UC San Diego Wins CASE Gold Award for 50th Anniversary "Celebrate50" Benefit

Judy Piercey | August 22, 2011

Guests were urged to expect the unexpected—and UC San Diego’s Celebrate50: Visionaries, Innovators and Overachievers—a night for people like you far surpassed everyone’s imagination. 

The November event was one of the region’s most talked about fundraising benefits, featuring an extraordinary reception and dinner that offered 650 community supporters an opportunity to celebrate the university’s 50th Anniversary in a most unique way.  Guests experienced—through music, environment and images—the historic events and people that marked UC San Diego’s transformation from ship to shore. And in recognition of the hard work and creativity provided by members of the Special Events and Protocol team and others from University Communications and Public Affairs and External and Business Affairs, as well as numerous campus and community volunteers, the Council for Support and Advancement of Education (CASE) awarded UC San Diego a prestigious Circle of Excellence Gold Medal.

"Celebrate 50"

Fifty years ago, the founders of UC San Diego had one criterion for the campus: It must be distinctive. This signature 50th Anniversary event certainly achieved distinction.  From student a capella groups on parking shuttles to serpentine displays that reflected each of the university’s five decades to the décor that transformed RIMAC Arena into a “supper club,” the campus fashioned an unforgettable evening of sensory delights—not only extraordinary and unexpected, but also a proud moment for the university.