It is really a great pleasure to be with you today as we celebrate the naming and
dedication of Rochelle and Allison Campbell Hall the only building on
campus named after two women. In 1995 Neil and I were walking across campus
and this building had just been completed he told me at the time it was
a temporary building and of course I thought he was kidding. I later learned
from Pat Kohlmeier that it was called an interim facility and it was built to
last a certain number of years and then it would be replaced with a new building
to meet whatever the current needs of University. That was 23 years ago
and I'm thinking Campbell Hall is looking pretty good and will probably
last longer than originally planned. We would not be here today celebrating if
it had not been for one person Dr. William Thompson that was Niels Oh Bill
you're here right Neil's major professor he took a chance
with Neil when other professors would not. Neal was not the traditional
graduate student and Bill understood that. He knew just when to apply a little
pressure, he knew just when to offer the support and probably in Neil's case he
knew just when to leave him alone. Thank you Bill.
Welcome I know that today sort of intended to be about what my mom and I
have given to UCR but we are always very mindful of everything that UCR
has given to us so many dear friends an excuse to come to California a couple of
times a year and warm up but more than anything the way that UCR lives
its mission gives us hope for a bright future and we are so grateful for that.
So thanks to the team who together this wonderful celebration and
more than anything thank you to everyone here for joining us today thank you so
much. What a family you heard some of the important markers of today 600 students
in the class, first building on campus named for two women, it's also first time
in ten years we've had a chance to make an honorific naming of a building on the
campus and we're grateful for all those in accomplishments
and when you think of this building with this name that we're gonna see it just a
few moments standing for decades here on the campus and the students who will
not only go in it every day sue but will walk by it and see names they may not
know all the story but they they'll none the less be inspired and for that
we're very very grateful. The building's 23 years old so we're not having a
groundbreaking but we're breaking ground. We're breaking ground in all these measures
of a campus and its future. so Rochelle and Allison the campus
community is very honored to celebrate your incredible generosity and
commitment to education research and student success
The Campbells have a long history of helping UCR fulfill its mission and
initially began as a way to honor alumnus and world-renowned biology book
author Neil Campbell
My family's affiliation with UCR began when my father was a graduate student
here in the 1970s and he really appreciated UCR both for what it had
done for him and then what it continued to do for the students. So when he passed
away in 2004 my mom was really interested in trying to kind of continue
his legacy. The idea of supporting the Dynamic Genome Project which was
exciting to our family largely because it focused on giving undergraduate
students the opportunity to experience the kind of thrill of real research.
What is going on in that building is really an experiment in science education
students are not having the opportunity to work in labs early in their
undergraduate career. So many students have to wait until they're juniors
or seniors before they actually experience a lab. Science is one of those
things you really have to do. It's not sitting in a lecture hall and hearing a
professor tell you the facts it's how those facts came about and those facts
came about by experimentation and that's actually a very exciting way to teach
science and that's what we do in there.
There's something that I want to take away from today it's the family values
Neil Allison Rochelle the family has a set of understandings about the role
that they might play and their responsibility and energy and trying to
fulfill that role. That too is not only important to us in a meaningful sense
it's so inspiring to all of us. So I think because our relationship with UCR
has sort of grown over time it's given my mother and I an opportunity to kind
of branch out and think about ways that we'd like to support other aspects of
the UCR community. Student success is something that we're really interested
in. We're excited to find small ways that we can make contributions and hopefully you
know ease the way for some of these students. I think this touches on the
spirit of UCR giving students that don't fit the norm opportunities and support
to help them succeed. A lot of our just love for this place is its absolute
commitment to making a really high quality college education accessible to
everybody. Regardless of background and so we are really excited to play a role
in some of those aspects of student success.