Lectures, Entertainment,
and Art Highlight UC San Diego’s
Celebration of Abilities Month

October 9, 2008

By Jan Jennings

Lectures ranging from tips for cultivating health and well being to minimally invasive surgical weight loss options and entertainment including guitar, vocal, and stand-up comedy highlight the annual Celebration of Abilities Month at the University of California, San Diego.

A film and an art display also will be included in events running through Nov. 20. All events are free and open to the public.

Roger Cavnaugh, Ph.D., resident faculty member of the California Institute for Human Science, Graduate School and Research Center, Encinitas, will speak on Life Beyond Struggle: Cultivating Health and Well Being Through Self Awareness at noon Oct. 16 in the Price Center East, Cross-Cultural Center. Cavnaugh received a master’s degree in clinical and experimental psychology from Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from United States International University.

On Oct. 22, Mark Goffeney, Emmy-nominated guitarist and vocalist, and Shawn Pelofsky, stand-up comedienne, will perform from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the lawn between Torrey Pines Centers North and South. Goffeney has been featured in the San Diego Reader’s “Best of the Best” and Pelofsky performs regularly at the World Famous Comedy Store on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood.

Later that day, Murderball, a film about tough, highly competitive quadriplegic rugby players, will screen, beginning at 6 p.m., in the Price Center, Earl Warren College Bear Room. Sponsored by CADRE (Community Advocates for Disability Rights and Education) and Students with Disabilities Coalition, the film depicts men who have been forced to live life sitting down, but confident in their own abilities and version of the full-contact sport, compete in custom-made gladiator-like wheelchairs.

Goffeney and Pelofsky will give an encore performance Oct. 23, 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., in the Price Center Plaza. Also that day a Celebration of Abilities Art Exhibit, from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Price Center Theatre Foyer, will feature the participating artists on-hand to talk about their art works. The exhibit continues in the foyer through Oct. 31.

On Nov. 20, Dr. Santiago Horgan, UCSD clinical professor of surgery, will talk on Weight Loss Options from UCSD’s Gastric Banding System Expert Surgeon at noon in the Price Center, Red Shoe Room. Horgan is director of UCSD’s Center for the Treatment of Obesity and a leading surgeon in the field of minimally invasive surgery. He completed his M.D. degree, internship, and surgical residency at the Buenos Aires University School of Medicine in Argentina. He was instrumental in bringing gastric banding to the United States.

The 2008 Celebration of Abilities events are sponsored by Human Resources Accommodation Counseling and Consulting Services, the Vice Chancellor-Business Affairs, the Office for Students with Disabilities, CADRE, the University Centers, Facilities Management, and UCSD Housing and Dining Catering Services.

For further information on the Celebration of Abilities Month activities, call (858) 534-6744. To register online for a lecture, go to the Health and Wellness Lecture Series 2008 at  http://blink.ucsd.edu.

Media Contact: Jan Jennings, 858-822-1684