Longtime UC Merced supporter honored for distinguished service to education

Fred Ruiz’s support of UC Merced goes back decades and includes substantial contributions through philanthropy, advocacy and service.

For his commitment to UC Merced and to education in the San Joaquin Valley, Ruiz has been named this year’s winner of the James L. Fisher Award for Distinguished Service to Education.

Ruiz was honored at a luncheon this week in New York hosted by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). The Fisher Award is one of six Distinguished Service Awards presented by CASE at the luncheon, in conjunction with the CASE Summit for Leaders in Advancement. The awards honor extraordinary service in education and the field of educational advancement, which includes alumni relations, fundraising, communications and marketing.

CASE President and CEO Sue Cunningham and Board of Trustees Chair Jim Harris said Ruiz understood the impact UC Merced would make in the region well before the campus was on the map.

“Through his philanthropy and volunteerism with the University of California, Merced, Mr. Ruiz inspires, encourages and supports students who are pursuing their dreams of a higher education,” Cunningham and Harris wrote. “Mr. Ruiz embodies the true spirit of philanthropy — giving back to ignite change and inspire others to do the same. His strong commitment to underserved communities, and his belief that education can make the difference in changing one’s life, sets Fred apart as a true leader.”

Ruiz, chairman emeritus and co-founder of Ruiz Foods, is a founding member of the UC Merced Foundation Board of Trustees and served as regent on the University of California’s governing board from 2004 to 2016.

His financial support to the university includes several endowments, including the Ruiz Family Chair in Entrepreneurship; the Fred and Mitzie Ruiz Endowed Fellowship for graduate students who contribute to diversity; and the Rose R. Ruiz Endowed Scholarship and Fellowship Fund to support undocumented and first-generation college students.

In addition, Ruiz was the lead donor in establishing a $1 million UC Merced Foundation Board of Trustees Presidential endowed chair, which will recognize an outstanding scholar at the campus.

“For more than three decades, I have served in numerous leadership roles within higher education, and I have rarely witnessed the kind of leadership, generosity and commitment that Mr. Ruiz embodies,” Chancellor Dorothy Leland said. “Fred is one of those exceptional individuals who truly leads by example, and the University of California and UC Merced specifically have greatly benefited from his thoughtful and enthusiastic engagement.”

UC Solar Awarded $1.1M Grant to Build Solar-Powered Water Purification Systems

UC Solar, headquartered at UC Merced, received a $1.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) to develop solar-thermal desalination technologies that reduce the cost of creating fresh water from otherwise unusable waters such as seawater, brackish water and polluted water.

UC Solar Director and UC Merced Professor Roland Winston will lead a team that includes professors Gerardo Diaz and James Palko, focused on developing low-cost, portable technologies that collect and store solar-thermal energy that can be used to power water-purification systems.

The project was one of 14 selected to receive SETO funding as part of an effort to reduce the cost of solar-thermal desalination and help the technology to reach new markets, including rural areas not connected to the electrical grid.

Solar-thermal desalination involves capturing and concentrating sunlight and converting it into heat to evaporate salty or polluted waters. The vapor is captured and cooled back into liquid. Salts and other impurities do not generally travel with water vapor, so the water that emerges after cooling is clean and can be used in everyday applications such as agriculture and industry or integrated into municipal water systems.

UC Solar is a multi-campus research collaborative launched in 2010 that comprises researchers from nine UC campuses and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. UC Solar is dedicated to applied solar research and the development of innovative technologies that make solar energy systems more efficient, affordable and easier to integrate.

This story was originally published July 22, 2018 at 1:16 PM.