A UC Merced-produced video that spanned 13 time zones, linking the Spendlove social justice prize to its honoree, the Dalai Lama, earned an award of excellence from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.
CASE gave its Circle of Excellence Gold Award to the university’s Division of External Relations in the category of one-time, online special events.
The Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of the Tibetan people, was honored in September 2023 as that year’s recipient of the Alice and Clifford Spendlove Prize in Social Justice, Diplomacy and Tolerance. The video connected the Dalai Lama from his home in India to ceremony participants in Merced.
In accepting the award , he told viewers that people must stop thinking of each other in terms of "we" and "they."
"Peace doesn't come from the sky. Who creates problems? We human beings," he said. "More than 7 billion human beings are human brothers and sisters. We have to live together."
The Spendlove Prize was established at UC Merced in 2006 to honor people who exemplify the delivery of social justice, diplomacy and tolerance in local and global society. The prize is made possible through an endowment gift from Sherrie Spendlove in honor of her late parents, who were lifelong professionals dedicated to the lives of citizens, youth and students in the Merced region.
Spendlove said the CASE award was a worthy honor not just for the 2023 event, but for all the prize ceremonies through the years. She offered special thanks to External Relations’ Protocol and Signature Events team, led by Assistant Director Chris Luna.
“As with all of our recipient events, the Spendlove Prize is made possible by the hard work, ingenuity and collaborative efforts of an entire team,” Spendlove said. “I’m glad to see people who don’t always get credit for their amazing work being recognized.”
The CASE Circle of Excellence awards celebrate efforts to advance education. The 2023 awards attracted more than 4,000 entries from institutions in 22 nations.
