The University of California, San Diego has announced a $14 million commitment from Joan K. and Irwin M. Jacobs in support of its School of Global Policy and Strategy.

The endowment gift will support the school's Center on Global Transformation (CGT), which provides seed grants for research focused on the ways in which global economic and political structures are changing and how advances in science and technology improve policy and alter the distribution of wealth around the world. The gift also will support the center's Pacific Leadership Fellows program, which works to develop a network of global leaders by hosting ambassadors and thought leaders for discussions about the pressing issues of the twenty-first century.

At the request of the couple, who have supported the center since its launch in 2006, CGT will be renamed the Peter F. Cowhey Center for Global Transformation in recognition of the school's dean, who is retiring this summer to become professor emeritus after serving as dean for nearly two decades.

"Joan and I are very proud of the Center on Global Transformation's accomplishments addressing questions of science, technology, and the global economy through scholarship and policy analysis," said Irwin Jacobs. "With Dean Cowhey's innovative leadership, the center and School of Global Policy and Strategy have developed and maintained a network of leaders that will shape public policy over the coming decades."