Joan and Irwin Jacobs Launch UCSD Pacific Leadership Fellows Program and Center on Pacific Economies with $500,000 Gift

As long-time civic leaders, Joan and Irwin Jacobs – he is founder and chairman of the board of directors of QUALCOMM – have shared the conviction that San Diego must have a deeper and broader role in international public policy matters. Now, working with Dean Peter F. Cowhey and the faculty of the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies (IR/PS) at UC San Diego, they will significantly enhance the region’s capability in world affairs through a $500,000 gift creating the Pacific Leadership Fellows program and a new Center on Pacific Economies.

This gift contributes to the $1 billion fundraising goal of The Campaign for UCSD: Imagine What’s Next.

“This is a seminal opportunity for IR/PS, the university and the San Diego community,” said Cowhey. “With this leadership gift from the Jacobs, we are able to turn UC San Diego and the greater San Diego region into a center for reflection and action by leaders from the Pacific.”

“Joan and I are delighted to be partnering with IR/PS in this mutual endeavor to increase foreign affairs awareness in San Diego and our region,” said Irwin Jacobs. “Our fondest hope in establishing and supporting this exciting Fellows program and the Center for Pacific Economies is that they become stronger, and more vital, with each succeeding year.”

Cowhey added, “This gift will enable IR/PS to be the catalyst in launching and maintaining a network of leaders to focus on the major challenges of the Pacific region of the Americas and Asia. While we can envision many short-term benefits – to the Fellows, our faculty and students, and the San Diego community – our goal is to create a force shaping public policy in the Pacific over the coming decades and to establish San Diego as a hub for thought and initiative in the Pacific Community.”

Pacific Leadership Fellows will be senior and rising leaders in government, nonprofit organizations, business, scientific institutions and public thought such as journalism or scholars specializing in public policy. The inaugural Fellow, Shuli Hu, is the founding editor of the prominent Chinese business magazine, Caijing, and the previous winner of the International Press Foundation’s “journalist of the year” award for her pioneering work in investigative reporting in China.

Fellows work will draw upon the scholarship of IR/PS and UC San Diego faculty, established research institutes such as UC’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, and the new Center on Pacific Economies that will address the central questions about economic growth, equity and market change in the Pacific.

IR/PS and UC San Diego are known for important scholars whose basic research provides a powerful guide for key policy choices. “Bridging the world between basic research and policy analysis and advocacy requires both additional applied research and dialogue with leaders of government, business and thought – and that is what we intend to provide in the Center on Pacific Economies,” said Professor Gordon Hanson, a leading economist, who will direct the new Center on Pacific Economies.

The Pacific Leadership Fellows program will be a key component of the Center on Pacific Economies. “We will create a marquee program for UCSD and San Diego that no one can successfully rival,” said Cowhey.

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About UCSD’s Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies
Founded in 1986, the UC's only Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies became a new blueprint for international affairs and international management education. IR/PS is the only graduate school dedicated exclusively to teaching and research about the Americas and Asia. Students receive comprehensive training on the economics, politics, and markets of the Pacific. In the field of international affairs in the United States IR/PS is ranked in the top ten. The UC San Diego groups in economics and political science are also individually ranked in the top ten in the United States. Approximately 300 students are enrolled in the Masters, Ph.D., and mid-career programs at IR/PS. For more information, please visit http://www-irps.ucsd.edu.

About The Campaign for UCSD: Imagine What’s Next
Since its founding just 45 years ago, the University of California, San Diego has rapidly achieved status as one of the top institutions in the nation for higher education and research. To keep UCSD at the forefront of academic and research excellence, the university launched The Campaign for UCSD: Imagine What’s Next in July 2000. Donations to the comprehensive $1 billion fundraising campaign will help support students and faculty, expand academic programs, fund research endeavors and strengthen innovation funds to meet the highest priority needs. The Campaign for UCSD has generated nearly $915 million to date, with $85 million to raise before the campaign concludes in June 2007. For more information, please visit www.campaign.ucsd.edu.