UC SANTA CRUZREVIEW Spring 2015 YEARS NOW THEN In pictures: Exquisite campus | What it was like 50 years ago Making UC Santa Cruz a family affair UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA THE ORIGINAL SANTA CRUZ AUTHORITY ON Chancellor QUESTIONING George Blumenthal AUTHORITY Vice Chancellor, University Relations Keith Brant UCREVIEW SANTA | review.ucsc.edu CRUZ | Spring 2015 UC SANTA CRUZ REVIEW Spring 2015 Editor An evening under the stars with Gwen Jourdonnais Creative Director special guest Alice Waters Lisa Nielsen Art Director/Designer Linda Knudson (Cowell ’76) Save the date for Founders Celebration 2015 Associate Editor The UC Santa Cruz campus— Banana Slugs everywhere: September 26, 2015 Dan White beautiful, bewildering, You don’t want to miss bewitching. A photo essay Alumni Weekend 2015, Photography Vester Dick celebrating the stunning happening April 23–26 Carolyn Lagattuta setting that for 50 years has and celebrating our 50th Eric Thiermann inspired students to change anniversary—it’s gonna be Elena Zhukova the world. the party of the half-century. Contributors Amy Ettinger Guy Lasnier (Merrill ’78) Scott Rappaport Exquisite Alumni Joan Springhetti Tim Stephens Peggy Townsend campus 10 16 Weekend Dan White Image Research 19 22 Courtesy of UCSC Special Family Original Collections and Archives Produced by UC Santa Cruz ties vision Communications & Marketing When family members Reflections on the 1156 High Street have the experience tumultuous ‘60s, the heady Santa Cruz, CA 95064-1077 of attending UC Santa days of the UC Santa Cruz’s Voice: 831.459.2495 Cruz in common, they’ve beginnings, and the ways E-mail: [email protected] Web: review.ucsc.edu walked the same paths— the campus has stayed true 3/15 (1415-410/110M) contributing to a sense to its mission through the of pride, connection, and decades. shared values. JOIN US FOR A SPECTACULAR EVENING AND BE PART OF THE CROWNING EVENT OF UC SANTA CRUZ’S 50TH CELEBRATORY YEAR. Cover: Founding Chancellor Dean McHenry was the biggest booster of the planned UC Santa Cruz campus. In this iconic photo, he posed for This year’s Founders Celebration Dinner will be unlike anything we have done before. a Time magazine publicity still in 1962, three years before the campus Served alfresco overlooking Monterey Bay, with a keynote by Alice Waters—chef, opened. (Photo: Vester Dick; courtesy of Covello & Covello) activist, author, and proprietor of famed Berkeley restaurant Chez Panisse. It will be a night to be remembered. Tickets will go on sale June 1. CAMpaiGN update 4 | HAPPENINGS/NEWS 7 | ALUMNI WEEKEND PROGRAM center section 50years.ucsc.edu ALUMNI notes AND profiles 26 | Philanthropy 30 | ALUMNEYE 32 II UC Santa Cruz Review / Spring 2015 UC Santa Cruz Review / Spring 2015 1 From the Chancellor The chancellor’s desk: Your Turn outstanding in his field The black-and-white photo on the The photo also speaks to the whim- How I wish McHenry were around cover of this issue is a campus sical aspect of UC Santa Cruz—the today to find out about the exo- classic. The playful image captures part of us that would embrace the planets we’ve discovered, the new the spirit of adventure founding Banana Slug as our official mascot fronts we’ve opened up in the war Chancellor Dean McHenry brought in 1986, and, to paraphrase Henry against cancer, the genomes we’ve to the job of building a new campus David Thoreau, choose to march to mapped and shared with the world, from the ground up. It’s the early a different drummer. and the convergences we’ve nur- tured between literature, the arts, 1960s, a new campus is being cre- Fifty years after our opening, the and the sciences. ated, yet all he’s got to work with is campus remains bold, experimental, a desk in the middle of a pasture. and dedicated to advancing knowl- Alumni Weekend is just around the As the current chancellor of UC edge—without losing our quirky corner. What better occasion to Santa Cruz, I love that photo be- individuality. We have stayed true look back on our founding vision, cause it speaks to the boldness of to our founders’ vision, providing celebrate our current achievements, McHenry and the enthusiasm of our immersive hands-on learning ex- and contemplate our future? first students who arrived from all periences in the broader context of I hope you’ll join us for the festivities across the nation when the campus pursuing UC’s mission of education, from April 23–26. Come back to cam- Caption correction opened in 1965. public service, and research. pus, celebrate UC Santa Cruz, and It speaks to all that future poten- From the beginning, UC Santa Cruz watch the sun set behind the very If you would like to impress your tial—the un-built buildings, the life- was envisioned as a major research spot where the chancellor hauled out colleagues with your knowledge changing seminars and mentors, university that would offer students his desk all those years ago. of ancient trivia, tell them that the the discoveries and explorations. It an experience that rivals what small photo on the back cover of the fall speaks to the fact that those stu- private liberal arts colleges offer. As ‘14 Review (shown at right), is not dents and their brave professors had we enter our second half-century, of Tom Vogler, it is Peter Smith, as- to draft their own blueprint as they many things have changed, but not sistant to Chancellor McHenry for went along. that fundamental truth. George Blumenthal, chancellor arts, who left a couple of years after this picture was taken (in 1966) to to shake up the system,” page 7]. Santa Cruz the Grateful Dead of- Raves, rants, direct Dartmouth’s Hopkins Center Great memories there. Not only fered to play a free concert in the recommendations, what they did for UC Santa Cruz, (upper) Quarry Amphitheater—in and love letters for the Arts. It was not a seminar, from our readers it was a posed photo, taken by Al but the huge contribution they support of the aims and values and social media A charge in the air Lowry, the first campus photogra- made to the community. There of the campus—but were turned friends. Editor’s Note pher, with yours truly in the checked was no public art here (not even down for fear of their newfound Find UC Santa shirt on the left. the museum) before they came. fans showing up in unmanage- Cruz on Facebook, Page’s concern for the home- able numbers ... and conditions. Instagram, Twitter, They came from all over California their stories is about the “magic” of “Magical” may be a strong word for How’s that for Trivial Pursuits? less helped start the Homeless Perhaps now that the band has its LinkedIn, YouTube, and the nation with a hunger and a the campus at that time—an electric a college experience—especially and Pinterest. mackenzie Services Center. They were a mar- archives in the McHenry Library bottomless thirst for intellectual chal- charge in the air. It must have had if you remember the challenges of —Bill Dickinson (Cowell ‘68, Read UC Santa velous couple and enriched all of Special Collections and a drive is Cruz Review lenge and adventure. something to do with all those brain- roommate dynamics, dorm food, and jim philosophy) Y stories at review. B our lives. underway to reopen the Quarry, waves in motion, the excitement of final exams—but it comes up again They showed up to see piles of R the surviving members of the band ucsc.edu. something new, the groundbreaking and again when I talk to UC Santa O dirt and earthmovers everywhere. Appreciation —Lois Trabing, community member seminars, the demanding but riveting Cruz alumni of all ages. And I can see might be glad of an invitation to Nearly all the emblematic buildings for the Smiths World Civilization core course, and why—walking through campus, you perform a benefit concert ... espe- we associate with UC Santa Cruz Many thanks for Peggy Dead reckoninG the thrill of having no leaders to fol- can feel the electricity even now. cially if they can try out new music. were figments in the sketchbooks of chancell Townsend’s excellent piece on Regarding “Quest to reopen the low, except for themselves. ; architects and planners. All they saw I hope you come to Alumni Weekend Page and Eloise Smith [fall ‘14, Quarry” [fall ‘14, page 28]: Hank — John Leech (Cowell ‘79, history were redwood trees, big meadows, I am glad to report that the magic for the big 50th celebration April “Road to ‘65: Page Smith rides in Harrison in his book The Dead and religious studies) some cows—and lots of potential. and electricity are still here—and 23–26 and feel it again for yourself. notes that in the early days of UC new alumni and current students still Walk the trails and look up into the lagattuta They were a fearless bunch, that . have similar words about the cam- redwoods. Gaze into infinity over the C small group of students who showed Y B pus. A few things have changed, for meadows. Feel your mind expand. up when UC Santa Cruz opened its sure. There are, undoubtedly, more Reconnect with old friends—and doors in 1965—if a campus with Where’s Sammy? Congrats go out to Michael Witte (Cowell ‘06, modern literary studies), who was buildings now. UC Santa Cruz alumni yourself. nnais almost no buildings can be said to See the center section for randomly chosen as the Sammy challenge winner for the fall ‘14 issue! Since graduating from UC Santa Cruz, Witte have had a chance to change the a full Alumni Weekend program.