Events in the news this week.

Irvine Co. Chairman Donald L. Bren, whose philanthropic largess has often benefited UC Irvine, and chemistry professor F. Sherwood Rowland, who has researched the depletion of the Earth’s ozone shield, will be among four recipients of the UCI Medal during the university’s Honors Convocation on Friday.

Bren was honored for his gifts to UCI, particularly his agreement last year to remove a deed restriction and allow development of a joint university-commercial research park on land purchased from the Irvine Co. 25 years ago. Rowland, who discovered that a common compound used in air-conditioning systems and cleaning solvents was destroying the ozone layer, is credited with launching a global effort to ban the compound.

The medal, UCI’s highest honor, will also go to Richard Hausman, former vice president of Allergan Pharmaceuticals Inc. and founding president of the UCI College of Medicine Foundation Board of Directors, and Howard Schneiderman, former dean of UCI’s School of Biological Sciences and now senior vice president and chief scientist at Monsanto Co., St. Louis.

The bronze UCI Medal was established in 1984 to honor those who have made significant contributions to the university. Founding Chancellor Daniel G. Aldrich Jr., now emeritus, received the first UCI Medal.