This post was updated Feb. 27 at 11:34 a.m.

A recent $10 million pledge from UCLA alumni Helen and Morgan Chu will help support and strengthen the university’s ethnic studies research.

The February pledge will establish four endowed chairs for the Institute of American Cultures’ research centers – including an academic chair at the Asian American Studies Center and directors’ chairs at the American Indian Studies Center, the Chicano Studies Research Center and the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies – said David Yoo, the institute’s vice provost, in an emailed statement. The donation will also help support various center projects and will create a fund for the institute as a whole to further research, Yoo added in the statement.

For example, the CSRC will use its portion of the donation to promote research on the health, well-being and education of young Latinx California residents, devote resources to making UCLA a successful Hispanic-Serving Institution, and support the addition of ethnic studies to the K-12 curriculum, said Veronica Terriquez, the director of the center, in an emailed statement.

“UCLA is located in the most populous county in the United States and serves a very diverse local community,” Terriquez said in the statement. “This donation allows us to further examine questions that matter to local communities, while also raising awareness of our diverse histories and cultures.”

Shannon Speed, the director of AISC, said in an emailed statement that the donation will also help the centers prioritize retention and recruitment, as well as provide directors with the funding to enhance and continue research projects.

Morgan Chu, a lawyer and 1971 political science alumnus, said the couple decided to pledge the donation because they were previously involved in the movement to pressure the university to set up ethnic studies centers.

“We thought it would be a real positive to increase and improve the overall education – not only at UCLA but the community at large – by throwing light on the history, culture, arts, music and everything else about many different minority groups in the United States,” Morgan Chu said.

Morgan Chu said he hopes students will start taking an interest in subjects relating to ethnic studies, whether or not it relates to their field of study.

He also said one idea to solidify the centers’ presence on campus is to house them in the same building and highlight the work of each center through exhibits in the space.

Both Yoo and Terriquez said in their statements that the donation will amplify and sustain the work that the institute and its centers have been doing. Yoo added in the statement that it is easier to make an impact when people are working together.

“The Institute and our centers are celebrating our 55th anniversary in 2024,” Yoo said in the statement. “Our work is needed as much now, if not more, than it was in 1969. We are deeply committed to building upon the legacy of our past to imagine and work toward a more just and equitable society and world in the future.”