University of California, Los Angeles |
The University of California, Los Angeles, commonly known as UCLA, was founded in 1919 as the Southern Branch of the University of California. It is the
second-oldest campus in the University of
California system.
In 1927, the school was renamed "University of California at Los Angeles"; the word 'at' was officially replaced by a comma in
1958. Also in 1927, the state broke ground at a new campus on the chaparral-covered hills of a real estate development called
Westwood. (The first campus
was located on Vermont Avenue.) The first classes were held in 1929 in the four original buildings on the 400-acre campus. Today
the campus comprises some 163 buildings across 419 acres in the western part of Los Angeles, north of the Westwood shopping district and just south of Sunset Boulevard.
UCLA has a distinguished academic program. Of the 36 PhD. programs examined by the National Research Council, UCLA had 33 rank
in the top 20 in terms of faculty quality. 12 departments were ranked in the top 10:
History (6) Geography (8) Political Science (8) Psychology (4) Sociology (5) Anthropology (8) Chemistry (9) Aerospace
Engineering (10) Physiology (4) Philosophy (6) Linguistics (3) Classics (9)
As of 2003, the university has more than 35,000 students, and is led by
Chancellor Al
Carnesale.
UCLA enjoys a traditional rivalry with the nearby University of Southern California, however the two schools routinely share resources and
adjunct faculty.
The school's sports teams are called the Bruins, with colors powder-blue and gold. (Note the parallel to Cal's Bears,
with colors Yale Blue and gold, but in practice yellow.) They participate in the NCAA's
Division I-A, and in the Pacific Ten Conference.
Its annual "Mardi Gras" carnival, held to raise money for charity, claims to be the largest student-run fundraiser in the
country. Each Spring, the Tau Beta Pi honor society hosts "Engineers' Week"
activities that include engineering project demonstrations, paper airplane and egg dropping contests and a campus-wide trivia
treasure hunt. The Los Angeles Times Book Fair, also held on
campus in the Spring, is the largest annual gathering of publishers and authors in the country.
Notable faculty, past and present
- George Ogden Abell, Professor of Astronomy, astronomer
- Paul Boyer, Professor of Chemistry, Nobel Laureate (Chemistry, 1997)
- Alonzo Church, known for the lambda calculus used in computing
- Donald Cram (1919-2001), Professor of Chemistry, Nobel Laureate
(Chemistry, 1987)
- Jared Diamond, Professor of Geography and Physiology, Pulitzer Prize
winning author of Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fate of Human Societies
- Louis Ignarro,
Professor of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, Nobel Laureate (Medicine, 1998), whose work made Viagra possible
- Leonard Kleinrock, Professor of Computer Science and Father
of the Internet (Packet Switching)
- Willard Libby (1908-1980), Professor of Chemistry, Nobel Laureate
(Chemistry, 1960)
- William Ouchi, Management professor and best-selling author
- Bertrand Russell, mathematician, philosopher and Nobel Laureate
(Literature, 1950)
- Arnold Schoenberg, Professor of Music, composer
- Julian Schwinger, Professor of Physics, Nobel Laureate
(Physics, 1965)
- John Wooden, Men's Basketball Coach, won 10 NCAA championships
- Eugen Weber - Historian, author
of Peasants Into Frenchmen
- Carlo Ginzburg - European
Historian, author of The Cheese and the Worms
- Juan
Gomez-Quinones - U.S. Historian specializing in Chicano History
- Joyce Appleby - U.S.
Historian specializing in intellectual history and the legacy of liberalism
Notable alumni
External links
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