The UCLA School of Nursing will be renamed after Joe C. Wen, following a $30 million donation, the university announced Aug. 5.

The donation was the largest-ever gift in the nursing school’s history, which will be UCLA’s first to be named after an Asian American.

“For 76 years, there has never been a transformative donation,” said Lin Zhan, dean of the School of Nursing. “This is the first one.”

The donation was intended to increase the visibility of the nursing profession, alleviate structural barriers towards becoming a nurse and inspire other philanthropists to contribute to the School of Nursing, Zhan said. The donation will help support new doctoral students – particularly those in the school’s new dual nursing degree program – and fund enhancements to the School of Nursing’s skills lab and simulations, she added.

“Nursing is the backbone of the healthcare system but often doesn’t get enough recognition. I want to support this important profession and inspire others to do the same,” said Wen, a UCLA alumnus, in a written statement. “UCLA has a great School of Nursing, and I hope this gift will give the school the resources it needs to take its academic, clinical, and research programs to the next level.”

All allocation of these funds will be determined during a future retreat open to faculty, staff and student representatives, Zhan said.

The federal government suspended $584 million in grants from the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health and Department of Energy in late July, claiming that UCLA has allowed antisemitism, affirmative action and “men to compete in women’s sports.”

Aaron Hilf, the director of communications for the School of Nursing, said in an emailed statement that School of Nursing researchers were impacted by the federal funding freeze.

A federal judge ordered the federal government to restore suspended NSF grants to UCLA on Tuesday night. Despite that, the frozen NIH and DOE grants remain suspended.

“Given the tremendous federal funds have been suspended, which impacted many researchers across the campus, this leads to some positive news,” Zhan said.

Dorothy Wiley, a professor at the School of Nursing, said she was “astonished” by the gift. Amid the federal funding freeze, the gift means more – and it will do more than just “to keep the lights on,” Wiley added.

Wiley added that she anticipates that the School of Nursing will allocate the funds wisely and use them to serve the community.

“It’s really building on that legacy, and this particular gift – this encounter – is allowing us to do even more,” she said. “It supports our doctoral students in replacing us.”

Wen, a businessman from Southern California, previously donated $50 million to the UC Irvine School of Population and Public Health in 2024.

The process of renaming the school initially started in 2022, Zhan said, when she first reached out to Wen following his donation to UC Irvine. Wen’s decision to donate was motivated by the continuous care his parents received from nurses and physicians when they were hospitalized, she added.

“The donor made it very clear, and his fund is to focus on the strategic priorities,” Zhan said. “It has to be impactful to community, in terms of the healthy people, healthy community and healthy families and patients.”

Zhan said the funding will amplify the School of Nursing’s public spotlight and its prior accomplishments – including the establishment of a nursing master’s program and a nursing scientists’ research group.

Lauren Furtick, a doctoral student in the School of Nursing called the moment “historic” and indicative of the donor’s faith in the importance of nursing and nursing education.

Furtick said Wen’s gift has the potential to strengthen every aspect of the nursing system, creating a ripple effect that can affect patients and communities for decades.

“I think it represents a diverse and supportive community that I’m proud to be a part of already,” she said.