A dramatic mountain landscape under a moody sky. A sharp, jagged peak rises in the distance, partially shrouded by dense, textured clouds. In the foreground, a gravel path curves gently through a valley of rocky terrain and dry grass, with patches of moss adding muted green tones. A winding river cuts through the middle ground, reflecting the filtered light that breaks through the clouds.

Creating an ‘environment’ for success

Two landmark leaders of the UCLA Institute for the Environment and Sustainability make it a point to keep giving back

A dramatic mountain landscape under a moody sky. A sharp, jagged peak rises in the distance, partially shrouded by dense, textured clouds. In the foreground, a gravel path curves gently through a valley of rocky terrain and dry grass, with patches of moss adding muted green tones. A winding river cuts through the middle ground, reflecting the filtered light that breaks through the clouds.

Lockenkopf/Pixabay

Emma Horio | October 27, 2025 

Moving science to action has always been a key mission of the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability and its leaders. With compassion and vision, these leaders have also made a very personal commitment to this mission in their own lives. Here are two such stories.

 

A World to Save

Richard and Linda Turco

It’s hard to stop stepping up when it’s become a lifelong habit. For Richard and Linda Turco, their philanthropic legacy is their way of giving thanks for the opportunities their public educations gave them, but it’s also a continuation of Rich Turco’s life’s work at UCLA.

Rich Turco, a distinguished professor emeritus in the atmospheric and ocean sciences department, was also the founding director of IoES. He sees the couple’s philanthropy as a natural next step in his storied career.

“The fact of the matter is that the faculty have benefited the most, if you think about it,” Rich Turco said. “We made good money, had fantastic jobs, got to deal with brilliant people. I certainly feel that we owe the university a great debt — we should be the first ones to step up.”

From receiving a MacArthur fellowship — known colloquially as a “genius grant”— to NASA’s H. Julian Allen Award, Turco is a decorated academic. For his research on the potential global effects of nuclear winter, he won the prestigious Future of Life Award in 2022.

That same year, the Turcos made a $1.5 million pledge to IoES, where it will support graduate students engaged in environmental research. They had previously created an endowed graduate fellowship and a term chair in the department of atmospheric and ocean sciences.

The couple also established a preserve in Bear Valley Springs by purchasing a tract of land historically significant to the Kawaiisu people, who were the original caretakers of that area. The site was dedicated in 2017 and will be preserved and open to the public in perpetuity.

“Part of the reason we’re doing this now, not later, is that we get to see the results, or some results,” Linda Turco said. “We get to see the living, breathing students while we’re still living and breathing, and it’s very gratifying.”

In addition to their support of UCLA, Rich and Linda Turco support Rutgers University and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where Rich Turco did his undergraduate and doctoral studies.

Their philosophy is simple: everyone should have the opportunity to obtain a quality public education, and an educated population will be the key to solving the problems that plague society in the future. It’s a large mission for two people, Linda Turco admits, but that doesn’t stop them from setting their sights as high as possible.

“We can’t save humanity, not alone,” she said, “but we can do our little piece.”

 

A Universe to Explore

Glen MacDonald

Glen MacDonald hadn’t always known higher education was his calling.

“In terms of academia, I was not a great high school student,” MacDonald said. “I loved to be skiing and hiking and stuff like that more than in the books.”

His uncertainty led him to his local community college, where he discovered ecology, biology and history, subjects that set his mind ablaze and left him wanting to know more. MacDonald transferred to UC Berkeley, where he got involved in undergrad research, an experience he credits with illuminating the path to graduate school and his subsequent work as a professor. In 1995, he became a professor of geography at UCLA.

“UCLA opened an entire universe,” MacDonald said. “The colleagues, the facilities, the students: They just expanded my world.”

MacDonald is a distinguished professor in the UCLA Department of Geography and the current holder of the Endowed Chair in Geography of California and the American West. MacDonald is the current director of the White Mountain Research Center, which celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. He served as the director of the UCLA Institute of Environment and Sustainability from 2009 to 2014.

His own journey to higher education continues to shape and inform his work, so MacDonald remains deeply committed to UCLA’s transfer students, who comprise around a quarter of the undergraduate student population.

“I look at my classes and feel a deep affinity, a desire to do good and help them reach their full potential,” MacDonald said. “UCLA changed my life and allowed me to have this fantastic career so I feel a responsibility to give back so that these generations can have the same opportunities that I had.”

Thanks to the generosity of alumnus Hollis Lenderking, MacDonald is able to teach a field course where he takes students camping in the mountains. It’s a formative experience for many.

“Some of these undergraduates have never camped, never seen snow. I have seen that gift transform lives,” he said. “Later, students write to me about their careers and how they’re going forward. When I see something like that, I think to myself, well, even my modest amount can contribute to that effort.”

When he became the director of IoES, MacDonald partnered with development teams on campus to cultivate the Institute’s board and fundraising capabilities.

“There are many academics who are shy about this kind of thing,” MacDonald said. “But I saw the energy that the board and many donors had. I saw how the people in development do great work for the university — and I saw the difference it could make.”

MacDonald still assists with fundraising efforts for the White Mountain Research Center, which he also personally supports. And of course, the lessons he learned as director of IoES continue to guide principles in the work he does today.

“Private philanthropy is going to become a bigger and bigger part of how we offer education and research in universities,” MacDonald said. “We need to build those bridges, and we need to be able to ask people to help us. We have to be able to thank them and give back, not just to those people, but to our students and society more generally, with those gifts.”

In addition to UCLA, MacDonald gives to all of his alma maters, from his high school and UC Berkeley to the Universities of Calgary and Toronto, where he received his master’s and doctoral degrees. He also donates to Cambridge University, Oxford University and the University of St. Andrews in the U.K., where he was a visiting fellow.

“I’ve seen how other people have stepped forward, and I wanted to step forward too,” MacDonald said. “It’s one of the things I feel best about when I look back on my life.”