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One of the three initial buildings at UC Merced, the Leo and Dottie Kolligian Library will be located at the "front door" of the new campus, which is expected to open in fall 2004. The Kolligian Library will house physical collections and information resources to serve the needs of the first American research university to be built this century. Named in honor of Leo Kolligian, a Fresno native and former UC regent, and his late wife, Dottie, the library will house an array of new and traditional information services, computer labs, instructional technology support, multimedia services and library service instructional rooms. Governor Gray Davis' 2001-2002 budget proposal allocates $56.5 million for the library/information technology center. UC Merced Chancellor Carol Tomlinson-Keasey announced a substantial naming gift from Leo Kolligian and his extended family during a celebration on June 11, 2001. The Kolligian gift will establish a permanent endowment for the library. "Leo Kolligian has earned the reputation as the 'father' of the UC Merced campus for his steadfast support of the campus and his unrelenting commitment to ensure that it be located in the San Joaquin Valley," said Tomlinson-Keasey. "His dedicated and devoted wife, Dottie, was his partner in their advocacy for the new campus and was named UC Merced Trustee of the Year in December 2000. It is thus fitting that one of our first buildings at UC Merced honor their legacy." Kolligian, an attorney and developer who received his law degree from UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall, practiced law in Fresno for more than 50 years. He served as Deputy California Attorney General and as a former chairman of the UC Board Regents. As chair, he championed the cause for the first UC campus in the San Joaquin Valley. In 1988, he moved for up to three new UC campuses, with the first one to be built in the Valley, and the Regents unanimously passed his motion. Asked to serve as the first two members of the UC Merced Foundation Board of Trustees, Leo and Dottie Kolligian in turn persuaded other leaders throughout the San Joaquin Valley to join this key advisory board. Leo Kolligian is also past chairman of the Saint Agnes Medical Center Board of Directors, past president of Boys Club of Fresno and the former President of the Armenian General Benevolent Union. He is a former member of the board of directors of the Fresno County Heart Association, Fresno Cancer Society, Sequoia Council of Boy Scouts and Fresno Arts Center, and a trustee of UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law. Dottie Kolligian, also a Fresno native and community leader, founded
the Fresno Chapter of Child Help USA, a community service organization
for abused children, and volunteered at Fresno Community Hospital
for 35 years. She belonged to the Fresno Historical Society's VIP
support group, the La Comida Guild and Service Alliance of Fresno.
She was also active with the Fresno Symphony League, the Fresno
Metropolitan Museum and the Fresno Cancer Society. She attended
the CSU Fresno campus and later established student scholarships
at Harvard University, Stanford University and the University of
California. A talented artist and musician, she was invited to play
in the first violin section of the Fresno Symphony. |
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