When Steve Borowski was a young Anteater back in the late 70s, his house, just steps from the beach on Balboa Peninsula, ran him a cool $87 a month in rent. Tuition, books and parking? Less than $1000 a year.

“Those were the days,” says the now president of Aristotle Capital Management. “Even though a UC education is still a bargain when compared to private institutions, it does carry much more of an economic impact than it once did, hence the increasing need for individual and private sector involvement.”

In that spirit, Borowski has been an avid financial supporter of UCI athletics and for the past two years, he has made generous donations to the UC Irvine Center for Economics & Public Policy, specifically to undergraduate and graduate research on transportation policy.

“In a field of study where much is based on the theoretical, the Center for Economics and Public Policy focuses on real life issues that affect us all. Living in Southern California, transportation is just one of those issues,” he says. “Hopefully with some degree of support we can allow very bright students the resources needed to bring practical solutions to long standing problems.”

Borowski’s prior support has already funded interesting transportation policy research, including an undergraduate study of the effects of London's congestion toll on traffic and pollution, and a graduate study of the extent to which people respond to greater fuel efficiency by driving more, thus offsetting the gains, says David Neumark, economics Chancellor’s Professor and CEPP director.

“We look forward to his support leading to more practical, policy-oriented research by UCI students in the future,” Neumark says.

Borowski is hopeful that with more funding and research partnerships with industry in the local area, UC Irvine and Orange County can become the next Stanford-Silicon Valley.

“Decades ago, Stanford University managed to entrench itself with a newly forming local technology community,” he says. “Over the years that partnership flourished to the benefit of both Stanford and what is now Silicon Valley.”

“With many of the foreign automobile manufacturers having their U.S. or regional headquarters and/or design centers in Orange County, there’s no reason students participating in CEPP programs can’t work in partnership with those manufacturers to leave a UCI imprint on not just the next generation of automobiles, but other forms of transportation as well,” he says.

Borowski has been a member of the School of Social Sciences Dean’s Council for the past 15 years. After earning his bachelor’s degree at UCI, he attended Pepperdine University where he earned his MBA. He serves on the Investment Committee for the Blind Children’s Center in Los Angeles and on the Board of Directors for the Orange County Youth Sports Foundation, the UC Irvine Chancellors Club as well as the UC Irvine Athletic Association.

-Heather Ashbach, Social Sciences Communications
-photo courtesy of Aristotle Capital Management