San Diego community leader Elaine Galinson will donate $5 million to endow a new campus civility program at UC San Diego and provide for two associated classrooms.
Galinson’s gift, announced by the university on Thursday, will endow the Galinson/Glickman Campus Civility Program created in partnership with the San Diego-based National Conflict Resolution Center.
The program, named after Galinson’s late father, is intended to provide opportunities for students to learn about themselves and the perspectives of others, and to gain the skills needed to put the university’s principles of community into action.
Galinson said her commitment to civil discourse, social justice and education has been part of her heritage and she made the gift to have a lasting impact.
“I know that these students who receive the training will most likely become the leaders of whatever field they go on to,” Galinson said. “And they will become parents who hopefully will teach their children about civility.”
In addition to endowing the program, the gift will provide for two classrooms in the Public Engagement Building that is currently under construction in the North Torrey Pines area of the campus.
The program will build on the nonprofit Conflict Resolution Center’s successful experience over 15 years with “The Art of Inclusive Communication,” a three-hour workshop designed to help UC San Diego student leaders learn and practice key communication techniques.
“The seeds for UC San Diego’s civility and conflict resolution programs were planted years ago by Murray Galinson—Elaine’s late husband—in partnership with the National Conflict Resolution Center,” said UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla. “Today, our successful program model is having an even greater impact throughout higher education, influencing the creation of similar civility programs at peer universities across the country.”
There are now similar programs at UC Merced, UC Santa Barbara, San Diego State University, Cal State University San Marcos and five other campuses.