(Merced, CA)- PG&E Corporation
is contributing $100,000 to the University of California, Merced,
to enhance outreach to San Joaquin Valley residents and draw students
to the new campus when it opens in 2004.
"Our goal is to make UC
Merced the first-choice campus of every college-age student in the
San Joaquin Valley," said UC Merced Chancellor Carol Tomlinson-Keasey.
"UC Merced will be the high-technology hub for the Central Valley.
This is where we will shrink the Digital Divide and prepare the
region's residents for careers in the New Economy. Our partnership
with PG&E Corporation will help us show every student in the region
that opportunities abound in their own backyard."
The Merced campus is the
10th in the University of California system and the first new UC
campus in nearly 40 years. It has been heralded as the key driver
for economic development in the San Joaquin Valley, providing jobs
on the campus, and spurring economic development nearby. With technology
as a focus in the classroom and improved technological infrastructure
a goal for the region, UC Merced is expected to bring to the Central
Valley some of the growth experienced in the rest of the state,
particularly in Silicon Valley and the Bay Area.
"PG&E Corporation is supporting
UC Merced with good reason: our company benefits when the economy
is strong and healthy," said Gordon R. Smith, president and CEO
of PG&E Corporation's utility unit Pacific Gas and Electric Company.
"UC Merced will bring knowledge, opportunity, and jobs to the Central
Valley. We have a long tradition of supporting higher education
and are honored to get in on the ground floor of a project that
promises to help spur the local economy and open doors to many students
throughout the valley."
UC Merced officials will
use PG&E Corporation's $100,000 contribution to expand and enrich
their efforts to ensure strong local representation among the students
in the first classes at UC Merced. Building on the network of public
schools involved in the UC Scholars program, UC Merced will create
"PG&E Math Academies" at 10 or more schools throughout the San Joaquin
Valley. The PG&E Math Academies will help seventh- and eighth-grade
students over the sometimes difficult algebra and math hurdles before
they reach high school, which better prepares them for a successful
path to college. The program will also expand students' awareness
of the campus' offerings.
"As other UC and California
State University campuses struggle to increase diversity, UC Merced
plans to ensure diversity from the beginning by marketing itself
to the entire San Joaquin Valley community," said Tomlinson-Keasey.
"It is our hope that PG&E
Corporation's donation is just the first of many from the business
community," Smith added. "The private sector will benefit greatly
when UC Merced opens. With that in mind, we at PG&E Corporation
issue a challenge to our colleagues in the business community: Be
part of the support network that will help ensure success for students
valley wide through UC Merced."
PG&E Corporation, with 1999
revenues of almost $21 billion and operations in 27 states, markets
energy services and products throughout North America through its
National Energy Group. PG&E Corporation's businesses also include
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, the Northern and Central California
utility that deliver natural gas and electricity to one in every
20 Americans.