By EILEEN CONRAD

AS UCSB GRAPPLED with huge reductions in state funding during 2009-2010, alumni, parents, and friends responded with overwhelming generosity, contributing $44.5 million for scholarships, teaching, research, and academic programs, an increase of nearly $4 million over the previous year.

Thus far, the multi-year Campaign for UC Santa Barbara has generated almost $590 million for priority projects and initiatives that will help ensure the campus’s excellence for future generations.

“UCSB is gratified by the resounding generosity and the shared vision of our dedicated alumni and friends, particularly in these challenging times,” said Chancellor Henry T. Yang. “Their extraordinary commitment and support for the university will provide much-needed financial support for students, teaching, and research, and help ensure that UCSB does not compromise its commitment to innovation, access, and excellence.”

By the end of the fiscal year on June 30, the campus had received a record 18,023 gifts. Contributions and grants from individuals, foundations, and corporations were distributed across the disciplines, with a substantial increase in support for students, instruction, and academic programs.

To help students counteract the rising cost of a UC education, donations for scholarships and fellowships increased by nearly 50 percent, to more than $5 million, reflecting the growing generosity of UCSB parents, alumni, and friends. The recent gifts to the campus will advance “Project You Can,” a University of California systemwide effort to raise $1 billion for student support over the next four years. These gifts will assist in efforts to keep UC both accessible and affordable.

A number of benefactors made permanent investments in UCSB’s future in the form of endowments amounting to more than $10 million, up from $5.5 million the previous year. Investment income generated by endowments provides ongoing funding for specific purposes designated by donors.

Major student endowment gifts included a scholarship bequest of $757,000, established in memory of UCSB alumnus Kevin Christensen; and $500,000 from longtime campus benefactor Sara Miller McCune for the intern and public service program that will carry her name at the Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion, and Public Life.

Three new endowed chairs were established last year by alumni and friends to support teaching and research, with gifts totaling more than $2 million. They are the Glen and Susanne Culler Chair in Computer Science; the Jack and Laura Dangermond Chair in Geography; and the Wayne Rosing, Simon and Diana Raab Chair in Theoretical Astrophysics in the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP). The Kavli Foundation matched the gifts for the KITP professorship, donating $1 million to the general endowment of the internationally renowned research institute.

Since the campaign began in 2000, a total of 59 endowed chairs have been established, bringing the campus total to 83. Similarly, 149 new fellowships have been created to attract and support outstanding graduate students.