Emeriti Association Honors Ruth Covell and Charles Kennel for Continued Service

When you love what you do, there is no such thing as ‘retirement.’ Dr. Ruth Covell and Charles Kennel are emeriti faculty, yet they continue to dedicate their time and expertise to students and faculty at UC San Diego, as well as the local community. In honor of their continued service, Covell and Kennel received the Dickson Award, which includes a $10,000 grant to support their teaching, research and service initiatives.

Ruth Covell

The Edward A. Dickson Award Program is led by the UC San Diego Emeriti Association. The program is made possible by a trust fund established by UC Regent Edward Dickson. Each of the ten UC campuses offer annual awards to honor emeriti faculty who remain committed to serving students, promoting faculty development and giving back to the community.

Covell joined UC San Diego in 1969, just as the School of Medicine opened its doors to the first class of medical students. Since retiring in 2013, she has remained actively involved as a non-salaried member of the faculty. As a board member of the National Center of Leadership in Academic Medicine Program (NCLAM) at UC San Diego Health, she helps match junior faculty with senior faculty mentors at the start of their career. She also makes time to mentor undergraduate students as part of the UC San Diego Emeriti Mentor Program.

In the community, Covell has launched numerous initiatives to improve access to quality healthcare. She helped found and is currently a member of the board of San Ysidro Health Centers, which now serves more than 440,000 traditionally underserved patients a year. She also serves as a board member for a number of healthcare programs, including Epilepsy Foundation, Project Concern International and San Diego Border Area Health Education Center.

Charles Kennel

Since concluding his role in 2006 as director and vice chancellor of Marine Sciences at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Kennel has maintained a similar level of engagement with the university. Partnering with a team of climate scientists at Scripps Oceanography, Kennel helped create a new Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on climate change titled “Climate Change in Four Dimensions.” The popular course is open to all UC San Diego students as well as anyone with access to the Internet.

Kennel also remains an active voice on issues of climate change and environmental sustainability, bringing light to these concerns locally and globally by speaking, advising and publishing new research. As founder of UC San Diego’s Environment and Sustainability Initiative, he currently serves as a member of the campus Sustainability Solutions Institute, which strives to acquire resources and organize projects to address sustainability challenges.

To learn more about the Dickson Award Program, go here.