In the race for discoveries that can change the world, there is no finish line. There is no end to what brilliant scholars can achieve when working together in the environment that fosters excellence.

To help recruit and retain the very best faculty and students, UCLA announced an ambitious plan to raise $250 million.

The Ensuring Academic Excellence Initiative builds on the momentum of Campaign UCLA, the most ambitious fund-raising effort ever undertaken by a major public research university. Among the initiative’s goals are to generate:

• $100 million to fund 100 new endowed chairs for the recruitment and retention of professors across campus
• $100 million to fund fellowships and scholarships in the UCLA College
• $50 million for fellowships and scholarships in UCLA's professional schools

"The $250-million initiative continues UCLA's efforts to attract top-flight scholars and students in the face of widening funding disparities between elite public research universities and private institutions.

"Graduate students are the lifeblood of a research university,” adds Claudia Mitchell-Kernan, vice chancellor of graduate studies and dean of the graduate division. “They are integral to building academic excellence. They help attract faculty, they collaborate as research partners and in the teaching of undergraduates. This initiative highlights UCLA's ongoing commitment to the best and the brightest, and builds on the university's reputation as a vibrant locus for scholarship and research."