Briefly in education

A renowned UC Irvine professor who studies the affects of adrenaline

on memory received a major adrenaline rush of his own Friday when a

building was named in his honor.

The Biological Sciences II building became McGaugh Hall in recognition

of James McGaugh, a pioneering neurobiologist and founder of a center for

learning and memory research.

McGaugh is one of UCI’s original faculty members and founded the

Department of Neurobiology and Behavior in 1964.

“Dean Steinhaus, [the original dean], was remarkably foresighted in

choosing a 32-year-old scientist five years after his PhD as the first

chairman of a department of an entirely new kind,” chemistry professor F.

Sherwood Rowland said.

McGaugh has been conducting learning and memory research for the past

40 years. One of his major discoveries showed that stimulant drugs

enhance memories when taken immediately after learning. He built the

Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory in 1983, raising $6 million in private funds. With 23 faculty members from UCI and other

California universities, it is one of the largest neurobiological

research centers in the world that investigates learning and memory.

McGaugh has also played a key role in the campus’ administration,

serving as dean of biological sciences, vice chancellor of academic

affairs and the first executive vice chancellor.

McGaugh said he thought it fitting that his building faces Steinhaus

Hall and is adjacent to Nobel Prize winner Roland’s Hall and Aldrich

Park, named after the original chancellor.

“I’m surrounded by all the people who brought me here,” McGaugh said.

McGaugh and his wife, Becky, live in Newport Beach.