Senior Vice Chancellor Steve Barclay was among the speakers celebrating 50 years of the Millberry Union.
Hundreds of UCSF faculty, staff and students got a taste of campus history – and free cupcakes – at the final event honoring Millberry Union’s 50th anniversary.
The program, which included a display of historic photos, a nostalgic video and speeches by several Millberry Union regulars, marked the culmination of a multipart celebration that began in May with a monthlong scavenger hunt. Many received free souvenir Millberry Union pins to mark its vital role in enhancing campus life.
“The main purpose of all of this was to build campus awareness that Millberry Union has been serving the UCSF community and bringing faculty and staff and students together for 50 years,” said Liane Wong, customer development manager for UCSF’s Fitness & Recreation Center, and the anniversary celebration’s coordinator.
Wong and a committee of employees from Campus Life Services and others started planning the birthday blowout two years ago, she said.
“We spent quite a few hours in the library archives going through Millberry Union files and looking at old photos and archival drawings,” Wong said. “There was an entire history of information in there.”
Several of those photos were on display on Oct. 14, documenting the days when Millberry Union housed a dormitory, a small exercise room and a barbershop, among other services.
Steve Barclay, UCSF senior vice chancellor of Resource Management and Capital Programs, said he is a frequent visitor to Millberry Union’s fitness center and food court.
“This is a real gathering place,” Barclay noted. “It’s a great interactive spot within the campus community.”
The original campus center at UCSF’s flagship Parnassus campus was financed by the University’s dental students with proceeds from a small campus cafeteria and the Dental Supply Store, also known as “the Coop.” The building was named after Guy S. Millberry, DDS, who served as dean of the College of Dentistry from 1914 to 1939.
A half-century later, a glass-encased food court offering a multicultural menu, a state-of-the-art fitness center with a view of the Golden Gate Bridge, and eight levels of much-needed parking are just a few of the landmark building’s many offerings.
“Millberry Union is much more than just a structure,” said Tracey Gearlds, UCSF’s director of programs and services, who was one of the anniversary celebration’s featured speakers. “It’s a destination, it’s a place with a purpose and it’s truly a community.”
When planning UCSF’s newest campus, Mission Bay, University officials used Millberry Union as the model for that site’s popular community hub, the William J. Rutter Center, Wong noted.
“UCSF recognizes how vital a center like [Millberry Union] is to the life of a campus,” she said. “It acts as a magnet bringing people together.”
Photos by Robin Hindery
