Media Contact: Pat JaCoby, 858-534-7404

Forty outstanding alumni and students will be honored June 17 by the Alumni Association of the University of California, San Diego at a "Proud to be 40" event celebrating UCSD’s 40^th anniversary.

The Alumni Awards for Excellence Gala 2000 will be held from 6 to 9:30 p.m. in the Price Center Ballroom on the UCSD campus. Festivities will include a cocktail and hors d’oeuvre reception, gourmet dining, a champagne toast and dessert, entertainment by Classic Brass and a Blast from the Past … flashes of the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s by the UCSD Dancers.

Reservations are open to the public. Tickets are $75 per person. All proceeds will benefit the National Merit Scholarship Program.

Seven UCSD students and 33 alumni will be honored during a multimedia presentation of awards. Student recognition will go to an outstanding senior in each of the university’s five colleges: Revelle, John Muir, Thurgood Marshall, Earl Warren, and Eleanor Roosevelt, and to an outstanding male and female athlete.

Outstanding alumni to be recognized and their fields are:

Arts – Jay Fukuto ’76, independent film producer, SD Entertainment (cq), and Mike Judge ’85, writer/director/producer, television and motion pictures.

Fine Arts – Naomi Iizuka ’92 MFA, playwright, winner of the 1999 Whiting Writers’Awards, and Hung Liu ‘86 MFA, award-winning international exhibitor.

Business – Marc Brutten ’79, commercial real estate investor and benefactor of the UC San Diego Foundation; George DeVries ’84, president and chief executive officer, American Specialty Health Plans, and Rusty Preisendorfer ’78, founder of Rusty Cos. Surfboard and Beach Apparel.

Community Service – Patty Brutten ’83, University and Alumni Association distinguished service/development; Carolyn Chase ’78, founder of San Diego Earth Works and editor of San Diego Earth Times; Dani Grady ’81, founder of Thrivers’ Network, and Nyenyekevu Diane Moss ‘80, executive director of Children Having Children.

Education – Alma Hills ’82, Teacher of the Year 1999, San Diego County; Gary Jacobs ’79, benefactor of High Tech High; Ed Lopez ’88, president of the San Diego City Schools Board of Education; Ellen Potter ‘77, ’91 Ph.D., founder of Salk Institute Mobile Science Lab, and John Shoven ’69, Hoover Institution Fellow/Stanford Charles R. Schwab professor.

Public Service – Steve Peace ’76, California State Senator, 40^th Senate District, and Tim Roemer ’79, U.S. Congressman, 3^rd Congressional District, Indiana.

Science – Zachary Fisk ’79 Ph.D., physicist/materials science member of the National Academy of Sciences, and Lyle Turner ’82, founder, president, chief executive officer and chairman of Invitrogen Corporation.

Humanitarian (Medicine) – Judith Bays M.D. ’72 (SOM), chairperson of the National Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Child Abuse; Jeff Moses D.D.S. ’74, oral and maxillofacial surgeon and director of the Thousand Smiles Foundation, and William Piggott, M.D. ’72 (SOM), chief medical officer, Office of Emergency Preparedness, National Disaster Medical Systems.

Law – Abby Leibman ’78, founder and executive director of the California Women’s Law Center.

Medicine – Brian Druker M.D. ’81 (SOM), oncologist/chief investigator of Leukemia Treatment at Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland; Peter Libby M.D. ’73 (SOM), chief of cardiovascular medicine at Harvard; Frank Longo M.D. ’81 (SOM) ’83 Ph.D., chief of neurology and rehabilitation UCSF/VA, and Captain Eleanor Mariano M.D. ’77, director of the White House Medical Unit, Physician to the President.

Technology – John Dobak M.D. ’92 (SOM), inventor, founder and chief executive officer of INNERCOOL Therapies, and founder of CryoGen, Inc.; Steve Hart ’77, ’80 MA, vice president of engineering, ViaSat, Inc.; Greg Papdopoulos ’79, vice president and chief technology officer, Sun Microsystems, and Dan Rosen ’79 Ph.D., managing partner, Frazier Technology Ventures.

Sports – Mark Allen ’80, six-time Ironman Triathlon World Champion.

For reservations and further information contact the UCSD Alumni Office at (858) 534-3900.