Ella Goldweber, who leads free public tours of UC San Diego, has a favorite story. It’s about Maria Goeppert-Mayer.
“A brilliant physicist, she and her husband, Joseph Mayer, were both university professors,” Goldweber said. “Although she was highly regarded, she never was paid until she was hired at UC San Diego in 1960 as a founding faculty member in the department of physics. She went on to win the Nobel Prize in physics in 1963, one of only two women in history to have garnered the award.”
Goldweber is among a group of adult volunteers at UC San Diego, which holds public tours of campus, showing off its architecture, public art collection and living and learning neighborhoods.
“Even those who are familiar with UC San Diego oftentimes learn things they didn’t know about the university after taking the tour,” Goldweber says. “Our guides are very enthusiastic and encourage interactivity and questions.”
Two-hour tours highlight the history of the university and its role in the biotech boom, the evolution of UCSD’s six colleges, its green building designs and strategies, and other notable points of interest across the 1,200-acre campus.
Three types of tours are given — all from 2-4 p.m. Sundays.
Walking tours take visitors into the heart of campus, where they can get an up-close look at Geisel Library and site-specific sculptures from the world-renowned Stuart Collection.
Bus tours offer a comprehensive look at the university, circumnavigating the entire periphery, with stops including Scripps Institution of Oceanography and east campus medical facilities.
The Green Building Tour is held quarterly — the next one being March 13 — and showcases how the campus’s LEED-certified buildings creatively use sustainable design techniques and energy-efficient strategies.
Goldweber has a nearly 25-year connection with UC San Diego. She was a social worker at UCSD Medical Center in the Neonatal Intensive Care Center, where she provided psycho-social counseling for parents with very sick premature newborns due to genetic problems or pregnancy complications.
“It was challenging but very rewarding to be able to provide hope to vulnerable parents — miraculous things happened all the time,” Goldweber said.
But working at school’s Hillcrest hospital, Goldweber didn’t know much about the main campus. She wanted to learn more about UC San Diego’s history and give back, which is why she decided to volunteer as a tour guide in June 2014.
For the full schedule of tours and to register, visit the UC San Diego Visitors Tour Program website.
