Endowments at UCI are invested in perpetuity, and only the interest on the fund is spendable. This means that the Givens’ generous endowment will provide travel funds for graduate students for years to come.
Given began his teaching career at the University of Michigan. In 1979, he earned a teaching position at Harvard. Despite the handsome salary at an Ivy League school, Given is grateful he ended up at UCI. “It was much more interesting than if I had stayed at Harvard. At Irvine, I really felt like I was playing a role, a not insignificant role, in helping to build up a very impressive university.”
Given came to UCI to teach medieval European history in 1984, and stayed for 28 years. During that time, the student body grew from 11,000 to over 30,000, diversity flourished and instruction and research “vastly improved.”
Given retired in 2012. Now, he and his wife live in the Columbia River Gorge area just north of Portland, Ore.