OCBJ SPECIAL REPORTS
UCI’s $2B Campaign: Quiet No More
EDUCATION: Seeks donations to fund health, tech, museum
The University of California-Irvine wants to raise $2 billion by 2024—the largest-ever fundraising campaign in the history of Orange County.
Chapman Looks to Expand Enrollment
EDUCATION: STEM, housing, research plans
Chapman University is preparing for growth, and the Orange-based school is optimistic that the city of Orange will support its plans to expand.
Spring Road Trip For Western State
Westcliff Adds, Moving Law School
Orange County’s oldest law school, Western State College of Law, is on track to get a new base of operations and a new lease on life.
UCI Applies Machine Learning To Predict Wildfire Sizes
Have Already Helped Forecast Extent of Blazes in Alaska
University of California-Irvine scientists will be exploring ways to use machine learning to predict the spread of California’s wildfires once they’ve ignited.
CSUF’s 20-Year Plan
More students; $175M Campaign
California State University-Fullerton is the biggest campus in the Cal State system. It wants to get bigger.
MBAs Reflect National Trends: Fresh Choices Rule
Brandman Enrollment Up, Nabs Corporate Partners
Traditional MBAs are in decline across the country.
Community Colleges: Enrollment Mixed, More Grads
Institutions Get Grants, Join With Groups on New Work
Local community colleges saw full- and part-time enrollment drop this year, by 0.6% and 3.5% respectively, for an overall decline of 2.6%.
Broker, Insurance in His Blood, Builds New Company
McIntosh Helps San Diego Agency Expand in OC
Tony McIntosh sells insurance, just like his brother, father, grandfather, and uncles. “I was born into insurance,” McIntosh told the Business Journal.
Unlocking Cancer Coverage
Lab Co-Op Tests Get Insurance OK
Genomic Testing Cooperative added insurance approval for two cancer tests, a move it said will cut medical costs and boost care.
Local Insurance Brokers Report 12% Increase in Sales
Epic, Marsh Risk, Burnham Lead Growth
Orange County’s largest insurance brokers as a group saw their revenue grow 12% last year, up from a 6.3% jump in 2017. The 23 biggest brokers with headquarters or significant operations here combined for more than $782 million worth of policies.
Fertility Upscale, Confidential at Newport Beach Eden
Operator’s Second Site In OC Officially Opens
It isn’t easy to find the entrance to Eden Fertility Management’s second OC office along Birch Street in Newport Beach.
Can Quantum Physics Help Lessen People’s Pain?
Pushing ‘Alternative Medicine’ Envelope
Say words like “quantum physics” or “alternative medicine” and some very visible things start to happen.
Edwards Lifesciences Leads Device Maker List
22% of Workers at 26 Cos. Employed by Edwards
It’s a shorter list this year. Don’t tell Edwards Lifesciences Corp. Orange County’s largest public company (NYSE: EW) by market cap—at $45 billion last week—is also its biggest medical device maker by a wide margin.
OC Drugmakers: Short List, Big Dollars, New Ideas
Local Employment 19% Up to More Than 2,800
To be shortlisted is a good thing. So, too, with Orange County drugmakers. This year’s edition of the annual list ranks 10 companies by employee count topped by Allergan PLC in Irvine, with more than 1,300 workers and some seven decades of work in the county.
MicroVention CEO Exits Amid Growth Push
DEVICES: Search for replacement underway
MicroVention Inc., Orange County’s sixth-largest medical device maker with about 1,150 local workers, has expansion plans in its hometown of Aliso Viejo, with a sizeable new lease recently signed just up the road from its 2-year-old headquarters, and close to 50 open jobs for its operations in the city.
