May 28, 1996

Providing an important boost to the training of environmental scientists, the UCLA School of Public Health has completed fund raising for a $500,000 endowment to support the university's innovative Environmental Science and Engineering Program.

The endowment will provide the program's director with a steady source of funds to provide scholarships and other student support, pursue urgent research projects and otherwise enhance the quality of the program.

"These gifts will facilitate training the types of environmental scientists and engineers needed to address our increasingly complex environmental problems," said Arthur Winer, the program's director. "This steady source of funds will help us attract the best students and maintain our dynamic teaching programs."

The endowment was seeded by a $250,000 challenge grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. The endowment campaign was completed with gifts from the Save the Earth Foundation and Hughes Environmental Systems.

"We have been particularly impressed by the quality of the UCLA campaign," said B. Stephen Toben, a program manager for the Hewlett Foundation. "It has stood out from the others we have observed in the quality of the effort."

UCLA's Environmental Science and Engineering Program is a unique interdepartmental doctoral program that provides training in public health, a wide range of engineering and science disciplines, urban planning, public policy and environmental law. The program was founded in 1973 by Nobel laureate Williard Libby.

Graduates of the UCLA program, which is based in the School of Public Health, hold leadership positions in government, industry and environmental organizations throughout California and the rest of the nation.