UC San Diego Alumni
Celebrate 50 Fabulous Years
at Founders' Day and Weekend Activities

December 03, 2010

By Kim Wenrick

Alumnus Gary Curtis '69, was a featured speaker at the Founders' Day celebration.

UC San Diego alumni celebrated the university’s 50th anniversary with a weekend full of Founders’ Day programs and events. Academic divisions, schools, colleges and other university friends, teamed with Alumni Affairs staff and alumni leadership to plan the three exciting days of festivities.

“The Alumni Association created memorable experiences over Founders’ Day weekend for over 1,700 alumni and friends—including more than 100 of our charter class alumni—who attended our 15 events celebrating alumni,” said Armin Afsahi, executive director and assistant vice chancellor of Alumni Affairs. “This couldn’t have been possible without the collaboration of academic divisions, schools, colleges and campus partners and the leadership of our alumni who served as honorary chairs and volunteers throughout the weekend.”

Alumnus Anthony Jackson,'74, M.D., parent of a UC San Diego student, and student support advocate, enjoys the Founders' Day program.

On Thursday, November 18, 350 alumni enjoyed the Founders’ Day celebration in UC San Diego’s Town Square with music, dancing and a walk down memory lane. Historic videos and remarks from Chancellor Marye Anne Fox, Mayor Jerry Sanders, distinguished alumni Gary Curtis and Rodney Hood, M.D., founding faculty member and Professor Emeritus Walter Munk, McArthur “genius” award winner Professor Carol Padden, Chancellor and UC President Emeritus Robert Dynes, Chair of the UC San Diego Foundation Board Julia Brown, and student speakers AS President Wafa Ben Hassine and student speech contest winner Joseph Fejeran each added his or her unique perspective to this historic event.

Prior to the ceremonies, charter class alumni enjoyed a special lunch in the Ida and Cecil Green Faculty Club and a pre-event reception at the Alumni Affairs Boardroom, and UC San Diego faculty and staff alumni participated in a pre-event reception at The Loft to celebrate the more than 2,500 UC San Diego faculty and staff who are alumni.

“We are especially thrilled to have welcomed our charter alumni back to campus during Founders’ Weekend,” says Afsahi. “The privilege of hearing the stories from these charter class graduates made us keenly aware of why we do what we do, and why alumni matter.”

Charter Class members enjoyed a special lunch at the Faculty Club prior to the Founders' Day celebration

The Division of Biological Sciences hosted 200 alumni and others at a lecture in the Calit2 auditorium by UC San Diego biology pioneer and Nobel laureate Susumu Tonegawa, Ph.D. ’68. Tonegawa received the Nobel Prize for Physiology in 1987 for his discovery of the genetic mechanism that produces antibody diversity. Tonegawa is UC San Diego's only Nobel Prize-winning alumnus.

Biological Sciences also saluted Founders’ Day with a special dinner event celebrating faculty, alumni and staff from 1965 to 1975, along with university leaders and friends. The evening included a special presentation of the David M. Bonner Lifetime Achievement Award to Tonegawa.

The Founders’ Day events continued on Friday, November 19, when the Department of Political Science celebrated its founding fathers, as well as honored its supporters, partners and UC San Diego community members who have helped to shape the university’s history and who continue to shape the future. The department reflected and celebrated – through speakers and displays – the historic events and people that marked the department’s and the university’s growth.

The Division of Physical Sciences hosted a founders’ legacy dinner that evening in the Faculty Club. Alumni and faculty joined Dean Mark Thiemens for a special tribute recognizing the extraordinary accomplishments of the founding faculty of UC San Diego’s departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Mathematics and Physics – three of the university’s five original departments. Their legacy firmly established UC San Diego’s standing as an academic research powerhouse.

“It was pretty unique here in those days. Pretty open, free and easy … a lot of camaraderie among graduate students from different departments,” said John Hays, Ph.D. ’68, who attended the Physical Sciences Founders’ Legacy Dinner. “Once I got out here, I regretted that I didn’t somehow find an excuse to stay longer.”

Founding faculty member and Professor Emeritus Walter Munk watches from the audience prior to his remarks at the Founders' Day celebration.

On Saturday, November 20, there were campus tours, and a reunion lunch was held for alumni from the classes of 1960 through 1972 – the graduates and undergraduates who started it all. Faculty and staff from Revelle, Muir and Marshall Colleges also were in attendance to celebrate 50 years of incredible achievements.

The UC San Diego Theatre and Dance department held a Founders’ Day reception in Potiker Theatre to honor department founder and Professor Emeritus Arthur Wagner. Theatre and Dance faculty, alumni and current students were invited to celebrate the accomplishments of this extraordinary department, ranked third in the nation.

In a grand alumni finale to the Founders’ Day celebration activities, 200 UC San Diego alumni, faculty and community members “grooved to the beat” at the Alumni Association 1960s Party in the Faculty Club. Dressed in their best ‘60s attire, party-goers dined and danced the night away. Rumor has it that “good” brownies and freshly dropped watermelon were the featured delicacies.