UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles, popularly known as UCLA, is a public, coeducational university situated in the town of Westwood near Los Angeles. It is the second-oldest campus of the University of California as well as the largest university in the State of California.
1919 as the "Southern Branch of the University of California" on Vermont Avenue in the City of Los Angeles. It is the second-oldest campus in the University of California system. 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. 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 classes were held in 1929 in the four original buildings on the 400-acre campus.
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.
The campus is informally divided into North Campus and South Campus. North Campus is the original campus core and its buildings tend to be more old-fashioned in appearance and are usually completely sheathed in brick. North Campus is home to the arts, humanities, social sciences, law, and business programs. South Campus is newer and has a dense concentration of high-rise concrete buildings with occasional brick ornaments. South Campus is home to physical sciences, mathematical sciences, engineering, and the Center for Health Sciences.
The university also owns a sleek high-rise office tower called College of Letters and Science
- School of the Arts and Architecture
- Graduate School of Education and Information Studies
- The Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science
- School of Law
- The Anderson School of Management
- School of Public Policy and Social Research
- School of Theater Film and Television
- The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
- Neuropsychiatric Institute
- School of Nursing
- School of Dentistry
- School of Public Health
The five health-related schools above, plus the UCLA Medical Center and associated research and treatment centers are collectively known as the
The school's sports teams are called the Bruins, with colors powder-blue and gold. (Note the parallel to Cal's Golden Bears, with colors Yale Blue and "gold"—in practice yellow.) The Bruins participate in NCAA Division I-A as part of the Pacific Ten Conference.
As of 2004, UCLA has 94 NCAA championships, more than any other school.
UCLA enjoys a traditional rivalry with the nearby University of Southern California.
Traditions and Events
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.
Spring Sing is a yearly show of student talent held at the
LA Tennis Center which is on campus.
Peripheral Enterprises
Unlike its other siblings in the UC system, UCLA is unusual in that it operates two major enterprises that are somewhat peripheral to its academic mission.
UCLA Healthcare
The world-renowned 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 scattered across the Westside. In addition, the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine (also part of UCLA Healthcare) also uses two Los Angeles County hospitals as teaching hospitals: Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and Olive View-UCLA Medical Center. Therefore, there are four hospitals in Los Angeles County with the UCLA name on them.
UCLA Housing and Hospitality Services
Besides operating the usual dormitories and apartment buildings, UCLA also runs a small full-service on-campus hotel, the UCLA Guest House, and a full-service conference center, the UCLA Conference Center, near Lake Arrowhead.
Notable faculty, past and present
- George Ogden Abell, Professor of Astronomy, astronomer
- Paul Boyer, Professor of Chemistry, Nobel Laureate (Chemistry, 1997)
- Larry Brown, Men's Basketball Coach
- 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 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
- Eugene Volokh - Expert on First Amendment law
Notable alumni
