UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles, generally known as UCLA, is a public university whose main campus is located in the affluent Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. Established as a branch of the state university in 1919, it is the second-oldest general-purpose campus in the University of California system and has the largest enrollment of any university in the state.
Most of UCLA's Ph.D. programs rank in the top 20 for academic quality in the United States, according to the National Research Council. The September 2006 issue of Washington Monthly magazine ranked UCLA fourth among all U.S. universities in terms of social mobility and "service to the nation". In its 2007 ranking of "America's Best Colleges," U.S. News & World Report ranked UCLA 26th among all universities in the United States, and 4th in the west. The university was also ranked by the National Science Foundation as the No. 1 public research university in the nation (based on the amount of research expenditure) and second only to Johns Hopkins University among all American universities, both public and private. Furthermore, Newsweek in its survey of The 100 Top Global Universities ranked UCLA 12th in the world based upon criteria such as volume of library holdings and amount of faculty-written articles published in scholarly journals like Nature and Science.
The university admitted 11,750 students of the more than 47,000 who applied for admission as freshmen in Fall 2005. For the past several years, no American university has had more applicants than UCLA.
UCLA's sports teams, which compete as the Bruins, have won 120 individual national championships and 99 NCAA team championships as of 2006—more than any other university. Also in 2006, UCLA completed Campaign UCLA, which collected over $3.05 billion and is currently the most successful fundraising campaign in the history of higher education. Students come to UCLA from all 50 states and more than 100 foreign countries, though the majority of undergraduates are from California.
History
In March 1881, after heavy lobbying by Los Angeles residents, the California State Legislature authorized the creation of a southern branch of the California State Normal School in downtown Los Angeles to train teachers for the growing population of Southern California. The State Normal School at Los Angeles opened on August 29, 1882, on what is now the site of the Central Library of the Los Angeles Public Library system. The new facility included an elementary school where teachers-in-training could practice their teaching technique on real children. In 1887, the school became known as the Los Angeles State Normal School.
California State Normal School,
predecessor to UCLA, at its
original downtown LA Campus
In 1914, the school moved to a new campus on Vermont Avenue in Hollywood. In 1917, UC Regent Edward A. Dickson, the only regent representing the Southland at the time, and Ernest Carroll Moore, Director of the Normal School, began working together to lobby the State for the school to become the second University of California campus. On May 23, 1919 their efforts were rewarded when Governor William D. Stephens signed Assembly Bill 626 into law, which turned the school into the Southern Branch of the University of California and added its general undergraduate program, the College of Letters and Science. The Southern Branch campus opened on September 15 of that year, offering two-year undergraduate programs to 250 Letters and Science students and 1,250 students in the Teachers College, under Moore's continued direction.
History:
In March 1881, after heavy lobbying by Los Angeles residents, the California State Legislature authorized the creation of a southern branch of the California State Normal School in downtown Los Angeles to train teachers for the growing population of Southern California. The State Normal School at Los Angeles opened on August 29, 1882, on what is now the site of the Central Library of the Los Angeles Public Library system. The new facility included an elementary school where teachers-in-training could practice their teaching technique on real children. In 1887, the school became known as the Los Angeles State Normal School.
In 1914, the school moved to a new campus on Vermont Avenue in Hollywood. In 1917, UC Regent Edward A. Dickson, the only regent representing the Southland at the time, and Ernest Carroll Moore, Director of the Normal School, began working together to lobby the State for the school to become the second University of California campus. On May 23, 1919 their efforts were rewarded when Governor William D. Stephens signed Assembly Bill 626 into law, which turned the school into the Southern Branch of the University of California and added its general undergraduate program, the College of Letters and Science. The Southern Branch campus opened on September 15 of that year, offering two-year undergraduate programs to 250 Letters and Science students and 1,250 students in the Teachers College, under Moore's continued direction.
In 1925, the College of Letters and Science awarded its first Bachelor of Arts degrees to 100 women and 24 men. After first identifying themselves with "Cubs," then later "Grizzlies," (which was already taken by the University of Montana) the Southern Branch student council adopted the name "Bruins" for the athletic teams after they entered the Pacific Coast conference in 1926, a name offered by the student council at Berkeley
Enrollment at the Southern Branch expanded so rapidly that by the mid-1920s the institution was outgrowing the 25-acre Vermont Avenue location. The Regents conducted a search for a new location and announced their selection of the so-called "Beverly Site"—just west of Beverly Hills—on March 21, 1925; the Vermont Campus became the location of Los Angeles City College. In 1927, the school was renamed the "University of California at Los Angeles" (the word "at" was officially replaced by a comma in 1958, in line with other UC campuses) and the state broke ground in Westwood on land sold for $1 million, less than one-third its value, by real estate developers Edwin and Harold Janss, for whom the Janss Steps are named. The College Library, Royce Hall, the Physics-Biology Building and the Chemistry Building were the original four buildings, arrayed around a quadrangular courtyard on the 400 acre (1.6 km²) campus. The first undergraduate classes on the new campus were held in 1929 with 5,500 students enrolled. In 1933, after heavy lobbying by alumni, faculty, administration and community leaders, UCLA was permitted to award the master's degree, and in 1936, the doctorate, against resistance from Berkeley.
The UCLA student body in those years quickly gained a radical reputation. In 1934, Provost Moore declared UCLA "the worst hotbed of communism in the U.S," and suspended 5 members of the ASUCLA student government for allegedly “using their offices to assist the revolutionary activities of the National Student League, a Communist organization which has bedeviled the University for some months.” Over 3,000 students gathered to protest in Royce Quad, and campus police officers, attempting to silence the speakers, were thrown into some bushes. The crowd dispersed before any arrests were made, and University President Robert Sproul later reinstated the students.
In 1934, upon the death of William Andrews Clark, Jr., UCLA received its first major bequest—and still one of the most generous in its history—the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library. The rare books and manuscripts collection includes some of the world's largest collections of English literature, history, and fine printing.
Campus:
When UCLA opened in 1929, it had only four buildings. Today, the campus currently comprises 163 buildings across 419 acres (1.7 km²) in the western part of Los Angeles, north of the Westwood shopping district and just south of Sunset Boulevard. The campus is close to but not adjacent to the San Diego Freeway.
The first campus buildings were designed in an exuberant Romanesque Revival style, by the local firm of Allison & Allison. This remained the predominant building style on campus until the 1950s, when architect Welton Becket was hired to supervise the expansion of the campus over the next two decades. Becket greatly streamlined the general appearance of the campus, adding several rows of minimalist, slab-shaped brick buildings to the southern half of the campus, the largest of these being the UCLA Medical Center. Architects such as A. Quincy Jones, William Pereira and Paul Williams, among others, designed many subsequent structures on the campus during the mid-20th century. More recent additions include buildings designed by architects I.M. Pei, Richard Meier, Cesar Pelli, and Rafael Vinoly.
The University campus includes broad green lawns, sculpture gardens and fountains, museums, and a mix of architectural styles. It is located in the residential area of Westwood and bordered by Bel-Air, Beverly Hills, and Brentwood. UCLA's sculpture garden has been ranked as one of the most beautiful sculpture gardens in the United States. The campus is informally divided into North Campus and South Campus, which are both on the eastern half of the university's land. North Campus is the original campus core, with its buildings being more old-fashioned in appearance and clad in imported Italian brick. North Campus is home to the arts, humanities, social sciences, law, and business programs and is centered around oak tree-lined Dickson Court. South Campus is home to the physical sciences, life sciences, engineering, psychology, mathematical sciences, all health-related fields, and the UCLA Medical Center. The campus is in a constant state of change with multiple construction projects, including new residence areas, teaching and laboratory space, and a new hospital. This ongoing construction throughout the university's history has given it the nickname "Under Construction Like Always" among students.
Undergraduate housing for over 9,500 residents is spread across 14 complexes on a ridge on the western side of the campus called "the Hill." Students are housed in both high-rise dormitories with shared bathrooms and low-rise buildings where students live in suites. More recent construction on the Hill has led to high-rise dorms with suite-style rooms as well. Student life on the Hill is under the care of the Office of Residential Life (ORL). Dining facilities include five restaurants and three boutique-style eateries. At Bruin Cafe, adjacent to Sproul Hall, students can order sandwiches, smoothies, and The Coffee Bean beverages. Newly-opened Rendezvous, in the Rieber Terrace building, provides a mix of Mexican and Asian food choices. Crossroads, which had previously served Mexican food, changed its menu in 2006 to resemble a classic American diner. Puzzles, long the Hill's primary late-night eatery, abandoned the burger and shake menu in 2006 for gourmet sandwiches. Currently, students are guaranteed three years of on-campus housing, and can apply for additional years. The Housing Master Plan aims to guarantee housing to all undergraduates for four years by 2010.
In 2002, the university began building Weyburn Terrace, a new graduate housing complex, in order to recruit top graduate students from around the world; there had been no university-operated graduate housing on or near the main campus since 2001. The new complex is located a few blocks from the main UCLA campus on the western edge of Westwood. The project suffered numerous delays, but was finally completed before the Fall 2005 term. Weyburn Terrace enables UCLA to provide housing to approximately fifty percent of incoming graduate and professional students. It also served as housing for displaced Tulane University law students who visited at UCLA during the Fall semester following Hurricane Katrina.
Ackerman Union, the John Wooden Center, the Arthur Ashe Health and Wellness Center, the Student Activities Center, Kerckhoff Hall, the J.D. Morgan Center, the James West Alumni Center, and Pauley Pavilion stand at the center of the campus. The Hill is linked to the remainder of campus by a heavily traveled pathway called Bruin Walk, which bisects the campus. In order to accommodate UCLA's rapidly growing student population, multiple construction and renovation projects are in progress, including expansions of the life sciences and engineering research complexes.
The tallest building on campus is named after Ralph Bunche, an African-American alumnus, who received the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating an armistice agreement between the Jews and Arabs in Palestine. A bust of him, on the entrance to Bunche Hall, overlooks the Sculpture Garden. He was the first individual of non-European background and the first UCLA alumnus to be honored with the Prize.
The campus has a large number of parking garages, both above-ground and below-ground. Yet, the university continues to suffer from a severe parking shortage which is further compounded by Southern California's regional housing shortage. The university has given priority in allocation of parking spaces to staff and some students, regardless of living distances. There are many facilities with local buses. There are, in addition, other transportation services that the university provides for its students, such as "rideshares" and vanpools. Also, the popular "BruinGo" program allows students and staff members to use local bus services (such as Santa Monica's "Big Blue Bus") for a reduced fare from numerous terminals located on the campus
Academics:
UCLA features the College of Letters and Science, seven general campus professional schools, and four professional schools of health science. Collectively, these schools serve about 25,000 undergraduate and 11,000 graduate students.
Created in 1923, the College of Letters and Science has 34 academic departments and 900 faculty, and houses the majority of UCLA's undergraduate majors as well as the students in the Graduate Division of Letters and Sciences. Its programs are divided into five academic divisions: humanities, social sciences, life sciences, physical sciences, and the International Institute.
Students at both levels are enrolled in the School of the Arts and Architecture, the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, and the School of Theater, Film, and Television, while the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, the Anderson School of Management, the School of Public Affairs, and the School of Law serve graduate students.
The David Geffen School of Medicine, along with the School of Nursing, School of Dentistry, and School of Public Health, comprise the professional schools of health science. In 2005, UCLA announced its five-year plan to establish the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Medicine; the state of California is rare in its public funding of research with new embryonic stem cell lines. The California NanoSystems Institute is another project that was created out of a partnership with the University of California, Santa Barbara to pioneer innovations in the field of nanotechnology.
The UCLA Library, which holds over 8 million volumes, ranks among the top 10 in the United States.
Admissions:
UCLA received 50,694 applications for the Fall 2007 freshman class, making it once again the most popular university in the country.
Applications for Fall 2007 for the school increased 7.1 percent, while applications for the entire University of California system were up 5.3 percent. Preliminary data show that the overall number of underrepresented student applicants at UCLA — Native Americans, African Americans and Chicanos/Latinos — increased from 10,097 in fall 2006 (22.2 percent of 2006 applicants) to 11,414 for fall 2007 (23.6 percent).
UCLA is one of the most selective schools in the UC system. In 2005, 47,245 prospective freshmen applied to UCLA for entrance in Fall 2006, more than any other university in the United States, and 12,069 applicants were accepted—a 25.5 percent acceptance rate. The average weighted GPA and SAT score for an admitted freshman was 4.27 and 2010, respectively. One of the major current debates is over the decreasing admission of African-Americans and Latinos, especially since the passage of Proposition 209 in 1996. Out of the 4,700 students in the incoming Fall 2006 class, only 96 are black, and 20 of those are recruited athletes. This is the lowest number of blacks admitted to UCLA in more than 30 years, and it comes at a time when the other schools in the UC system are seeing an increase. In response to this issue, UCLA has recently decided to shift to a more "holistic" admissions process, similar to UC Berkeley's.
At the graduate level, in Fall 2005 the David Geffen School of Medicine admitted 4.5 percent of its applicants, the School of Law admitted 16.1 percent, and the Anderson School of Management admitted 30.6 percent.
According to the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) Guide to Dental Schools, 44th Ed., the UCLA School of Dentistry had more than 1,465 applicants for 88 seats in the entering class of 2006. The average Dental Admissions Test (DAT) score for admitted students in the entering class of 2006 was 21.6 on the academic portion and 18.5 on the perceptual aptitude portion of the DAT.
Athletics:
The school's sports teams are called the Bruins, with colors "true blue" and gold. The Bruins participate in NCAA Division I-A as part of the Pacific Ten Conference. Two notable sports facilities serve as home venues for UCLA sports. The Bruin football team plays home games at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California; the team won a national title in 1954. The men's and women's basketball and volleyball teams play at Pauley Pavilion on campus.
The Bruin mascots are Joe and Josephine Bruin, and the fight songs are Sons of Westwood and Mighty Bruins. The alma mater is Hail to the Hills of Westwood.
When Henry R. "Red" Sanders came to UCLA to coach football in 1949, the uniforms were redesigned. Sanders added a gold loop on the shoulders—the UCLA Stripe. The navy blue was changed to a lighter shade of blue. Sanders figured that the baby blue would look better on the field and in film. He dubbed the baby blue uniform "Powder Keg Blue," powder blue with an explosive kick.
UCLA is competitive in all major Division I-A sports and, as of 2006, has won 120 national championships, including 99 NCAA championships, more than any other university. Among these championships, some of the more notable victories are in men's basketball. Under legendary coach John Wooden, UCLA men's basketball teams won 10 NCAA championships, including a record seven consecutive, in 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, and 1975, and an 11th was added under then-coach Jim Harrick in 1995 (thru 2006, the most consecutive by any other team is two). From 1971 to 1974, UCLA men's basketball won an unprecedented 88 consecutive games. Past rosters of UCLA sports teams have been filled with such greats such as Jackie Robinson, Gail Goodrich, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton, Baron Davis, Reggie Miller, and Troy Aikman.
In regards to UCLA basketball and its high expectations, former UCLA basketball player and current Seattle Supersonics player Earl Watson commented, "Eleven national championships, the best coach to coach the game says a lot [John Wooden]. I take offense to those who act like UCLA is just another school compared to Duke. Duke is a great school in the east, but UCLA is worldwide."
UCLA has also shown dominance in men's volleyball, with 19 national championships. All 19 teams were led by current coach Al Scates, which ties him with John McDonnell of the University of Arkansas as NCAA leader for national championships in a single sport.
In addition to its basketball and volleyball championships, UCLA has won NCAA Division I championships in the following events:
Men's sports: Golf (1), Gymnastics (2), Soccer (4), Swimming (1), Tennis (16), Track & Field (8), Water Polo (8).
Women's sports: Golf (2), Gymnastics (5), Softball (10), Track & Field (5), Volleyball (3), Water Polo (4).
UCLA also won a title in Division I-A Football in 1954, however the NCAA does not award a championship for football.
UCLA has medaled in every Olympic Games they have participated in. In the 2004 Athens games, UCLA sent 56 athletes, more than any other university, who won 19 medals.
UCLA shares a traditional sports rivalry with the nearby University of Southern California. The Lexus Gauntlet is the name given to a competition between UCLA and USC in the 18 varsity sports that both compete in head-to-head.
Peripheral Enterprises
UCLA Healthcare
The UCLA Medical Center is actually part of a larger healthcare system, UCLA Healthcare, which also operates a hospital in Santa Monica and seven primary care clinics throughout Los Angeles County. In addition, the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine uses three Los Angeles County hospitals as teaching hospitals: Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and Olive View-UCLA Medical Center.
In 1981, the UCLA Medical Center made history when an assistant professor named Michael Gottlieb first diagnosed an unknown affliction later to be called AIDS.
UCLA medical researchers pioneered the use of PET scanning to study brain function. Nitric oxide, one of the most important molecules in cardiopulmonary physiology was discovered by UCLA researchers, who were awarded the Nobel Prize. This discovery has revolutionized medicine.
In the 2006 edition of U.S. News and World Report, UCLA Medical Center was ranked best in the West, as well as one of the top 5 hospitals in the United States alongside Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Johns Hopkins Hospital. UCLA Medical Center ranked in the top 20 in 15 of the 16 medical specialty areas examined. Specialties ranked in the top 20: Cancer (9th), Heart and Heart Surgery (9th), Neurology and Neurosurgery (7th), Psychiatry (5th), Endocrinology (10th), Pediatrics (15th), Opthamology (5th), Ear Nose and Throat (11th), Respiratory Disorders (13th), Orthopedics (8th), Kidney Disease (8th), Rheumatology (7th), Digestive Disorders (5th), and Gynecology (12th).
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