Recruiting and Retaining a Stellar Faculty is a Top Priority

An outstanding faculty is the hallmark of any great university. Faculty support helps UC San Diego stay competitive in attracting and retaining distinguished scholars, Nobel Laureates, Pulitzer Prize recipients, academic leaders and innovators of all kinds.

The Search for King Solomon’s Mines
Biblical scholars and archaeologists have long speculated about whether the legend of King Solomon’s mines was founded on real mines. UC San Diego Anthropology professor Tom Levy, holder the Norma Kershaw Endowed Chair in Ancient Israel and Neighboring Lands, led a research team that, in 2006, started digging through more than 20 feet of industrial copper slag debris about 30 miles south of the Dead Sea.

Using digital archaeology methods and high precision radiocarbon dating, what they discovered was the largest Iron Age copper-production center in the Holy Land that dates to the 10th century B.C. – the time of David and Solomon’s reign.

Alumni Endow Faculty Chair Honoring Robert Engle
For many former UC San Diego students, one economics professor had an especially profound impact on their lives: Robert Engle, Professor Emeritus and 2003 Nobel Laureate. Thanks to a core group of donors, most of whom are alumni, the Robert F. Engle Endowed Chair in Econometrics has been established to help recruit or retain key faculty to the university’s nationally-recognized Department of Economics.

“Rob was my Ph.D. advisor and I credit a lot of my success to him,” said alumnus Kroner, Ph.D., ’88. “My wife, Jennifer, and I thought making a gift to establish an endowed chair in his name would be a great way to honor him.”