UCSD Receives $12M To Continue Faculty Fellowships

SAN DIEGO, CA — UC San Diego has received a $12 million grant from the Hellman Fellows Program to support continuing research for outstanding early career faculty on campus, university officials announced Tuesday.

UCSD Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla has committed to providing $6 million as an institutional match for the endowment.

The Hellman Fellows Program has committed a total of $125 million to support that research at all 10 University of California campuses since 1995, when it gave its first awards to a handful of faculty at UC San Diego and UC Berkeley.

With the new gift, the program will be able to continue in perpetuity across all campuses of the public research institution, officials said.

The grant to the UC San Diego Foundation will continue the program through the establishment of the Hellman Fellows Endowed Fund and the creation of the UC San Diego Society of Hellman Fellows.

Fellowships in the UC system are open to a range of academic disciplines across all fields, including the arts and humanities, social sciences and STEM. Fellowships can range from $10,000 to $65,000.

At UCSD, the Hellman Fellows program has funded more than 320 fellows since 1995, including several current faculty members. Among them are composer Lei Liang, winner of the 2020 Grawemeyer Award, the top classical music honor often referred to as "the Nobel Prize for music."

Other former fellows include Marta Serra-Garcia, an assistant professor in UCSD's Rady School of Management focused on the growing field of behavioral economics; and sociologist Danielle Raudenbush, author of "Healthcare Off the Books: Poverty, Illness and Strategies for Survival in an American City."

"The Hellman family's generosity and confidence in over 320 of our young faculty members has profoundly benefited their scholarship and contributions to many fields of study," Khosla said.

"The research they are able to do as Hellman Fellows has a lasting impact on their academic careers. We are grateful for the grant from the Hellman Foundation so that UC San Diego will be able to permanently support the Hellman Fellows Program in perpetuity."

"My parents, Warren and Chris Hellman, used to say that creating the Hellman Fellows Program was one of the best things our family ever did," said Frances Hellman, president of the Hellman Fellows Fund.

"Having had the opportunity to support over 1,900 faculty over the years, I enthusiastically agree. Their discoveries, commitment to their work, and great potential continues to inspire us year after year. We are thrilled to be carrying on our father's legacy by ensuring that the Hellman Fellows Program can exist in perpetuity throughout the University of California system."

— City News Service