Muir College Celebrates 40th Year With Green Events During Earth Week
Christine Clark | April 21, 2008
John Muir College will celebrate its 40th anniversary April 20 to 26 with a week filled with sustainability-themed events that coincide with Earth Week activities. John Muir, the famed environmentalist, nature writer and founder of the Sierra Club, was born April 21 and this year his birthday lands one day prior to Earth Day.
“We’re excited that John Muir Week and Earth Week fall at the same time,” John Muir College Provost Susan Smith said. “In this, our 40th anniversary year, Muir College is rededicating itself to the cause of environmental preservation that was so important to our namesake John Muir and to founding provost John Stewart.”
The celebration will kickoff with a birthday party for John Muir on April 21 at noon at the Middle of Muir (MOM). At the event, there will be an eco-friendly crafts, energy assessments of students’ carbon footprint and a cake-cutting ceremony featuring Muir College junior and descendent of John Muir, Amanda Muir.
On April 24 John Muir College will co-sponsor a day-long series of presentations and workshops on the theme “Choose to Change at UC San Diego” in partnership with Earth Week and the campus’s Environment and Sustainability Initiative (ESI). At the event, Vice Chancellor for Resource Management & Planning Gary Matthews, Jim Ruby, Campus Fleet Manager, and Dining Services Director Steve Casad will speak about the initiatives being undertaken at UC San Diego to make the campus more environmentally friendly and sustainable. The day will culminate with a series of workshops in Price Center Ballroom B for students about how to get involved in UC San Diego’s sustainability efforts and how to conserve on a day-to-day basis.
As part of its 40th anniversary celebration, the college has challenged its students, faculty, staff and alumni to give 40 gifts of service to the environment in honor of its namesake, John Muir, to help raise awareness about sustainability and to publicize what the Muir community is doing to help the environment. Gifts range from creating a compost pile to recycle organic waste at home to directing student research on improving air quality. To find out more or to participate in the 40 gifts campaign visit:
http://muir.ucsd.edu/40thGifts.
On April 22, at 4 p.m. in the Sequoia Room at Sierra Summit John Muir College will celebrate its architectural heritage with a forum that will include a conversation with Robert Mosher, the original executive architect of the college; Dale Naegle, the architect who designed the residence halls, apartments and Stewart Commons; and Fred Livingstone, an architect who worked on McGill Hall. Speakers will give presentations about the early history of the college, the campus plan, and its signature modernist architecture. In 2007, Muir College received a $100,000 Getty Foundation Campus Heritage Grant to develop a preservation plan for its unique ensemble of modernist buildings.
In addition, there are several recreational events for students during Muir Week that help celebrate the environment. On April 20, from 5:15 to 9 p.m. the Muir Environmental Corp will go moonlight kayaking in Mission Bay to promote environmental awareness. And the same student group will participate in a cliffs clean-up on Tuesday, April 22 at the La Jolla Cliffs in recognition of Earth Day.
On April 25 the college’s annual music festival, Muirstock will take place. This year Muirstock will feature two stages with five to six different bands, inflatable games, rock climbing wall and a free barbeque.
The week will culminate with the Muir College Alumni Day on April 26. The Muir College Alumni Day and Reunion is a ticketed event that will feature a Welcome Back Luncheon with Chancellor Marye Anne Fox and keynote address by 2005 Alumni Awards for Excellence honoree and internationally acclaimed science fiction author, Kim Stanley Robinson, Muir '74. There also will be a Family Fun Zone with games, eco-friendly crafts and traditional TGIF on “The Hump.” Click here to go to the registration page.
All 40th anniversary events are dedicated to Muir’s founding Provost John L. Stewart, who passed away last summer. Stewart, an environmentalist himself, decided to name the college after John Muir while hiking with his wife. He expressed his vision for the newly-formed college in the late 1960s: “We want our students to have the power to change the environment in which we live. Ours is an academic community based on inquiry — inquiry that leads to decision-making.”
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