in 2016 also received $40 million from Sue and Bill Gross for its School of Nursing.
The Susan Samueli Integrative Health Institute promotes a holistic approach to healthcare that is backed by the latest medical research.
Beall Innovation
The remaining fundraising efforts will be split among the other three areas.
A sizeable portion of the funds will also go toward “accelerating world-changing research.”
The Samuelis have already donated $30 million to help build an Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building, which is scheduled to open next fall. It will serve students in engineering, computer science, physical sciences with wet and dry laboratories.
Donald Beall, the former Rockwell International chairman and chief executive, and his family, earlier this year donated a multimillion-dollar gift which resulted in a renaming of the university’s center for innovation.
UCI Beall Applied Innovation is getting ready to take the wraps off its new home at a former Broadcom building at UCI Research Park in mid-November.
The center also houses the Cove, a startup-focused area that connects entrepreneurs with investors; the center will more than double its space to 85,000 square feet.
An additional 17,000 square feet of the building has been allotted for the new wet lab incubator by University Lab Partners, an independent, nonprofit program of the Beall Family Foundation, founded in collaboration with Applied Innovation.
Arts Support
Another focus of the money-raising effort will be to fund a “world-class museum and institute to showcase the university’s acclaimed collection of California art,” the university said in a statement.
In 2016, the Irvine Museum announced the transfer of the museum’s collection of California impressionist paintings, valued at approximately $17 million, to UCI. It was the campus’ largest single gift of art to date. The Irvine Museum was founded by heirs of the Irvine Co. founders.
The Petersons, who have seven adult children, of whom at least four are artists, said the arts are just as important as the sciences and the university is “working diligently” to integrate academic disciplines.
“We want to be healthy, but what does that really mean?” Sheila Peterson asked during an interview with the Business Journal.
“We want to be healthy so that we can enjoy art, so that we can sit in a garden and admire statues,” she said. “The arts are an important piece of the puzzle that make life worth living.”
A fourth focus of the campaign will be an effort to help students achieve the American dream, including scholarships for first-generation college students. It’s also building a new “Student Success Building” that will house everything from academic counseling to mental health services.
Why Jimmy P Loves UCI
James Peterson, the former chief executive at Microsemi Corp., didn’t go to the University of California-Irvine, but has long been a fan and supporter.
The chipmaker he previously ran sponsored the school’s football field that was used by the Los Angeles Rams during training camp. It also gave $1.5 million a few years ago to establish the Microsemi Presidential Chair in Electrical Engineering, and established the Microsemi Innovation Lab at the school in 2015.
That was all before UCI saved his life.
Peterson, often known as “Jimmy P,” checked into UCI Health’s Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center in 2017 with stage 4 melanoma.
“Most people have to jump on a plane and leave Orange County to fight” this condition, said Peterson, who launched investment fund Peterson Capital after Microsemi’s sale to fellow chipmaker Microchip last year.
“But we did our research, looked at other medical facilities, and we chose UCI.”
Today, Peterson is cancer-free.
Along with his wife, Sheila, they are the recently announced chairs for UCI’s “Brilliant Future” capital campaign.
“UCI’s academic and research prowess makes it one of the greatest resources on the planet. Its impact extends far beyond Orange County,” he said in a statement.
