The life and achievements of Cesar E. Chavez, labor rights and Chicano Civil Rights Movement leader, will be celebrated with a series of UCSD events spanning the month of April under the theme “”Celebrate, Educate, Serve.””
The legacy of Chavez will be showcased in lectures, films, a poetry series, a youth essay contest and the unveiling of the Cesar E. Chavez commemorative stamp, among other events.
Lecturers include California State Senator Richard Polanco, who will speak on “”Creating the Cesar E. Chavez Holiday”” in the Warren College Ampitheater at 11:30 a.m. on April 4. Polanco authored the legislation creating the holiday.
The 2002 Sundance Film Festival award-winning film, “”Real Women Have Curves,”” will screen at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. on April 22 at the Price Center Theatre, followed by a lecture from its co-screenwriter Josefina Lopez at 7 p.m. on April 23 in the Price Center Theatre. Lopez, whose film features Chicana/Latina women, will speak on “”Real Women Have Courage: From San Luis Potosi to Hollywood.””
The 25th Annual Cultural Celebration, included in the month’s activities, will take place on April 12 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Thurgood Marshall College, featuring music, food, dance and art from around the world.
The commemorative stamp will be unveiled on April 21 in Price Center Plaza.
For the complete list of events, visit http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/chavezevents.htm or call (858) 534-9689.
Leading geochemist and Scripps professor dies
Professor Harmon Craig, a leader in international research of the earth’s chemical properties working with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography since 1955, died at Thornton Hospital from a heart attack on March 14, one day shy of his 77th birthday.
In 1988, Craig was awarded the Balzan prize, an international award likened to the Nobel Prize in fields which are not included in the Nobel categories. He was the first geochemist to win the prize.
During his career, Craig led scientific expeditions to investigate some of the earth’s most inaccessible places, including the crater of an active underwater volcano.
Craig’s work played a major role in initiating and directing an international oceanographic project named the Geochemical Ocean Sections Study, which investigated the isotopic properties of the world’s oceans. GEOSECS’s results represented the most complete set of ocean chemistry data ever collected and proved important in the advancement of the geochemical field of study.
A memorial service will be held on April 4 at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in the Martin Johnson House at 3:30 p.m.
UCSD neuroscientist to deliver BBC lectures
Neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran, a UCSD professor of psychology and director of the UCSD Center for Brain and Cognition, has been selected to deliver the Reith lectures, a prestigious lectures series broadcast by the BBC. The series will take place in England with the exception of the final lecture which will take place in La Jolla at the Neurosciences Institute on April 8.
Ramachandran’s series will be on “”The Emerging Mind.”” Ramachandran, who authored the critically acclaimed book “”Phantoms of the Brain,”” has published over 120 articles on topics including the brain’s perception of art and the phenomenon of phantom limbs.
The series will air on BBC Radio 4 throughout April and will be available online at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/reith2003 beginning April 2.
