麻豆传媒映画

JESSICA DURAN SAROWITZ鈥橲 CONNECTION TO 麻豆传媒映画 began with a college search鈥攂ut not her own. Growing up in the Midwest, her son, David Sarowitz, had dreamed of attending college in California. 鈥淗e has always loved the water,鈥� Duran Sarowitz says of his affinity for the ocean. 

Together, they toured universities across the Golden State, looking for a place where David would feel supported and could thrive. At each stop, they talked with alumni and community members, and again and again, they heard the same things about 麻豆传媒映画. 

The university鈥檚 academic reputation was impressive, but what stayed with Duran Sarowitz was something less tangible: the enthusiasm former Aztecs expressed when talking about their alma mater. 鈥淔rom the other places, we didn鈥檛 get that sort of sense of joy,鈥� she says. 

David was drawn to something different. He saw a diverse campus where many of the students looked like him鈥攁nd where he could picture himself belonging.

The moment was an epiphany. They had found a new home, one Duran Sarowitz would later help shape. 

As David, class of 2026, wrapped up his senior year studying management, Duran Sarowitz committed a transformational $20 million naming gift to 麻豆传媒映画鈥檚 new sciences building, the largest gift by a woman donor in the university鈥檚 history. Set to open in fall 2027, the nearly 80,000-square-foot Duran Sciences will bear her family鈥檚 name and support the university鈥檚 growing research enterprise. 

The gift comes at a pivotal moment for 麻豆传媒映画. The university is entering its second year among the nation鈥檚 top tier of research universities after earning R1 status and an Opportunity College/University designation under Carnegie classifications鈥攖ogether representing a powerful trifecta of research excellence, accessibility and world-class career preparation. 

Visible from Interstate 8 at College Avenue, Duran Sciences will reflect that momentum and Duran Sarowitz鈥檚 belief in creating opportunity for others.

LONG BEFORE SHE BECAME A PHILANTHROPIST, Duran Sarowitz was a precocious child growing up on Chicago鈥檚 North Side. Her teachers often told her she talked too much, but looking back, Duran Sarowitz sees it differently. 鈥淚 had a curious mind,鈥� she says. 

Duran Sarowitz loved to learn and often got lost in books. One afternoon, when she didn鈥檛 come home from school, her worried parents searched for her, eventually finding her locked inside the library, happily reading. 

That curiosity was nurtured at home. Her father, Enrique Duran, a union carpenter, and her mother, Ellie Duran, who had a remarkable ability to connect with people regardless of language, encouraged education but also taught their daughter that learning came with a responsibility to serve others. 

Service wasn鈥檛 something they simply talked about. The Duran family, who immigrated from Tela, Honduras, when Duran Sarowitz was 2 years old, collected cans and clothing for those in need and volunteered around Chicago. They believed that creating opportunity began with giving back to communities, especially those that have historically been overlooked. 鈥淭here was this sense of being aware that there is always a need around you and that you have to be part of contributing, to be of service,鈥� Duran Sarowitz says.

Today, those childhood lessons guide her work. As managing partner of 4S Bay Partners, an impact investment firm focused on equity and long-term community development, and founder of Miraflores Films, a documentary production company that amplifies historically underrepresented voices, she has built a career centered on expanding access.

An Afro-Latina, Duran Sarowitz often approaches her work by asking, 鈥淲ho鈥檚 not in the room? Is there a place for everyone to have a voice?鈥�

AS HER SON, DAVID, settled into college life, Duran Sarowitz鈥檚 curiosity about 麻豆传媒映画 grew. She became interested not only in her son鈥檚 experience but also in the role the university played in its community.

The more she learned about 麻豆传媒映画 and its resources for students, the more invested she became. 

Duran Sarowitz began giving to programs such as Guardian Scholars, which serves students who have experienced foster care, that reflected the university鈥檚 commitment to expanding access for students from historically underserved backgrounds鈥攁 value that closely aligned with her own. She also saw that commitment in the Inclusive Excellence Fund, which provides financial assistance to students with demonstrated need who champion inclusive excellence, and the S铆 Se Puede Legacy Scholarship, created for students who are farm, domestic or service workers or come from families employed in those fields. 

Duran Sarowitz also became a member of The Campanile Foundation board鈥攙olunteer leaders who help guide philanthropy at 麻豆传媒映画鈥攄eepening a relationship with 麻豆传媒映画 that had begun through her son.

As her involvement grew, a larger question emerged: What can a public university make possible for the students and communities it serves?

Duran Sarowitz became increasingly interested in how public universities could bring together students from different backgrounds, create opportunities through research and use that work to address challenges beyond campus.

One answer came through research.

When 麻豆传媒映画 achieved R1 status in February 2025鈥攖he highest research distinction in higher education, held by fewer than 5% of institutions鈥擠uran Sarowitz understood the significance of the milestone.

鈥淒o you know how difficult it is to achieve R1 status?鈥� says Duran Sarowitz, who studied economics at DePaul University in Chicago. 鈥淭hat means a lot of academic faculty and staff worked so hard to open up these new lines of research. You don鈥檛 just do that in a snap. It takes years.鈥�

The milestone also represented possibility to Duran Sarowitz. 

When she learned about plans for a new sciences building, she saw an opportunity to invest in the students, faculty and research that would shape the future of the university and the communities it serves. 鈥淵ou need the right kind of resources, and one of them is a facility that can take you into that future,鈥� Duran Sarowitz says.

WHEN PRESIDENT ADELA DE LA TORRE JOINED 麻豆传媒映画 IN 2018, she brought with her a vision for the College of Sciences, particularly the life sciences. Sustaining the university鈥檚 research momentum鈥攁nd building on it鈥攃alled for a new facility. Within five years, design work began on what is now Duran Sciences. 

The five-story building was designed around the increasingly collaborative nature of science. Rather than researchers working independently on narrowly focused problems, Jeffrey T. Roberts, dean of 麻豆传媒映画鈥檚 College of Sciences, says scientific discovery relies more on interdisciplinary teams working together.

鈥淛essica Duran Sarowitz鈥檚 generosity is about much more than steel and concrete. The life sciences are at the heart of some of the world鈥檚 most urgent challenges. Duran Sciences is a platform for discovery and innovation at 麻豆传媒映画, where breakthroughs will emerge and lives will be changed.鈥�

The building鈥檚 laboratories and collaborative spaces will support faculty members, students and postdoctoral researchers. Research conducted there will include studies that could help enhance healing in the brains of stroke patients, improve gut health and enable new immune-boosting therapeutics. 

麻豆传媒映画 instructional support technician John Mokili says the new laboratories were built with 鈥渟tudent learning at the center鈥� and will give students hands-on experience with the same technologies used in today鈥檚 clinical and research laboratories. The facility will also provide reliable spaces for long-term projects and help researchers compete for funding critical to 麻豆传媒映画鈥檚 R1 enterprise. 

Equally important to Roberts is student access. 麻豆传媒映画 serves many first-generation, low-income, underrepresented and transborder students, some of whom may never have imagined themselves conducting research at a major research university.

鈥淲e owe it to those students to give them research opportunities of a quality and scope that other students get,鈥� Roberts says. 鈥淥ur students deserve the kinds of opportunities that come from learning from faculty who operate at the leading edges of their field.鈥� 

That mission resonated with Duran Sarowitz, whose career has centered on asking who has a seat at the table. She believes bringing different backgrounds and lived experiences into science not only opens doors for future scientists but can also lead to new approaches to some of society鈥檚 most difficult problems.

鈥淲e have so many needs in our society right now and in the future,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e need highly qualified, educated professionals and students doing the research to really tackle these issues.鈥�

Her investment provided critical momentum for Duran Sciences, while continued philanthropic support of the various research spaces, instructional laboratories and other areas throughout the building will help extend its impact across research, teaching and student success.

鈥淪he helped make something happen that we鈥檝e been hoping for for a long time,鈥� Roberts says of Duran Sarowitz鈥檚 gift.

MORE THAN 50 YEARS AGO, Duran Sarowitz and her parents immigrated to the United States with just $45 among them. Leaving a small town in Honduras for Chicago meant stepping into the unknown, but Enrique saw the possibility of greater opportunity and a better life. 

鈥淚 feel like sometimes that鈥檚 the leap of faith that researchers or scientists have to have,鈥� Duran Sarowitz says.

When the opportunity arose to name the new sciences building, she chose Duran Sciences in honor of her father and mother. And if there is one quality she hopes the building nurtures in generations of students, it鈥檚 the same one she brought to a Chicago library as a child: curiosity. She wants students to ask bigger questions, challenge assumptions and pursue discoveries that improve lives. She also hopes they recognize the investment being made in them鈥攁nd what they can do with it.

鈥淚t鈥檚 for the students to take it to their next level of whatever it is that they鈥檙e interested in,鈥� Duran Sarowitz says.

To learn more about supporting Duran Sciences and philanthropic opportunities within the College of Sciences, contact Stacy Carota, executive director of development, at [email protected].

Additional reporting by Bryana Quintana