Community Gathers to Celebrate University's 50th Birthday at Founders' Day
Ioana Patringenaru | Nov. 22, 2010
Oceanographer Walter Munk reminisced about his friendship with Roger Revelle. Former UC President and UCSD Chancellor Robert Dynes highlighted the importance of supporting students. Chancellor Marye Anne Fox told the audience about asking President Barack Obama for more student support while at the White House to receive her National Medal of Science.
A flurry of eminent speakers, musicians, cheerleaders and dancers took the stage Thursday at UC San Diego to celebrate Founders’ Day. The event commemorated the campus’ 50th anniversary, more specifically the exact date when officials signed the documents that established the campus in 1960.
“This is truly a remarkable moment for UC San Diego, and for each of us, because we are witnessing and creating history on this 50th anniversary,” Chancellor Fox told a crowd of about 1,400 gathered in the campus’ town square and in Matthews Quad.
During the two-hour celebration, members of the UCSD community heard from faculty, students, alumni, supporters and current and former administrators, including Fox, Dynes and former UC President and UCSD Chancellor Richard Atkinson, who recorded a video message for the occasion.
Fox invoked the memory of Revelle during the event. “Fifty years ago, UC San Diego visionary and founder Roger Revelle had one criterion for this campus,” Fox said. “It must be distinctive. And that’s exactly what we’ve become – a distinctive and world-class university accomplished in education, research, service, patient care and innovation.”
Remembering Roger Revelle
Walter Munk, a professor emeritus at UCSD's Scripps Institution of Oceanography, speaks about his friendship with Roger Revelle.
Perhaps one of the most touching moments in the ceremony came when Munk, a professor emeritus and longtime researcher at UCSD’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, recalled his friendship with Revelle.
“Roger was my friend for 52 years and no one had a greater influence on my life and on my career,” said Munk, who received his Ph.D. from Scripps in 1947.
The two met when Munk was a junior at Caltech interning at Scripps and Revelle was a researcher there. They went on a cruise to collect data about the direction and speed of ocean currents. But the instrument they planned to use broke down. Revelle worked through the night to successfully repair it.
“This is typical of the way Roger handled things all his life,” Munk said. “Whatever he did, it had all his attention.”
In the mid-1950s, Revelle became convinced that Scripps needed to build a close partnership with a full-fledged university campus. That’s how the idea of UCSD was born, Munk said.
Students cheer and snap pictures while Top 10 Billboard band Far East Movement performs during Founders' Day.
Revelle set out to recruit well-known researchers from the East Coast for a new UC campus. He used to take scientists to the barren lands of the Torrey Pines Mesa and tell them where the library would rise and where the student center would stand, Munk recalled. The tours for prospective faculty often ended at Munk’s house, located in what is now La Jolla Farms, for a sunset martini. Revelle would tell scientists this is the kind of housing they could expect if they came to La Jolla.
“He would listen to their hopes and their dreams until he understood them, perhaps better than they understood them themselves,” Munk said.
Revelle was successful and top faculty came to San Diego. So did students. During Thursday’s ceremony, Gary Curtis, who graduated in 1969, recalled what it was like to be one of about 620 freshmen in fall 1965.
Student memories
Mayor Jerry Sanders speaks about UCSD's impact on the region.
Curtis, who grew up in Orange County, described himself as “wide-eyed” and “naïve.” It was exciting to have Herbert Marcuse, a controversial thinker, as his professor in his freshman humanities class, he said. Students also took classes from eminent scientists, including Nobel Laureates Linus Pauling and Harold Urey.
“I was inspired by what I saw around me to get involved with this ‘start-up’ university,” Curtis said.
Later, Curtis became an entrepreneur and created nine start-up companies himself. He also has given back to the university, endowing a scholarship, becoming active in Chancellor’s Associates and serving as a foundation trustee. “My hope is that everyone here will find a way to give back to this amazing institution,” he said.
Student support also was on the mind of former UC President Dynes. “Our students are our future,” he said. By tackling problems of importance, the university will remain the campus of choice for prospective students, he added.
Student support
Former UC President and UCSD Chacellor Robert Dynes speaks about the need to support students.
In light of the current budget crisis, private support is critical for the university, Dynes also said. The economy shouldn’t limit the aspirations of members of the UCSD community; their only limit should be their imagination, Dynes said.
“This history of UCSD is remarkable,” he said. “It’s just a marvelous place.”
The university’s influence was recognized by a proclamation declaring Nov. 18 UC San Diego Day in the City of San Diego. Mayor Jerry Sanders, with City Council members Sherri Lightner and Todd Gloria, presented the document to Chancellor Fox during Thursday’s event.
“This university has had a tremendous impact on San Diego,” Sanders said.
The campus has a $7 billion impact on the region, Sanders said. Its influence can be felt throughout the fabric of San Diego’s business culture, from biotech to clean tech, he added. One-third of the city’s biotech companies are affiliated with the university.
Not your grandma’s party
More than 150 people drew their visions of the next 50 years at a photo booth at a celebration of the University of California, San Diego's first 50 years . The official photo booth "directions" challenged people to envision the future of information technology and communications, health and medicine, and solutions for sustainability. Brain-to-brain and brain-to-human communications systems caught people's imaginations, as did a wide range of sustainability solutions, and stem cell and genome-based medicines. Lots of students took on the task of envisioning the UC San Diego of the future. Click here to find out more.
But Founders’ Day wasn’t all pomp and circumstance. It also showcased the talent of UCSD students. The pep band welcomed guests. Cheerleaders threw their best stunts. The theatre and dance department performed, as did the UCSD gospel choir, with help from the Preuss School and the Martin Luther King Community choirs.
Finally, the Tritones, UCSD’s a cappella group, closed the ceremony, before relinquishing the stage for the Billboard Top 10-rated band Far East Movement. A strong base beat shook UCSD’s town square and silver confetti flew as the band performed a set of songs. As soon as the group made its appearance, students rushed the stage and held up their cell phones to take pictures.
“This is not your grandma’s party,” said KFMB anchor Dan Cohen, who served as master of ceremonies for Founders’ Day.
Organizers said they hope to make Founders’ Day an annual event.
“That’s the advantage of being young,” Chancellor Fox said. “We can still create new traditions.”
Students from the theatre and dance department perform.
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