Los Angeles civic leader Carolbeth Korn (Beverly Hills) was presented with the Dean's Award from the UCLA School of Public Health at today's commencement ceremonies. Korn received the award, the highest non-academic honor given by the school each year, for her longtime support and numerous contributions to the school.

"Carolbeth Korn has been a friend of the students, faculty and staff of the UCLA School of Public Health for many years," said Dr. Linda Rosenstock, dean of the school. "She was one of the founding members of the Dean's Advisory Board and has been a dedicated, tireless ally in fulfilling our school's mission to improve the public's health through teaching, research and service."

Korn is an active community and civic leader in California. She graduated from UCLA in 1959 with a bachelor's degree in public health. While at UCLA, she also received a fellowship in biostatistics from the National Institutes of Health.

In 2006, Korn chose to create and endow in perpetuity an annual $10,000 prize honoring the outstanding graduating student from the School of Public Health. Recipients of the Carolbeth Korn Prize are selected by the school's faculty leadership and dean and are announced during the school's annual awards event.

Korn's 1997 donation to the UCLA School of Public Health was, at the time, the largest unrestricted gift in the school's history. In recognition of her generosity, the Dean's Meeting Room was renamed the Carolbeth Korn Meeting Room. Korn also serves on and was a founding member of the school's advisory board.

Korn is a member of The UCLA Foundation Governors and serves on the board of directors of UCLA's Women & Philanthropy. She has supported the campus's Rhonda Fleming Mann Resource Center for Women With Cancer and the Sue K. Young Scholarship Fund. In 1990, she received the Neil H. Jacoby Award from the UCLA International Student Center.

Korn is married to Lester B. Korn, co-founder of Korn/Ferry International and a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Economic and Social Council. She met her husband while both were students at UCLA.

As a couple, they have been active at UCLA for many years. The Carolbeth and Lester Korn Convocation Hall at the UCLA Anderson School of Management is named in recognition of their significant contributions. They also assisted in the establishment of the John Wooden Center and the James E. West Alumni Center at UCLA and continue to support the Chancellor's Cabinet.

In addition to her activities at UCLA, Korn serves on the President's Cabinet of the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace Foundation and is a member of the Chairman's Club of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum. She is also a founding member of the Los Angeles Library Foundation Council and a Republican National Committee donor. In addition, she actively supports the Hestia Fund of Boston, which keeps playgrounds open and supervised after school in lower-income areas.

Korn has been active in the Los Angeles Music Center, serving on its board of directors and executive committee. She is the chairman of the center's founders advisory committee and was chairman and chief executive officer of the Music Center Founders League from 1999 to 2003, when she was elected chairman emeritus. She has been a Blue Ribbon member for more than 25 years and in 1994 was Blue Ribbon chair of the center's children's festival. She has been a member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic board of overseers since 2002 and is currently a benefactor of the Los Angeles Opera.

In the business world, Korn has been a trustee of AmBase Corporation Mutual Funds, was a founder of the First Beverly Bank in Beverly Hills and is a member of the board of Korn-Tuttle Capital Group. Additionally, she serves as a director of the Korn Capital Group.

The UCLA School of Public Health is dedicated to enhancing the public's health by conducting innovative research, training future leaders and health professionals, translating research into policy and practice, and serving local, national and international communities. For more information, visit www.ph.ucla.edu.

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