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Charles Marshall  A letter from the Director, May 2014

Furthering our goals

The Spring Semester 2014 has been a very exciting time for UCMP. Four events stand out for me.

First was the most welcome reinstatement of the UCMP Spring Break field trip (page 5), led by Seth Finnegan with significant contributions from Lisa White. Participants included a diverse cross section of graduate students, collections and education and outreach staff, and some faculty. For me, in my first week as a graduate student in the U.S., David Raup introduced me to Oluwafayisola Adegoke's work on the Kettleman Hills, and it was really exciting to finally see those outcrops, especially with the help of Lisa White's experienced eye.

The second event was a remarkably generous gift from a UCMP alum and his family, given in honor of the inspiring mentorship of Tony Barnosky. Gifts of this magnitude are humbling, and we are most grateful for the help it will give us to support student research in the museum.

The third was an even larger gift, to be spread over several years, to establish the Philip Sandford Boone Chair in Paleontology. Gifts of this kind will help UCMP and Berkeley remain a leader in the face of stiff competition from other institutions for new faculty hires. Both of the donors I've mentioned have asked to remain anonymous, but you know who you are, so thank you once again!

Finally, in two acts of generosity, we established a new annual prize — the Claire Englander Prize — of $250 for student contributions to the collections and/or education and outreach. Claire Englander was one of our most loyal volunteers. In her last days she touched us all by writing a final check to help support Kevin Padian's research — and then Kevin turned the funds over to the UCMP to establish the prize. The gift was not large by most standards, but it was large for Claire, and it is having a real impact on the museum. I am deeply touched by the willingness of UCMP friends, alums, and supporters to offer UCMP support in accord with their means, and every gift makes a real difference to us — thank you!

We would be happy to discuss these new endowments in more detail with you. Please contact me,