UC Davis is boosting graduate student support through a new initiative that encourages personal donations from faculty and staff — and matches these gifts up to a maximum of $25,000.

With increased funding, the university hopes that it can continue to offer awards that are competitive enough to attract the best and the brightest graduate students.

Chancellor Linda Katehi announced the program on Jan. 25, during the Academic Retirees and Emeriti Luncheon in Freeborn Hall.

“This initiative is part of a broader effort to secure support for all UC Davis students at a time when they need it most,” Katehi said in her prepared remarks for the luncheon audience.

The matching funds come from a $500,000 gift from the estate of Charlie Soderquist, who received his master’s and doctoral degrees from UC Davis. In turn, faculty and staff donors have an opportunity to extend their impact on UC Davis and establish their own legacies.

Graduate Studies Dean Jeffery Gibeling collaborated with then-Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef and other colleagues over the last year to create the Soderquist Matching Fund Initiative for Graduate Student Support. Gibeling, a professor of chemical engineering and materials science, became one of the first faculty members to make a donation that qualified for matching funds.

“Dr. Soderquist’s legacy gift provides the financial foundation that will allow us to attract and retain more graduate students, keeping our campus at the research forefront,” Gibeling said. “His generosity will have a long-lasting effect on our graduate students and our university, allowing us to retain our standing as a preeminent research institution.”

Gibeling said graduate student support is an investment in continuing research into real-world problems, and in our future leaders.

Soderquist earned his master’s in 1973 and doctorate in 1978, both in agricultural and environmental chemistry. He went on to serve as chair of the UC Davis Foundation Board, president of the Cal Aggie Alumni Association and alumni representative to the UC Board of Regents. He died in 2004.

Vanderhoef, now chancellor emeritus, said, “Encouraging graduate students was very important to Charlie Soderquist. He liked to challenge and empower others to make a difference.”

The Soderquist Matching Fund Initiative gives preference to disciplines that correspond with Soderquist’s interests: agricultural and environmental chemistry, civil and environmental engineering (environmental and water resources), ecology, creative writing, hydrologic sciences, pharmacology and toxicology, and population biology.

The Soderquist Matching Fund Initiative requires a minimum $12,500 donation; with the dollar-for-dollar match, each donation then grows to a minimum of $25,000. Each fund will be given the name of the donor or donors.

The university’s first endowment under the Soderquist Matching Fund Initiative is the Erika and Walter Jennings Graduate Student Fellowship in agricultural and environmental chemistry. Walter Jennings, professor emeritus of food science and technology, said he hopes the endowment will help in recruiting exceptional graduate students with an interest in analytical methods.

Gibeling and his wife, Marsha, established the Jeffery and Marsha Gibeling Graduate Student Support Fund to enable graduate programs to offer recruitment incentives to top applicants.

“We’ve contributed because graduate fellowship awards provided under the Soderquist Matching Fund Initiative are vital to ensuring the future excellence of UC Davis,” Gibeling said.

To make a gift or learn more about the program, contact Janet Berry, director of development for Graduate Studies, at (530) 754-2001 or jsberry@ucdavis.edu.

CHARLIE SODERQUIST

• UC Davis alumnus who founded and led several high-tech companies in the greater Sacramento area.
• Received his master’s degree in 1973 and his doctorate in 1978, both from UC Davis in agricultural and environmental chemistry.
• Gift from his estate established the Charles J. Soderquist Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurship (first holder is professor Andrew Hargadon).
• Other Soderquist support has ranged from financing a speaker series in the humanities to chairing the campaign that raised funds for a new environmental research center at Lake Tahoe.
• Served as chair of the UC Davis Foundation, president of the Cal Aggie Alumni Association and as an alumni representative to the UC Board of Regents.
• Soderquist often defined entrepreneurship as “the art of business.”