? Undergraduate Scholarship Program: Chancellor Pradeep Khosla announced the Chancellor’s Associates Scholars undergraduate scholarship program April 17, which will provide $10,000 annually for a period of four years to UCSD-admitted graduates of the Preuss School UCSD, Lincoln High School and Gompers Preparatory Academy.
Students participating in the program must also be eligible for the UC Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan, which covers educational and student services fees for California residents for students whose families earn less than $80,000 annually. The pilot program will begin this fall and will be offered to about 45 students the three schools combined. The Chancellor’s Associates donor group will fund the undergraduate scholarship program, with annual member investments of $2,500 each.
? Happiest Freshmen: UCSD has been ranked sixth in the nation in U.S. Department of Education statistics for the top 25 state universities with the highest freshmen retention rates.
The top five universities with the greatest percentage of freshmen remaining at the university for their sophomore year include UCLA, UC Berkeley, the United States Naval Academy, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Virginia. UCLA has a 96.9 percent retention rate, and UCSD has a 95.8 percent retention rate. The average retention rate for four-year public institutions is 72.2 percent, according to ACT, Inc. statistics.
? UCSD Graduate Students Inducted Into Bouchet Graduate Honor Society: Ten UCSD graduate students were inducted into the Edward A. Bouchet Graduate Honor Society last week for achievements in academia and in promoting diversity for higher education. UCSD is the only university on the west coast to have a Bouchet Graduate Honor Society chapter, established in 2008. The society was founded by Yale University and Howard University in 2005. The recognized UCSD students attended the induction ceremony at the annual Yale Bouchet Conference on Diversity at Yale on April 19 to April 20.
“Through the Bouchet Society, we’re establishing a cohort of UC San Diego graduate students who are committed to diversity in higher education,” Dean of Graduate Studies Kim Barrett said in an interview with UCSD News Center. “It’s also a way for the university to celebrate and show appreciation for the work that these students are doing.”
? Geisel Library Named Fifth Most Beautiful Library: UCSD’s Geisel Library was named the fifth most beautiful library in the world as part of last week’s National Library Week. The library, designed in the 1960s and named after Audrey and Theodor Seuss Geisel in 1995, was listed before the Seattle Central Library and the Salt Lake City Public Library in statistics from the American Library Association. The association’s national library week occurs every April as part of an effort to give recognition to libraries and their workers. Other libraries on the list included the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., the New York Public Library, Switzerland’s Abbey Library, and the Vatican City’s Vatican Library.
? Missing Woman Found Dead: San Diego homicide detectives found the body of a woman in Kearney Mesa on Thursday. The body was identified as belonging to 23-year-old missing person Grace Ann Hall. According to the San Diego Police Department, who found Hall inside of a Toyota Camry, Hall seemed to have sustained suspicious injuries and trauma. The cause of her death is yet to be released. Hall had been missing for a month, last seen on March 20 en route to Sherman Oaks for a job interview.
