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UCSF Wins 3 Regional CASE Awards for Communications Excellence

By Mike Billings

Christine Gasparac and Michele Davis receive a Gold Award at a CASE awards ceremony
Christine Gasparac (left), senior director of community relations in University Relations, and Michele Davis (center), associate director of community relations, accept a Gold Award during the CASE District VII annual Connect West conference on March 2. Photo by Garvin Tso

UC San Francisco won three awards from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), highlighting the University’s excellence in community relations and strategic communications.

The awards, including a Gold Award and two Silver Awards, were given for CASE District VII, covering higher education institutions across Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Nevada, Northern Mariana Islands and Utah. The winning institutions were recognized March 2 at the district’s annual Connect West conference.

University Relations and its partners received three 2018 Awards of Excellence, which highlight best practices across alumni relations, fundraising, public/government relations, advancement services, special events and communications.

The Stand Up for Science teach-in and rally in April 2017 kicked off a year off events for the #UCSFStandsUp Campaign. Photo by Noah Berger

UCSF won a Gold Award in the Public Relations, Media Relations and Community Relations Projects category for its work with the Dogpatch Community Task Force. University Relations assembled the task force, composed of 26 key stakeholders in Dogpatch and surrounding neighborhoods, to address the effects of UCSF development near its Mission Bay campus. The task force process resulted in UCSF committing to fund a $10.55 million community benefits package to support priority neighborhood improvements.

UCSF won a Silver Award in the Advocacy Campaigns category for its #UCSFStandsUp Campaign, to engage faculty, staff, students, alumni and supporters in advocating for policy issues impacting UCSF’s core mission areas, including federal funding of scientific research and access to affordable health care. The campaign launched with April 2017’s Stand Up for Science teach-in and rally and continued throughout the year with events that educated and mobilized the UCSF community.

UCSF Chancellor Sam Hawgood delivers his State of the University Address in October at the Parnassus campus
The 2017 State of the University Address launched UCSF’s $5 billion fundraising campaign. Photo by Elisabeth Fall

A team representing the Chancellor’s office, University Relations, and University Development and Alumni Relations also won a Silver Award in the Special Events category for producing the 2017 State of the University Address, which launched UCSF’s $5 billion fundraising campaign. To mark the special event, UCSF staged simultaneous presentations at Parnassus and Mission Bay that were streamed live, and hosted receptions at both campuses. The October 2017 event achieved the highest-ever attendance and participation since the addresses began in 2011.  

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