Investing in Engineering Education: Irwin and Joan Jacobs Give $110 Million to the Jacobs School

On March 15, 2003, UCSD announced the largest gift in the history of UCSD, and one of the nation’s largest individual gifts to an engineering school. Former faculty member Dr. Irwin M. Jacobs, CEO and Chairman of QUALCOMM, Inc., and his wife Joan Jacobs, have made a $110 million gift to the Jacobs School. The couple’s gift includes $10 million over the next five years for fellowships, scholarships and faculty recruitment, and a planned gift of $100 million, comprised of an irrevocable charitable remainder trust and a bequest intention that will build the School’s endowment. The couple’s support for the Jacobs School spans 20 years and totals more than $128 million.

“Our gift represents a long-term investment in engineering education and in our community,” said Dr. Jacobs. “It is intended to help recruit outstanding faculty, to support promising undergraduate and graduate students, and to ensure close relations between the new School of Management and the Jacobs School of Engineering. San Diego needs a highly-trained workforce that can continue to lead innovation for our region and our nation. We are proud of all that UCSD and the engineering school have accomplished and honored to make this contribution so that the Jacobs School can sustain its excellence in education.”

Irwin and Joan Jacobs are toasted by Jacobs School deans (l-r) Robert Conn, Frieder Seible and Lea Rudee.

A member of the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and recipient of the President’s National Medal for Technology, Irwin Jacobs served on the UCSD engineering faculty from 1966 to 1972.

“The love of learning is a core value for our family, and we are deeply committed to affordable and high-quality education that is accessible to everyone,” said Mrs. Jacobs. “All four of our children chose to go to University of California schools because of the high caliber of education available there. But state and federal funding is insufficient to sustain the University’s standard of excellence in teaching and research. We, as a community, must support the precious resource that is the University of California.”

“We are deeply grateful to Irwin and Joan Jacobs for their faith and investment in our faculty, students and staff. Their continued support inspires us to think big and gives us the confidence to reach for the stars,” said Frieder Seible, Dean of the Jacobs School. “Their gift accelerates the incredible forward momentum that characterizes the School and will allow us to sustain our leadership role among the best engineering schools in the nation for decades
to come.”

Part of the Jacobs’ $10 million current gift will support the Jacobs School Scholars and Fellows program, which the couple established in 2000. Through this program, the Jacobs School awards four-year scholarships to the most promising undergraduates, and first-year fellowships to the best graduate students, helping the School attract highly talented men and women to San Diego. Over the past three years, 28 scholarships and 37 fellowships have been awarded through the program. The current funds will also be used to support faculty recruitment.

Sixty percent of the Jacobs’ $100 million planned gift will be unrestricted endowment, to be used at the discretion of the Dean of the Jacobs School for priorities such as faculty recruitment and retention. Twenty-five percent of the gift is intended for continuation of the Jacobs School Scholars and Fellows program. Approximately 15 percent of the planned gift will be used to create endowed chairs for faculty jointly appointed to the Jacobs School and UCSD’s new Graduate School of Management, which was established in response to the growing need for strong management skills in the technology-driven California economy.