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Faculty Center's
50th Anniversary Dinner
Honoring Charles E. Young
On October 21 the Faculty Center continued
the celebration of its 50th Anniversary with a banquet in honor of UCLA
Chancellor Emeritus Charles E. Young. During his 29 years as Chancellor,
Chuck Young was the Faculty Center’s unwavering supporter. Between 1968
and 1997 our building went through several major expansions and upgrades
(air conditioning) – all facilitated by the financial and moral support
of Chuck Young.
The evening began with members and their guests greeting each other as
well as Chuck and his wife Judy at a cocktail party on the patio. There
were a number of enlarged photographs on easels from the history of the
building and Chuck Young’s tenure at UCLA. The 298 guests adjoined to
the main dining room for a wonderful banquet prepared by Manager Ali
Tabrizi and his staff. Ron Mellor, President of the Board of Governors,
briefly sketched the history of the Faculty Center, and he acknowledged
that the Center is here today due to the work of many groups over the
last five decades. The past presidents of the Faculty Center, the
Women’s Faculty Club, the Emeriti Association, and the Association of
Academic Women all stood to accept our collective thanks.
During the banquet two large screens displayed a collection of images of
the Center’s history, from the tea party opening (in the days before our
liquor license) in February 1959 through visits by Shimon Peres,
Charlton Heston, and Mary Martin to the aftermath of the Northridge
earthquake. Click here to view the
slide show.
The highlight of the evening was Chancellor Young’s presentation, “From
Bruinville to Bunker Hill.” With his customary wit and candor he
recalled his departure from UCLA as well as what he calls his second,
third, and fourth careers. First he went to the University of Florida as
interim president which turned into a four year term as President. His
view of Florida politicians is as skeptical it is of the California
variety. He then directed the educational foundation of the emirate of
Qatar and, after that third retirement, he described his recruitment by
Eli Broad to become director of MOCA.
It was particularly touching for us to hear Dr. Young talk about the
importance of the Faculty Center to the intellectual and social life of
UCLA. He was honored by the audience with a standing ovation.
NEWS- September 2009
Policy for Display of Artwork in the Faculty
Center
The Faculty Center Board of Governors recognizes that FCA Members may
wish to offer their personal artwork for display in the Faculty Center
for the enjoyment of other Members and guests. The following policy
statement provides guidelines for consideration of artwork loaned to the
FCA.
Guidelines:
1)
All requests to display artwork in the Faculty Center must be
submitted in writing to the Faculty Center General Manager. A complete
submission must include a picture of the proposed artwork, a description
of duration of time the work is being loaned for display, a statement
that the owner of the artwork is willing to sign a release of liability
for the Faculty Center Association to display the artwork, and
willingness to abide by the decisions of the Faculty Center Board of
Governors as to the location and duration of the display, if accepted.
2)
The Faculty Center General Manager will forward complete
applications for review by the FCA Art Committee
3)
The FCA Art Committee will consist of the President and
President Elect of the FCA. In the absence of the President or
President-Elect, their individual designee may perform the duties with
full authority of the absent member of the FCA Art Committee. The
designee must be a member of the Executive Committee.
4)
All activity of the FCA Art Committee, including receipt of
applications and actions taken, will be reported to the Board of
Governors at the next scheduled meeting of the Board.
5)
In the event that the FCA Art Committee cannot reach
agreement on the disposition of an application, or feel additional input
is needed before making a decision, they may bring the request to the
full Board of Governors at the next regularly scheduled meeting of the
Board. A simple majority of the Board Members present will determine
the acceptance or rejection of the application.
The Board of Governors may choose to review the decision of the FCA Art
Committee regarding any application.
NEWS- May 2009
50th Anniversary Events
The
UCLA Faculty Center moved into its building in February, 1959, and
during the coming year we will be celebrating our fiftieth anniversary.
The Board of Governors will sponsor a series of intellectual and social
events to introduce, and reintroduce, many aspects of UCLA to our
members. We will begin our celebration at 5 pm on Monday,
May 11, 2009 when Chancellor Gene
Block will speak to us. His presentation will be in two parts, first he
will, as Chancellor, convey his vision for UCLA, and this talk is to be
followed be a presentation on his Professorial activities with an
emphasis on his scientific research. A question and answer session will
follow. The Board of Governors invites the members of the Club to a
festive anniversary reception in honor of Chancellor and Mrs. Block.
The second event will be a presentation by J. Nicholas Entrikin,
Vice-Provost and Director of the UCLA International Institute, on
Thursday June 11, at 4 pm. Nick Entrikin will speak on "UCLA as a
Global University." In recent years the scope of UCLA's international
presence has greatly expanded in a variety of realms: research, student
and faculty exchanges, co-operative programs, and development. While we
all know of some of these initiatives, the Vice-Provost will weave
together the many threads of UCLA as a global university. Discussion
will be followed by a reception. Those who are interested might wish to
make reservations for our usual Thursday night dinner that evening.
NEWS- April 2009
A Special Point of
Interest,
From Board of Governors President, Prof. John Edmond
Footnote # 1 of my message in the February Newsletter explaining that
the Faculty Women's Club was called at some point a "Faculty Wives Club"
is not correct. On reading the historical highlights on the FWC’s
website http://uclafwc.bol.ucla.edu there is a record of the Presidents
from the time this women’s group was founded in 1918. One statement on
political action indicates “The Faculty Women's Club (FWC) originated
as a political action group. In 1918 there were moves afoot to create a
four-year college in Southern California. Focusing on women's groups in
the State, women of the faculty of the Los Angeles Normal School formed
a Faculty Women's Club in order to help gather support for the proposed
four-year college. In 1919 the Normal School became the Southern Branch
of the University of California. Once the political objective was
achieved, the FWC met to consider the club's future. By the spring of
1920 the first constitution and purpose of the FWC of the Southern
Branch of the University of California had been drafted.” Thus, it
seems that the Faculty Women's Club started off with that very name and
originally included only women of the faculty of the Normal School; the
fore-runner to UCLA. Later, wives of male faculty were included in the
club. The club has never had a name other than "Faculty Women's Club.”
Some years ago the Constitution of the FWC was amended to no longer
limit membership to women. Today, the By-Laws include as eligible for
membership in the FWC "members of the staff of UCLA and spouses of such
members, who are directly connected with the academic aspects of the
University, irrespective of salary" and also "members of professional
and administrative staffs, and spouses of such members, whose
classification and salary rate are at or above that of Instructor.”
It is important to appreciate that the FWC has a representative on the
Board of Governors of the Faculty Center Association because the FWC is
designated a founding organization. Indeed it is the only current
organization that predates the founding of our Faculty Center. This
year we are pleased to have Joanne Knopoff representing the FWC. This is
a return tour of service for Joanne on the Board. Her knowledge and
experience are a bonus for newcomers to service to the Faculty Center,
like myself. At our January meeting of the Board Joanne announced that
the Executive Board of the UCLA Faculty Women’s Club at its meeting on
December 2nd 2008 “passed a motion asking Joanne to convey to the
Faculty Center Board that the FWC Board will be pleased to support the
Faculty Center Board in its commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of
the Faculty Center and will do what it can to assist.” The Board of
Governors of the Faculty Association thanked the FWC for this motion of
support. It is greatly appreciated.
Joanne’s
recent input to me about the early years of the FWC and her
contributions as FWC representative provided the incentive for me to
report briefly on the origin and role of the FWC, and to encourage
anyone interested to visit their website and read about their many
activities. Check out their sections on “Calendar” and on “Special
Interests.”
NEWS- March 2009
A Message from
Board of Governors President -Prof. John Edmond
This year, the UCLA
Faculty Center has reached a significant milestone in its evolution as
it celebrates its 50th anniversary in our present building.
Fifty years ago, on February 9th 1959, the construction of
the initial building was completed and the Faculty organization assumed
control of the completed Faculty Club on that date. Throughout 2009 the
Faculty Center plans to celebrate the 50th anniversary of our
tenure at this location.
The efforts to
secure our faculty center began from the very beginning of the Westwood
campus, and a “Faculty Room” was assigned in newly completed Kerkhoff
Hall in 1931. Over the following decades there were many proposals for
a permanent facility – even a suggestion that the Faculty Center be
located at the Clark estate in West Adams - before 1959 when the Board
of Directors of the Faculty Men’s Club petitioned UC President Robert
Sproul to seek funding from the Regents to complement funding provided
by faculty for the construction of a facility. An interesting history
of effort on the part of many individuals and three organizations (1)
followed in the ensuing years. Progress was made in 1949 when President
Sproul in a letter to the Regents discussed the question “are the
Regents justified in using University funds to help finance faculty
centers?” The substance of the letter contained his perspective on the
question he had posed. His treatise on the Value of Faculty Centers to
the University is truly inspiring (2) and provides a standard to which
our faculty center strives to uphold into the 21st Century:
“as
a place where members of a large faculty may assemble and become known
to each other, exchange knowledge, and merge their special interests
into the cause of the University as a whole, a faculty center is vital
to the development of institutional
esprit.”
Fortunately, the
Regents were sympathetic to the request and throughout the 1950s
progress was slowly made in moving the venture forward. In the early
1950’s a group of faculty members began collecting donations from
individual faculty and outside donors to provide the seed money for the
construction of the UCLA Faculty center, by augmenting the contribution
approved by the Regents. Everyone involved in these early days leading
up to the day the Faculty Center opened its doors for business in 1959
and afterwards worked tirelessly with determination, persistence and
with an unshakeable vision for accomplishment to this end.
Fortunately, the
Faculty Center Facility is situated centrally to most of the Campus.
The initial building was much smaller (3) than it is today and there is
more history of perseverance and vision involved over the ensuing years
to develop what the Center is today; a building that covers more than
30,000 square feet where the main feature is a principal dining room
that can seat 400 guests. There are 12 other meeting and dining rooms
that can accommodate groups of 8 to 200 guests. Many of the rooms have
access to an outdoor patio. It has been estimated that in excess of
250,000 guests visit the Center annually to participate in the very many
functions and events held within its domain.
Historically, the
Faculty Center has always played an important role in enhancing
conviviality and collegiality amongst the diverse and dispersed faculty
and administrators on the UCLA campus. It does this by serving as a
centrally located meeting point to promote the intellectual vibrancy and
interchange of ideas at our excellent University. It is these nuances
of the center that the members who frequent its premises regularly,
cherish and admire. This notice is intended to alert our members that a
celebration of our 50th Anniversary is being planned at this
time. The planners led by the President-elect, Professor Ron Mellor
(History), are in the initial stages of developing a program centered at
the Faculty Center that will feature events throughout 2009. The spirit
of the answer by a UC President (2) to his question to the Regents on
why there is value to a Faculty Center on Campus is a sound model on
which to develop an inspired program. Expect notices on events as they
come to fruition. Newer Faculty Center members, myself included, have
no first hand knowledge of the early years of our Center. I would be
pleased to hear from members who have first hand knowledge of any of the
early events. Most interesting would be photographs of the newly built
1959 facility.
Our predecessors
have worked for over sixty years to create, expand, and preserve the
Faculty Center. Over the last 20 years we have received limited
resources from the University and we have struggled with issues like
maintenance of an aging facility, labor costs, expansion, and the ever
changing environmental and workplace regulations. But we have
successfully survived a half-century as a private club, and we hope to
use the 50th anniversary celebration to think about how we
can be a better Faculty Center for UCLA Faculty and staff over the next
fifty years.
________________________________________________________________________________
(1) The
Faculty Men’s Club, the Faculty Wives’ Club-now the Faculty Women’s Club
and the Association of Academic Women. Later the UCLA Emeriti
Association emerged as a founding organization to take account of the
Faculty Men’s Club and the Association of Academic Women when they
ceased to exist as separate organizations.
(2) In his letter of May 6, 1949, to The
Regents President Sproul discussed the following question:
“Are The Regents justified in using University funds to help finance
faculty centers?”
President Sproul’s letter then continued with his perspective on the
question he had posed:
“By providing a place where members of a large faculty may assemble
and become known to each other, exchange knowledge, and merge their
special interests into the cause of the University as a whole, a faculty
center is vital to the development of institutional esprit. Moreover,
it actually provides many of the facilities for day to day
administration. Private dining rooms are used for the conduct of the
business of committees both of the Academic Senate and of the
Administration. Special dining and residence facilities provide for the
entertainment of guests of the University.”
“The various activities of the club center around convenient,
congenial dining facilities, where the tables provide special
opportunities for the free discussion of University academic problems.
As a result, decisions and, if necessary, compromises are reached more
readily than if deliberation were conducted in a more formal
atmosphere. A faculty’s intelligent understanding of broad University
problems can be traced to these informal discussions. Effective
democratic administration, in fact, requires such centers.”
The Regents adopted President Sproul’s recommendation at its meeting of
June 24, 1949.
(3) A Report
on the Faculty Center Association prepared by John Sandbrook in 2004
contains 5 Parts. Part I deals with the “Formative History and
Construction” of our Faculty Center and will be available, within the
next month, to read online.
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