Director's Circle Members and Moore Family Foundation Honored

On Mar. 1, 2013, Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego honored Director's Circle donors for their extraordinary generosity in support of Scripps ocean, earth, and atmospheric science. Director's Circle members are friends who have made $100,000 in cumulative gifts to Scripps.

The celebratory occasion at the Scripps Seaside Forum was also an opportunity to present the annual Amici cum Laude, or "honored friends," award to the Moore Family Foundation for their unwavering support of marine conservation programs at Scripps over the past 23 years.

Guests were welcomed by UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla and Scripps Director Cathy Constable and enjoyed remarks from Director's Cabinet chair Steve Strachan who spoke about his experiences with Scripps, including his recent journey on board the student-led, UC Ship Funds Program-supported Tonga Trench Expedition.

The audience also enjoyed an engaging science presentation by shark expert and Scripps alumnus Andy Nosal. The Director’s Circle not only supported Andy through his Ph.D. training at Scripps, which he completed in 2012. In addition, a planned gift from Director’s Circle member David DeLaCour provided Scripps with the opportunity to hire Andy as a DeLaCour Fellow for Ecology and Conservation to continue his fascinating shark research and public outreach at our Birch Aquarium at Scripps. This July and August, Andy will lead “Shark Summer” at Birch Aquarium, where visitors will celebrate local populations of leopard sharks and their cousins with a new exhibit and enjoy dozens of shark-related public programs.

Scripps thanks the Moore Family Foundation and all of our incredible Director’s Circle members and friends for the incredible work they do for the institution.