Alumni couple to receive 2025 UC Davis Medal, university’s highest honor

The 2025 UC Davis Medal will be awarded to Michael C. and Renée Z. Child, who have dedicated themselves to the University of California, Davis, and their communities throughout their lives.

The alumni couple, who met as undergraduates in the early 1970s, have remained deeply committed to UC Davis, volunteering their leadership and insight to advance many areas of the university.

“Renée and Mike Child’s impact can be felt across UC Davis and our mission of teaching, research and public service,” said Chancellor Gary S. May. “Their years of visionary partnership have enabled innovation and entrepreneurship, supported student success, and provided hands-on opportunities that make our Aggie community thrive. Renée and Mike embody this highest UC Davis honor.”

Mike Child is a member of the Chancellor’s Board of Advisors and emeritus member and former chair of the UC Davis Foundation Board. Previously, he served on the College of Engineering Dean’s Executive Committee and Graduate School of Management Dean’s Advisory Council.  Renée Child has served on the College of Letters and Science Dean’s Advisory Council.

Whether it’s the first endowed coaching position, an athletics center, entrepreneurship training, research in language development or the Bodega Marine Lab, the Childs have had a hand in advancing key endeavors and research areas at UC Davis. Beneficiaries of major gifts from the couple have included the Mike and Renée Child Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Graduate School of Management, the College of Engineering, Athletics, the Center for Mind and Brain in the College of Letters and Science, and the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing.

The Childs are the 29th recipients of the medal, the university’s highest honor, putting them in company with 2020 Nobel Laureate Charles Rice, artist Wayne Thiebaud, and fellow philanthropists Maria Manetti Shrem and Robert and Margrit Mondavi.

“Mike and I are honored and humbled by this award,” said Renée Child. “Our parents, our siblings and our children attended University of California campuses and have all benefited from the UC’s commitment to academic excellence. UC Davis provided Mike and me with a wonderful educational experience. We are grateful to stay connected and witness its growth as it continues to offer expanded opportunities for a talented and diverse group of faculty and students to pursue their dreams.”

Mike Child has more than 37 years of experience in the private equity industry and is passionate about entrepreneurship. He earned his bachelor’s degree in 1976 in electrical engineering and his MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1980.

Renée Child — who was a special education teacher for visually impaired students — also earned her bachelor’s degree in 1976 in psychology and German. She earned an M.A. in education from San Francisco State University in 1979.

The couple live in the San Francisco Bay Area. Two of their five children graduated from UC Davis.

Student scholarship

The Childs have been involved across multiple departments, centers and colleges of UC Davis in volunteer leadership positions. They also have funded student fellowships, awards and curriculum — from contributing to Native American STEM students in mathematics and engineering to helping catalyze the first undergraduate business degree program at UC Davis, which will enroll its first students in fall 2025.

They funded the first-ever endowed coaching position (in water polo) and the first endowed professorship in the College of Engineering, among multiple professorships across campus.

In addition, their support has helped build new spaces across campus to offer students world-class facilities for growing and learning, including the Edwards Family Athletic Center and the Diane Bryant Engineering Student Design Center.

Research dedication

The Childs have been personally dedicated to research in a variety of areas, including a seed grant endowment in the Center for Mind and Brain. Through the Renée and Mike Child Family Fund, their generosity has supported pilot studies on child cognitive brain development, attention deficit disorders, deafness and hearing loss, classroom learning challenges, and the effects of poverty on brain development and life outcomes.

This work has resulted in two patents and millions of dollars in full-scale federal grants from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the Department of Defense.

Supporting entrepreneurship

The Childs’ gift of $5.5 million created the Mike and Renée Child Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in 2011. Their gift provided an endowment that broadened the outreach and programming of the center, first created in 2006.

With a further gift of $5.2 million in 2020 to the Graduate School of Management and the School of Engineering, they enhanced the endowment and supported the expansion of innovation and entrepreneurship education.

“Throughout my business career, I have worked alongside entrepreneurs to tackle complex challenges, creating valuable solutions that benefit society in countless ways,” said Mike Child. “UC Davis stands at the forefront of innovation, technology, science, food, agriculture, the arts and medicine. We hope that by fostering exposure to entrepreneurship, UC Davis can inspire both students and faculty to explore new possibilities and pursue impactful ventures.”

Today, the institute helps UC Davis researchers find a path to commercialization and helps students across diverse academic disciplines develop the entrepreneurial mindset, skills and tools critical to addressing social and economic challenges throughout the world.  

With support from the Childs, the institute has awarded $1.5 million to create more than 200 new ventures; has established 900 fellowships for post-doctoral, graduate and undergraduate students; and has brought together more than 800 entrepreneurs, investors and professionals into a network of mentors. More than 3,500 faculty, staff and students have been trained in its entrepreneurship academies.

More than 8,000 people have participated in business competitions held by the institute, including the Big Bang! and Little Bang! business competitions. The Big Bang!, which is open to all students, faculty and staff in California institutes of higher learning, celebrates its 25th year in 2025.

Giving to their community

Outside of UC Davis, the Childs’ philanthropy and volunteer efforts focus on local educational and human services organizations, such as Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Palo Alto, the Rich May Memorial Field in East Palo Alto, and Sacred Heart Schools in Atherton. Mike Child is a current volunteer at Sacred Heart Schools, which each of their five children attended, and is a past trustee (2000-2010).