In celebration of its 50th anniversary, the University of California, San Diego, will bestow Chancellor’s Medals on two individuals and three couples — the most at one time in the university’s history — to recognize outstanding support and service to UC San Diego. Honorees are Pauline Foster, Audrey Geisel, Irwin and Joan Jacobs, Jerome and Miriam Katzin, and Ernest and Evelyn Rady. The Chancellor’s Medal award recipients will be honored as part of the university’s Celebrate50 dinner on Nov. 13.

The Chancellor’s Medal is one of the highest honors bestowed by the university. Conceived in 2000, the medal has been given to a select few whose long-standing contributions have supported promising students and furthered meaningful research, community leaders who have helped the campus and local communities grow and prosper, and extraordinary individuals who have inspired the community and enhanced the quality of life for San Diegans through their involvement with UC San Diego. 

“I am thrilled to award this remarkable group of visionaries with Chancellor’s Medals in celebration of our 50th anniversary,” said Chancellor Marye Anne Fox. “Each has generously devoted time, energy and resources to support and improve the university. Their influence will have a lasting, positive impact on the UC San Diego campus.”

The Chancellor’s Medal awardees will be honored Nov. 13 at the Celebrate50 dinner and reception. Alumni, friends and community members will converge on campus to experience — through music, dance and video — the historic events and people that marked the university’s transformation from ship to shore. For ticket information, please call (858) 534-7835. 

The Chancellor’s Medal honorees were selected out of an impressive group of nominees. With excerpts from their nominations, the awardees include:

Pauline Foster

“Pauline Foster has committed her time, talent and treasure for UC San Diego and for many other organizations in our community.”

Pauline Foster is an active volunteer, philanthropist, business owner and champion for UC San Diego and many other nonprofit organizations across the region. She has served as chair of the UC San Diego Foundation, a position that her late husband Stanley also held, and she is currently the president of Foster Investments. She is recognized as a founder of the Rady School of Management. In 2006, Foster donated $5 million to create the Stanley and Pauline Foster Endowed Chair and she committed an additional $2.5 million to the Rady School of Management to launch the Fellowships for the Future initiative for MBA students.  Foster and her family also were instrumental in establishing the Abraham Ratner Children’s Eye Center and the Ratner Children’s Eye Mobile. In addition to her dedicated support of UC San Diego, Foster is involved with the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, the La Jolla Playhouse and the Jewish Community Foundation. 

Audrey Geisel

“Audrey is truly our angel… she is a generous benefactor who has had, and will continue to make, a significant difference in our community.”

Audrey Geisel is a sharp businesswoman, generous contributor and long-time supporter of the university and many other community organizations including San Diego Hospice, the San Diego Museum of Art, the San Diego Opera and the Old Globe Theatre. Geisel has made a lasting impact on nearly every area of the campus — from the UC San Diego Libraries, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Health Sciences, to student scholarship and fellowship support and the renovations of the Faculty Club and University House. The University Library was renamed Geisel Library for Audrey’s husband, Theodor Seuss Geisel — also known as Dr. Seuss — as a result of her support of the UC San Diego Libraries.

She has given more than 10,000 of her late husband’s original drawings, sketches, books and other memorabilia to UC San Diego’s Mandeville Special Collections Library. She also established the endowed Audrey Geisel University Librarianship. Geisel is currently the president of the Dr. Seuss Enterprises, the Dr. Seuss Foundation and the Dr. Seuss Fund.

Irwin and Joan Jacobs

“The outstanding leadership of Irwin Mark Jacobs and Joan Klein Jacobs has spanned nearly the entire history of our great university… it is hard to imagine UC San Diego reaching the national recognition that has been achieved without the contributions from Dr. and Mrs. Jacobs.”

Irwin and Joan Jacobs are dedicated advisors and longtime university friends and supporters. In 2003, they pledged $110 million — the largest gift in the history of the university — to the Jacobs School of Engineering. Most recently, the couple pledged $75 million to build the Jacobs Medical Center on UC San Diego’s east campus in La Jolla. They have also made significant gifts to numerous scholarship and fellowship programs, the School of Medicine, the Division of Arts and Humanities, the School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, the Stuart Collection and the Rady School of Management, where they are recognized as founding donors. Both Irwin and Joan have also served as board members on the UC San Diego Foundation. Irwin Jacobs is co-founder, former chairman and CEO of Qualcomm Incorporated and he was also a former faculty member at UC San Diego. Irwin is chair of the National Academy of Engineering, and he serves as chair of the board of trustees for the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Joan Jacobs is a co-founder of the Friends of the International Center and the Friends of the Stuart Collection, as well as a long-term board member of the La Jolla Playhouse.

Jerome and Miriam Katzin

“For more than three decades, the Katzins have steadily championed UC San Diego as one of San Diego’s most important assets.” 

Loyal friends and wise counselors, Jerome and Miriam Katzin have made a lasting impact on the university through their visionary leadership and generous philanthropy. They have given several significant lead gifts that have enabled the university to raise further funds for the construction of the Moores UCSD Cancer Center, the Sulpizio Family Cardiovascular Center and the Ratner Children’s Eye Center. They have also supported graduate fellowships and contributed to the School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, UC San Diego Libraries, and endowed numerous faculty chairs and funds, including the Katzin Chair for Jewish Civilization. Jerome, who formerly served as director of Qualcomm, was also instrumental in advancing the UC San Diego Foundation, serving on the Board of Trustees, which he chaired in 1992-93. This year, he was commemorated for attending his 300th UC San Diego Foundation meeting over the last three decades, a record that will not soon be broken.

Ernest and Evelyn Rady

“The Radys have a passion for helping others and a talent for helping organizations flourish.”

With a $30 million lead gift in 2004, they helped establish UC San Diego’s world-class, entrepreneurial business school, the Rady School of Management. They also contributed an additional $5 million toward the expansion of the business school’s campus. They are deeply involved in helping other community organizations including Rady Children’s Hospital, Scripps Health and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Ernest Rady is an active businessman and has founded and headed several San Diego companies; most notably American Assets, a privately held conglomerate controlling financial services, investment management and real estate in addition to the ICW Group. He has shared his business expertise through his role as chair of the Dean’s Advisory Council at the Rady School of Management.

The first Chancellor’s Medal was given in 2000 to San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Neil Morgan in recognition of his outstanding contributions to UC San Diego and the greater San Diego community. Other esteemed recipients include business leader Malin Burnham, community leader Darlene Shiley, philanthropist Charlie Robins, and community leaders Maurice and Charmaine Kaplan.

For more information on UC San Diego’s 50th anniversary celebration, visit www.50th.ucsd.edu.