Fiesta to honor Hispanic community leaders
Five Hispanic leaders will be honored for significant contributions to the community at the UCSD Hispanic Scholarship Council’s seventh annual Fiesta de las Estrellas, or “Celebration of the Stars,” on April 29 at 5:30 p.m. in Price Center Ballroom.
This year’s award honorees include Bomberos de San Diego of the San Diego Firefighters for “Excellence in a Latino Association”; Norma Diaz, chief executive officer of Community Health Group for “Excellence in Medicine”; Patricia Garcia, San Diego Superior Court judge, for “Alumni Excellence”; Raymond Uzeta, president and chief executive officer of the Chicano Federation, for “Excellence in Community Service”; and William Virches, director of visual and performing arts in the Sweetwater Union High School District, for “Excellence in Art.”
The UCSD Hispanic Scholarship Council established Fiesta in 1998 as a means to raise scholarship funds for students at UCSD. Since it began, Fiesta has raised nearly $300,000 for 42 undergraduate multiyear scholarships at UCSD.
TPC examines potential bike lane along Gilman
The Transportation and Parking Committee decided to look into constructing a bike lane along Gilman Drive from Scholars Drive to Russell Lane after discussion at its April 8 meeting.
The TPC, however, will not make a solid decision about this until it determines how many people use that path at its next meeting in May, according to TPC faculty chair Daniel Arovas. He added that the TPC also wants to see a map of how this section of campus is currently configured and a sketch of how the road will look with the bike lanes added. The proposal requires that the vehicle lanes be narrowed to 11 feet and that 3 feet be taken off the median in order to make each bike lane 5 feet wide.
The committee also decided that nonfaculty members at the Hillcrest Medical Center who have “A” parking permits will not be able to renew their “A” permits next year because faculty members are having a difficult time finding parking, Arovas said. However, this will not apply to nonfaculty members who hold “A” parking permits on the main campus.
The TPC announced that there will also be a pilot Coaster connection that will run from May 3 to December. This additional service will connect to the last northbound train at the Sorrento Valley Coaster station.
School of Medicine building to be dedicated to Liechtag
The new biomedical research building at School of Medicine will be renamed Liechtag Family Foundation Biomedical Research Building in recognition of Liechtag Family Foundation’s $12 million gift in August 2003.
The long-term gift will fund biomedical research focusing on childhood diseases.
A ceremony to honor Liechtag Family Foundation and to formally dedicate the building will be held on April 27 at 11 a.m. in the lobby of Leichtag Family Foundation Biomedical Research Building.
For more information or to RSVP for the ceremony, call (619) 543-3473.
Preuss School robotics team wins nat’l award
The Preuss School robotics team beat 300 other teams to win the national Engineering Inspiration Award at the Robotics National Championship in Atlanta.
The award is the second-highest of the competition, celebrating the team’s success “in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering and engineers,” both within the school and in the community.
Criteria for the award included the extent and inventiveness of the team’s efforts to recruit students to engineering, the extent and effectiveness of the team’s community outreach efforts, and the measurable success of their efforts.
The team previously won the Engineering Inspiration Award at the regional competition in Los Angeles before moving on to nationals.
American Dental Association president to speak April 22
Eugene Sekiguchi, president of the American Dental Association, will talk about the experiences that shaped his career in dentistry on April 22.
He will also discuss dental school admissions, the future of dentistry and dental outreach.
The event, which is sponsored by the Pre-Dental Society, is open to students and faculty. The talk will take place at Basic Sciences Building’s Garren Auditorium at UCSD School of Medicine.
