The Celebrate 50 dinner, marking UC San Diego’s 50th Anniversary, was an evening of the unexpected, framed in the gymnasium setting of RIMAC Arena surprisingly swaddled in draperies. Guests entered a giant cocoon for cocktails, lit in orange, yellow, and blue – followed by dinner-in-the-round with central stage and media screens on every side.

UCSD's 50th anniversary.

For more event photos go to: CAUSE.

^{Photo by Cause for Celebration}

Displays marked the five decades of UCSD with photos, icons, nostalgia, and thrills of “oh I remember those!” – shoes, hairdos, clunky gizmos and earthshattering news of yesteryear.

Who Was There?: Town met gown as Mayor Jerry Sanders, Supervisor Ron Roberts, Council member Sherri Lightner chatted with Chancellor Mary Anne Fox, Tony Haymet (he’s Director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography) George and Alison Gildred, Nigella Hillgarth, Professor Forman Williams and his wife Elizabeth, Janet and Dave Geier, and Class of '80 Associated Students president John Jenkel. Adding to the festivities were Erika and Fred Torri, Saleh Hassanein and Zandra Rhodes, Sheryl and Harvey White, Barbara Bloom, Karen and Donald Cohn, Sheila Potiker, Anne Evans, Michael and Liz Copley, Mary Clark, Jim and Renee Dunford, Mark Nelson, Jay Hill, Pearl Cutler, and many more community leaders, donors, alumni, faculty, staff and friends.

The Cause: Proceeds from the event support undergraduate scholarships and graduate fellowships as part of UC San Diego’s $50 million student support campaign, Invent the Future, helping ensure that students from all social and economic backgrounds have access to UCSD’s world-class education. Outstanding supporters like Sheldon Engelhorn and Karen Hunter Moraghan of the UCSD Alumni Association, the Siebel Foundation, Dr. Anthony Jackson, Devendra and Aruna Lal, and others are helping tomorrow’s students succeed.

The Good-Hearted: Hooray for Carol Chang, event chair! With her signature creativity, tenacity and charm, Carol harnessed the generosity of a team of corporate sponsors – including Cubic Corporation, Qualcomm, Sempra Energy, VOLT, Cymer, Inc., as well as media partners Clear Channel Communications, KFMB-TV/CBS 8 San Diego, the Union-Tribune, and Time Warner Cable – to realize the promise of this celebratory milestone in UC San Diego’s history.

The gala provided an elegant setting for an esteemed USCD tradition: the bestowal of Chancellor’s Medals – one of the highest honors given by UC San Diego– upon two individuals and three couples, the most at one time in the university’s history. Recognizing outstanding community service to the University of California, San Diego by persons who are not members of its faculty or staff, the medals were awarded to Pauline Foster, Audrey Geisel, Irwin and Joan Jacobs, Jerome and Miriam Katzin, and Ernest and Evelyn Rady.

The Creative: Through music, dance and video, the event traced the historic events and people that marked UC San Diego’s transformation “from ship to shore.” In the curtained dining area, projection screens at each point of the compass were flanked by curving backdrops that reflected a kaleidoscope of color. Guests at the magnificent dinner-in-the-round could look to a central stage for entertainment and the evening's Chancellor awards. Yellow floral centerpieces hugged the tables to offer guests maximum view of screens and stage.

Get Involved: The gift of education has the power to transform lives. For a first generation college student, a scholarship can change a life's trajectory. A fellowship for a talented graduate student may hold the key to a groundbreaking discovery that will benefit millions. To join UC San Diego’s legacy of educational excellence, please visit http://inventthefuture.ucsd.edu/PowerOfGiving/ .

(For more event photos go to: CAUSE.)