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2021 OC 50: Building the Workforce of Tomorrow

There are plenty of businesses and entrepreneurs looking to set OC’s future. The heads of the area’s three largest universities are key to making sure those companies have the talent to achieve their dreams.

HOWARD GILLMAN
Chancellor  
University of California, Irvine  
Irvine

College Degree: Bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate in political science from University of California, Los Angeles

BIO: Oversees 56-year-old public university with more than 37,600 students, over 25,800 employees including medical center staff. “We are essentially a city of 50,000 or 60,000 people,” Gillman told the Business Journal in December, when he was named an executive of the year, in the educational sector. UCI contributes about $5B to the Orange County economy every year.

NOTABLE: Said in late April a return to the university is expected for students as early as July, in a phased back-to-campus plan.

QUOTABLE: On UCI’s relevance during the pandemic, said “you understand in the abstract the value of great universities. But sometimes moments occur when you realize the entire country is depending on a specialized group of people to respond. That, of course, includes our health system, but also our researchers who are part of the process of understanding this virus, and everyone else that had reliable knowledge to bring to bear.”

DANIELE STRUPPA
President
Chapman University
Orange

College Degree: Laurea in mathematics from University of Milan, Italy; doctorate in mathematics from University of Maryland, College Park 

BIO: Leads OC’s largest private university with nearly 10,000 students, more than 80% receive grants or scholarship aid. About $400M endowment. Planning a full return to in-person instruction in the fall with no options for 100% virtual learning.

NOTABLE: At end of April, said students, faculty and staff coming to campus in the fall would be required to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19. Joins University of California, Irvine and California State University, Fullerton in the planned requirement.

QUOTABLE: “Our goal is to move toward a Chapman Experience that is closer to what we had before the pandemic, with only minimal social distancing, our facilities being open, the ability to move freely around campus, where guests are also welcome.”

FRAMROZE VIRJEE
President      
California State University, Fullerton  
Fullerton

College Degree: Bachelor’s in political science and sociology from University of California, Santa Barbara; J.D. from University of California, Hasting College of Law

BIO: Largest CSU system institution with over 40,000 students, operating budget of nearly $500M. Virjee oversees operations and its more than 3,500 educators.

NOTABLE: In March 2020, CSUF launched a new fundraising campaign to raise $200M by 2025. Dubbed “It Takes a Titan,” it marked the first-ever campus-wide campaign at the 64-year-old school. Received nearly $50M earlier this year from sale of buildings it owned in the Irvine Spectrum.

QUOTABLE: “There are countless Titans who I think of as heroes, and all of them—faculty, staff, students, and alumni—are, exactly that: Heroic in how they continually lift up others through education, inclusion, equity, and civic engagement.”

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