University of California, Los Angeles

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Template:Infobox UniversityThe 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 its 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" (not academic quality).[4]. 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 [5]. 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[6] 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.[7]

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[5].

UCLA's sports teams, which compete as the Bruins, have won 120 national championships and 99 NCAA 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[8].

Contents

History

California State Normal School, predecessor to UCLA, at its original downtown Los Angeles campus

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[9]. 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.

University of California, Southern Branch's Vermont Campus, 1922.

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[10], 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[11]. 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[12].

UCLA's current Westwood campus with downtown Los Angeles to the East.

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[13].

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

Royce Hall, one of UCLA's first four buildings, is built in the Italian Lombard Romanesque style.
The Hugh and Hazel Darling Law Library, UCLA School of Law

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 Franklin Murphy Sculpture Garden with the Barbara Hepworth's Elegy in the foreground.

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 nearly 8,000 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.

The University Library, now known as the Powell Library, was covered in snow on January 15, 1932

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

The Anderson School
Moore Hall, Department of Education

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.

Rankings

The UCLA Library, which holds over 8 million volumes, ranks among the top 10 in the United States.

Recent rankings

In the August 21-28, 2006 issue of Newsweek (also released as the 2007 issue of the Kaplan Guide to Colleges) [14] UCLA is listed as one of "25 New Ivies" [15] .

In addition, on August 13th 2006, Newsweek ranked UCLA 12th in its annual ranking of the Top 100 Global universities, ahead of many private schools like Princeton(15th) and Cornell(19th) and USC(54th). http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14321230/site/newsweek/

In the September 2006, issue of the The Washington Monthly's "College Rankings" UCLA is ranked as No. 4 in terms of involvement in community service activities among all universities in the United States [16]

UCLA was ranked 12th in North America and 14th in the world by an annual listing of the Top 500 World Universities published by the Institute of Higher Education at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China in terms of quality of scientific research leading to a Nobel Prize. Meanwhile, UCLA was ranked 16th in the country and 31st in the world by The Times Higher Education Supplement’s list of the top 200 universities in the world.[17].

UCLA took the second spot among all universities (surpassed only by Johns Hopkins University), and the top spot among public universities, for research spending in the sciences and engineering during the fiscal year 2004, according to a 2006 report by the National Science Foundation. UCLA spent $773,000,000[18], and was followed by the University of Michigan and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

UCLA's School of Law, Anderson School of Management, School of Public Policy, and School of Medicine consistently rank among the top five to ten in the United States. UCLA's oldest operating unit, the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies (GSEIS), was ranked 2nd among American graduate schools of education in the 2006 edition of U.S. News and World Report, America's Best Graduate Schools.

In the Institute for Scientific Information's 2004 database, 48 UCLA professors were listed as highly cited, making UCLA faculty 11th in the United States; as of December 2006, there were 54 highly cited faculty. [19]

Past rankings

In 1995, of the 36 Ph.D. programs examined by the National Research Council [20], eleven departments were ranked in the top 10:

Thirty-one of the Ph.D. programs examined were ranked in the top 20, third highest in the country.

Admissions

UCLA Remains the Country’s Most Popular University with More Than 50,000 High School Seniors Applying for FallTemplate:Fact

UCLA received 50,694 applications for the fall 2007 freshman class, making it once again the most popular university in the country.Template:Fact

Applications increased 7.1 percent at UCLA, 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). Template:Fact

UCLA is the most selective school 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[21] The average weighted GPA and SAT score for an admitted freshman was 4.27 and 2010, respectively[22]. 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[23].

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[24].

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.

Awards and honorary memberships

As of September 2006, current UCLA faculty (including emeriti) have received the following awards and count as honorary members of the following associations:

  • Nobel Prize Winning faculty and alumni of UCLA

Faculty:

Alumni: