Our dear friend and distinguished advisor, Paul Balalis, has made a $45,000 gift to the BioSci Dean’s Excellence Fund. The fund provides the Dean with a critical means of financial support to quickly make strategic investments into high-impact areas for the School. Those areas include strategic faculty hiring, graduate scholarships, proof-of-concept awards and other programs that rely heavily on the use of unrestricted sources of funding.

“With this gift, Sydney and I have made a decision to support the bold vision Dean LaFerla has for the School of Biological Sciences. Our family is proud to be affiliated with the School, and we look forward to working closely with the Dean in the coming years,” said Mr. Balalis.

“We are so very grateful to Paul and Sydney Balalis for this important gift. Paul has been such an amazing icon in Orange County, and having his support represents the highest level of recognition the School can receive from the community,” noted Dean LaFerla.

Our Dean’s Excellence Fund is a perfect avenue for helping us respond to emerging needs in a flexible and timely way to fund promising, high-growth opportunities for the School. For more information, please contact Robyn Martinelli at robyn.martinelli@uci.edu.