Campus Pulls Out Stops to Celebrate Birthday of Beloved ‘Dr. Seuss’

Ioana Patringenaru | March 10, 2008

Chancellor Marye Anne Fox, Audrey Geisel and University Librarian Brian E.C. Schottlaender celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday last week.

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The smell of chocolate cake filled the air. A giant inflatable Cat in the Hat stood in front of the Geisel Library. Preschoolers donned hats with red and white stripes and sipped fruit punch.

The UCSD campus celebrated the birthday of Theodor, Seuss Geisel, also known as Dr. Seuss, in style Monday. Chancellor Marye Anne Fox, Audrey Geisel, widow of the famed author, and University Librarian Brian E.C. Schottlaender cut birthday cakes and handed out pieces to members of the UCSD community who gathered on Library Walk.

Then they gave interviews to several local TV crews who had come to campus for the occasion. That morning, Fox also went to Alcott Elementary School in the Clairemont area to read “The Cat in the Hat” and talk about college with pupils.

In all, about 2,000 members of the UCSD and San Diego communities took part in the birthday celebration on campus. They could pick from an extensive selection of cakes, including chocolate and white cake, with strawberry, raspberry, lemon and chocolate filling. Then, they could pick up a glass of fruit punch and enjoy their snacks and drinks under the shade of the giant cat and a giant inflatable cake.

Children from the International Cooperative Nursery School also took part in the celebration.

 “It’s so exciting,” said Ashley Lowe, a sophomore who also works at the Geisel Library.

The event really helps raise awareness about all the contributions that Geisel made to UCSD and San Diego, she also said. “I am loving the decorations,” added Lowe, whose favorite Dr. Seuss book is “Green Eggs and Ham.” “It reminds me of growing up.”

A few feet away, some members of the UCSD community who are still growing up were enjoying their slices of cake too. Like every year, children who attend the International Cooperative Nursery School on campus had come to take part in the celebration. This year, they wore Cat-in-the-Hat headgear. Little ones also got to play with noise makers handed out by members of the Teeny Tiny Pit Orchestra. Musicians performed songs from “The Cat in the Hat Songbook” on various instruments, including a harp and a toy piano.

Fox read to second-graders at Alcott Elementary.

Earlier in the day, Fox read and talked to children enrolled in second- and fifth-grade at Alcott Elementary School, in San Diego’s Clairemont area. She read the “The Cat in the Hat” to the younger students and talked about life on a college campus to the older ones. She encouraged all students to pursue higher education.

UCSD’s Mandeville Special Collections Library is the main repository in the nation for the original works of Dr. Seuss. The approximately 8500 items in the Dr. Seuss collection, which includes original drawings, manuscript drafts, books, notebooks, photographs and memorabilia, document the full range of Theodor Seuss Geisel’s creative achievements, beginning in 1919 with his high school activities and ending with his death in 1991.