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Events mark countdown to campaign kickoff
Largest-ever campus fundraising drive will be launched next week

12 September 2008

With a music festival, a quiz bowl, a poetry reading, and pancakes for all (flipped by campus leaders), UC Berkeley this week and next kicks off the most ambitious fundraising drive in its history. A week of free events around campus leads up to next Friday’s opening of the public phase of The Campaign for Berkeley. In an e-mail to the campus community this week, Chancellor Robert Birgeneau encouraged all faculty and staff to take part in the kickoff celebration.

Over the next five years, the campaign will go all-out to raise record sums from alumni, parents, and the university’s friends, with the aim of ensuring Berkeley’s status as the nation’s leading public teaching and research university into the future.

The campaign’s landmark fundraising goal will be announced on Friday, Sept. 19, as the chancellor officially launches the public phase with a noon celebration in Dwinelle Plaza for the entire campus community. At the same time, a public-art installation encompassing the campaign’s theme will be unveiled.

“The Campaign for Berkeley calls on every member of the Cal family to stand together to renew and extend UC Berkeley’s academic preeminence and global leadership,” Birgeneau said in announcing the kickoff events. “Grand aspirations, rooted in a frontier past, built Berkeley 140 years ago. Grand actions today will secure our legacy of excellence and opportunity in the future.”

The public kickoff follows an earlier “quiet phase” of the campaign, during which leadership gifts and pledges were raised to build momentum for the public phase.
The celebration will culminate on Saturday, Sept. 20, with a panel discussion featuring Berkeley’s Nobel laureates as well as a stellar roundup of MacArthur, Pulitzer, and other prize-winning faculty. The main events are listed in the schedule at right.

Coverage of the kickoff celebration will be featured in the Berkeleyan and on the campus NewsCenter over the next two weeks, with further coverage of the campaign’s goals and achievements ongoing.

SCHEDULE OF MAIN CAMPAIGN KICKOFF EVENTS

All of these events are open and free to faculty and staff. More details are available at campaign.berkeley.edu. Other kickoff-week events around campus are listed at campaign.berkeley.edu/koschedule.cfm.

Sunday, Sept. 14, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
UC BERKELEY MUSIC FESTIVAL AND PICNIC
West Campanile Esplanade (in front of the Bancroft Library and South Hall)
In the lineup: Carmen Jones, the Sun Kings, and the Wronglers.

Monday, Sept. 15, 8 to 10 a.m.
FACULTY AND STAFF PANCAKE BREAKFAST
Campanile Esplanade
Staff members are encouraged to attend with prior approval of their supervisor. No RSVP required.

Monday, Sept. 15, noon to 1 p.m.
“THANKS TO BERKELEY . . .” POETRY READINGS
Sproul Hall Steps
Featured readers are English professors Robert Hass, the Pulitzer Prize-winner and former U.S. poet laureate, and Lyn Hejinian. Other faculty, staff, and students also will read.

Tuesday, Sept. 16, 7 to 9 p.m.
UC BERKELEY QUIZ BOWL
Wheeler Auditorium
Four-round tournament, emceed by comedian and alum Bob Sarlatte ’72. Staff contestants include Athletic Director Sandy Barbour, Survivor finalist Yau-Man Chan, and Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost George Breslauer. Tickets are free and available on a first-come, first-served basis at the Wheeler Hall will-call box office starting at 6 p.m.

Wednesday, Sept. 17, 12:15 to 1 p.m.
“THANKS TO BERKELEY . . .” CONCERT
Hertz Concert Hall
Innovative program by Marié Abe and Nils Bultmann, ethnomusicologists and Ph.D. candidates in the Department of Music.

Friday, Sept. 19, noon to 1 p.m.
THE CAMPAIGN FOR BERKELEY PUBLIC KICKOFF
Dwinelle Plaza
Campus leaders, led by Chancellor Birgeneau, launch the campaign and unveil a public-art installation.

Saturday, Sept. 20, 10 a.m. to noon
DISTINGUISHED FACULTY PANEL
Wheeler Auditorium
Panel discussion moderated by Chancellor Birgeneau. Speakers include: Steven Chu, director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1997 Nobel Prize winner in physics;
 Charles Townes, physics professor in the graduate school, 1964 Nobel Prize winner in physics; Nicole King, assistant professor of genetics, genomes, and development, 2005 MacArthur fellow; Robert Hass, professor of English, 2008 Pulitzer Prize winner in poetry; Gabor Somorjai, professor of chemistry, 2007 Priestley Medalist; Eva Harris, associate professor of infectious diseases, 1997 MacArthur fellow. Tickets are free, required, and limited; if available, they may be obtained in the Wheeler Auditorium lobby starting at 9 a.m.


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