UCLA has announced a new research institute within the Division of Social Sciences, funded by Barbra Streisand. The institute’s mission is to promote interdisciplinary exploration and problem solving regarding various societal problems, and will consist of four centers including the Center for the Impact of Climate Change.  

A trailblazer and icon in the entertainment industry, Streisand is also a longstanding civil rights and environmental supporter and advocate. Having funded some of the earliest climate change research in 1989, conducted at the Environmental Defense Fund, she is now supporting further work to improve the world for future generations. 

“It is my great pleasure to be able to fund an institute at UCLA, one of the world’s premier universities,” she said. This will be a place where future scholars can discuss, engage and argue about the most important issues of the day; where innovators will speak truth to power, help save our planet, and make glass ceilings for women an anachronism; and in the process give us a chance to have a brighter, more promising future.” 

The other three centers will be for the Truth in the Public Sphere, Dynamics of Intimacy & Power Between Women & Men, and Impact of Art on Culture. 

Learn more about Barbra Streisand’s philanthropic work and the new institute at UCLA Newsroom. 

Image Source: Barbra Streisand