"I wouldn't work here if I didn't believe in all the great things that UC San Diego has accomplished today, and plans to achieve in the future," said Rex Graham, a senior public information representative for the Jacobs School of Engineering.

Graham took his belief in the university one step further by spearheading a grassroots fundraising effort to encourage faculty and staff in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Bioengineering and Structural Engineering departments to give online to the Jacobs School's Teams in Engineering Service (TIES), a philanthropic program that enables undergraduates to apply engineering skills to help groups ranging from convalescent homes serving the frail elderly to the region's nonprofit organizations. Starting with a simple email sent before the holidays, Graham's initiative prompted a flurry of supportive responses.

To date, more than 1,000 current and former faculty and staff members have contributed over $1 million to the university since the August 18, 2006 launch of the Faculty-Staff Campaign, a component of the $1 billion Campaign for UCSD. Graham is one of several successful fundraising efforts led by UCSD employees that have raised funds for causes they care passionately about:

. The Bannister Family House provides a home away from home for families of patients undergoing long-term care at UCSD Medical Center in Hillcrest and Thornton Hospital in La Jolla. For Dana Weintraub, a development director in the university's health sciences division, her personal efforts to raise money for this facility comes from the heart. After touring the Bannister Family House, she was so moved that she sent a flurry of emails to other UCSD Development officers to give. "There's a principal in development-how can you expect others to give unless you, too, are emotionally moved to write a check yourself."

. Lea Rudee, founding dean of the Jacobs School of Engineering and currently professor emeritus, created the Rudee Graduate Student Research Award, which is presented to one student each February during the Schools' Annual Research Expo. Now, in conjunction with the Faculty-Staff Campaign, he is reaching out to both current and retired faculty to encourage them to contribute to the fund so that more than one prize could be awarded to deserving recipients. "I find being at UCSD so enriching and stimulating," noted Rudee. "This is a special campus and I am thrilled to help contribute both in my work, and in my philanthropy."

. The Birch Aquarium at Scripps is one of the only UC San Diego departments that relies entirely on earned income and gifts for its operating funds. According to development director Dyanne Hoffman, "There are 54 employees here . no faculty, just fulltime and part-time staff positions. Yet between September and December, 76 percent of our employees made a gift to the Aquarium thanks to a matching-gifts incentive provided by one of our most beloved donors, Charlie Robins." Gifts made by the staff will support animal husbandry, exhibits, the education department and the Birch Aquarium endowment.

Irma Martinez Velasco, director of campus relations in the Chancellor's office and a long-time advocate of giving back to UC San Diego, believes that payroll deduction offers an easy and convenient way to support the university. "Payroll deduction is great way for faculty and staff to contribute. Whatever you give, as a whole, adds up - it will make the difference."

Other UC San Diego faculty and staff members have given generously through individual gifts that include, among others:

. $400,000 to the UCSD Division of Physical Sciences to support research;
. $125,000 toward funding an endowed faculty chair in the Division of Arts and Humanities;
. $50,000 to establish an endowed scholarship fund at the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences;
. $50,000 to fund an endowed fellowship at Scripps Institution of Oceanography;
. $30,000 to support the Computational Science, Mathematics and Engineering Program;
. $10,000 to the University Libraries; and
. $5,000 to the Department of Surgery in the Medical Center

The theme of the employee fundraising effort at UC San Diego is "Help Take Us Over the Top." Faculty and staff may designate their contribution to any area of UCSD that inspires them, whether it is science, scholarships, research, healthcare or the arts. To learn more about the Faculty-Staff Campaign, visit www.campaign.ucsd.edu/faculty-staff.