The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the California State Normal School which later evolved into San José State University. The branch was transferred to the University of California, becoming the Southern Branch of UC in 1919, making it the second-oldest of the ten-campus University of California system after the University of California, Berkeley. UCLA offers 337 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in a range of disciplines, enrolling about 31,600 undergraduate and 14,300 graduate and professional students annually. It received 174,914 undergraduate applications for Fall 2022, including transfers, making it the most applied-to university in the United States. The university is organized into the College of Letters and Science and twelve professional schools. Six of the schools offer undergraduate degree programs:

Arts and Architecture ''Arts & Architecture'' (1929–1967) was an American design, architecture, landscape, and arts magazine. It was published and edited by John Entenza from 1938–1962 and David Travers 1962–1967. ''Arts & Architecture'' played a significant role ...

, Engineering and Applied Science, Music, Nursing, Public Affairs, and Theater, Film and Television. Three others are graduate-level professional health science schools: Medicine,

Dentistry Dentistry, also known as dental medicine and oral medicine, is the branch of medicine focused on the teeth, gums, and mouth. It consists of the study, diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases, disorders, and conditions o ...

, and Public Health. Its three remaining schools are Education & Information Studies, Management and Law. UCLA student-athletes compete as the Bruins in the

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

. They have won 121 NCAA team championships, second only to

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

's 128 team titles. 410 Bruins have made Olympic teams, winning 270 Olympic medals: 136 gold, 71 silver and 63

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

. UCLA has been represented in every

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

since the university's founding (except in

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China hol ...

) and has had a gold medalist in every Olympics in which the U.S. has participated since 1932. UCLA has been considered a Public Ivy. , 27 Nobel laureates, five Turing Award winners, two Chief Scientists of the U.S. Air Force and one

Fields Medal The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place every four years. The name of the award ho ...

ist have been affiliated with it as faculty, researchers and alumni. , 55 associated faculty members have been elected to the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

, 29 to the National Academy of Engineering, 41 to the National Academy of Medicine and 156 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The university was elected to the Association of American Universities in 1974.

History

In March 1881, at the request of state senator Reginaldo Francisco del Valle, the California State Legislature authorized the creation of a southern branch of the California State Normal School (now San José State University) in downtown Los Angeles to train teachers for the growing population of Southern California. The Los Angeles branch of the California State Normal School opened on August 29, 1882, on what is now the site of the Central Library of the Los Angeles Public Library system. The facility included a

demonstration school A laboratory school or demonstration school is an elementary or secondary school operated in association with a university, college, or other teacher education institution and used for the training of future teachers, educational experimentation ...

where teachers-in-training could practice their techniques with children. That elementary school would become the present day

UCLA Lab School UCLA Lab School is the laboratory school of the UCLA School of Education & Information Studies (Ed&IS). Located on UCLA's main Westwood campus since the 1950s, it currently serves 450 students ranging in ages from 4 to 12. Founded as a demonstra ...

. In 1887, the branch campus became independent and changed its name to Los Angeles State Normal School. In 1914, the school moved to a new campus on Vermont Avenue (now the site of Los Angeles City College) in

East Hollywood East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...

. In 1917, UC Regent

Edward Augustus Dickson Edward Augustus Dickson (1879–1956) was an American educator. He co-founded the University of California, Los Angeles. Biography Early life Edward Augustus Dickson was born in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, on August 29, 1879.Kevin Starr, ''Inventing th ...

, the only regent representing the Southland at the time, and Ernest Carroll Moore, Director of the Normal School, began to lobby the State Legislature to enable the school to become the second University of California campus, after UC Berkeley. They met resistance from UC Berkeley alumni, Northern California members of the state legislature and then-UC President Benjamin Ide Wheeler, who were all vigorously opposed to the idea of a southern campus. However, David Prescott Barrows, the new President of the University of California in 1919, did not share Wheeler's objections. UCLA-vermontcampus-1922

On May 23, 1919, the Southern Californians' efforts were rewarded when Governor William D. Stephens signed Assembly Bill 626 into law, which acquired the land and buildings and transformed the Los Angeles Normal School into the Southern Branch of the University of California. The same legislation added its general undergraduate program, the Junior College. The Southern Branch campus opened on September 15 of that year, offering two-year undergraduate programs to 250 Junior College students and 1,250 students in the Teachers College. Southern Californians continued to fight Northern Californians for the right to three and then four years of instruction. In late 1923, the Board of Regents authorized a fourth year of instruction and transformed the Junior College into the College of Letters and Science, which awarded its first bachelor's degrees in 1925. Under UC President William Wallace Campbell, enrollment at the Southern Branch expanded so rapidly that by the mid-1920s the institution was outgrowing the 25

acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imp ...

Vermont Avenue location. The Regents announced the new "Beverly Site" — just west of Beverly Hills — in 1925. After the athletic teams entered the

Pacific Coast conference The Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) was a college athletic conference in the United States which existed from 1915 to 1959. Though the Pac-12 Conference claims the PCC's history as part of its own, with eight of the ten PCC members (including a ...

in 1926, the Southern Branch student council adopted the nickname "Bruins", a name offered by the student council at UC Berkeley. On February 1, 1927, the Regents renamed the

Southern Branch Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

the University of California at Los Angeles. In the same year, 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 campus in Westwood opened to students in 1929. The original four buildings were the College Library (now Powell Library), Royce Hall, the Physics-Biology Building (which became the Humanities Building and is now the Renee and David Kaplan Hall), and the Chemistry Building (now Haines Hall), 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. UCLA was permitted to award the master's degree in 1933, and the doctorate in 1936, against continued resistance from UC Berkeley.

Maturity as a university

During its first 32 years, UCLA was treated as an off-site department of the main campus in Berkeley. As such, its presiding officer was called a "provost." In 1951, UCLA was formally elevated to co-equal status with UC Berkeley, and its presiding officer

Raymond B. Allen Raymond B. Allen (1902-1986) was an American educator. He served as the President of the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington from 1946 to 1951, and as the first Chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles from 1951 to 1959 ...

was the first chief executive to be granted the title of chancellor. The appointment of

Franklin David Murphy Franklin David Murphy (January 29, 1916 – June 16, 1994) was an American administrator, educator, and medical doctor. During his life, he served as Chancellor of the University of Kansas (KU) and Chancellor of the University of California, Lo ...

to the position of Chancellor in 1960 helped spark an era of tremendous growth of facilities and faculty honors. This era also secured UCLA's position as a proper university and not simply a branch of the UC system.

Recent history

On June 1, 2016, two men were killed in a murder-suicide at an engineering building in the university. School officials put the campus on lockdown as Los Angeles Police Department officers, including

SWAT In the United States, a SWAT team (special weapons and tactics, originally special weapons assault team) is a police tactical unit that uses specialized or military equipment and tactics. Although they were first created in the 1960s to ...

, cleared the campus. In February 2022, Matthew Harris, a former lecturer and postdoctoral fellow at UCLA, was arrested after allegedly making numerous threats of violence against students and faculty members of UCLA's Philosophy Department. In 2018, a student-led community coalition known as "Westwood Forward" successfully led an effort to break UCLA and Westwood Village away from the existing Westwood Neighborhood Council and form a new North Westwood Neighborhood Council, with over 2,000 out of 3,521 stakeholders voting in favor of the split. Westwood Forward's campaign focused on making housing more affordable and encouraging nightlife in Westwood by opposing many of the restrictions on housing developments and restaurants the Westwood Neighborhood Council had promoted. In 2022, UCLA signed an agreement to partner with the Tongva for the caretaking and landscaping of various areas of the campus. This included land use for ceremonial events and educational workshops and outreach events.

Sexual harassment scandals

In 2014, a graduate student adviser and professor in the history department, Gabriel Piterberg, was accused of sexually assaulting two students. A lawsuit was filed against the university by attorney

Ann Olivarius Ann Olivarius (born 19 February 1955) is an American-British lawyer who specializes in cases of civil litigation, sexual discrimination, and sexual harassment, assault, and abuse. Early life and education Ann Olivarius grew up in New Jersey, th ...

for its failure to properly act on the accusations. An editorial in the student newspaper wrote about the university's response, "This outcome is an embarrassment for UCLA. Not only does this represent a huge step backward and a betrayal of students' trust, but it displays a startlingly low standard when it comes to treatment of sexual assault suspects." The university settled with the plaintiffs and suspended and fined Piterberg, then did more after student protest and legal efforts, including "separation from employment, denial of emeritus status, nddenial of future employment with the University of California." In 2015, the U.S. Department of Education's

Office for Civil Rights The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is a sub-agency of the U.S. Department of Education that is primarily focused on enforcing civil rights laws prohibiting schools from engaging in discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex ...

investigated UCLA and other universities for their compliance with Title IX and responses to sexual violence. In 2018, the university came into the national spotlight again when the '' Los Angeles Times'' reported that four employees had filed lawsuits against UCLA and the UC Board of Regents having accused their workplace supervisor of sexual harassment and the university of failing to properly handle abuse complaints. The harassment allegedly started in early 2016, according to the lawsuits. The women faced retaliation from other supervisors after they filed complaints. The retaliatory behavior included making the women do more work and not allowing them to take time off to see their attorney. They are seeking more than $120 million in damages. Subsequently, an audit by the

California State Auditor The California State Auditor's Office (CSA), formerly known as the Office of the Auditor General and later the Bureau of State Audits (BSA), is the supreme audit institution of the Government of California. It is headed by the State Auditor who ...

found inconsistent discipline in UCLA sexual misconduct cases. The state audit also found that UCLA did not follow university policy or Title IX requirements.

2019 college admissions bribery scandal

UCLA was one of several universities named in the largest college admissions scandal ever prosecuted by the United States Department of Justice. On Tuesday, March 12, 2019, UCLA men's soccer coach Jorge Salcedo was one of many coaches across the country charged with racketeering and conspiracy, and is alleged to have taken over $200,000 in bribes. Salcedo pleaded guilty to the charges in April 2020, and in March 2021 was sentenced to, among other things, 8 months in prison.

Campus

The new UCLA campus in 1929 had four buildings: Royce Hall and Haines Hall on the north, and Powell Library and Kinsey Hall (now called Renee And David Kaplan Hall) on the south. The Janss Steps were the original 87-step entrance to the university that lead to the quad of these four buildings. Today, the campus includes 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. In terms of acreage, it is the second-smallest of the ten UC campuses. The Channel Islands are visible from the UCLA campus.

Architecture

Royce Hall, vaulted arches, exterior, UCLA

The first buildings were designed by the local firm

Allison & Allison Allison & Allison was the architectural firm of James Edward Allison (1870-1955) and his brother David Clark Allison (1881-1962). Originally based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1910 the Allisons moved to Los Angeles in Southern California. ...

. The Romanesque Revival style of these first four structures remained the predominant building style until the 1950s, when architect

Welton Becket Welton David Becket (August 8, 1902 – January 16, 1969) was an American modern architect who designed many buildings in Los Angeles, California. Biography Becket was born in Seattle, Washington and graduated from the University of Washingt ...

was hired to supervise the expansion of the campus over the next two decades. Romanesque Revival was chosen as an alternative to

Collegiate Gothic Collegiate Gothic is an architectural style subgenre of Gothic Revival architecture, popular in the late-19th and early-20th centuries for college and high school buildings in the United States and Canada, and to a certain extent Europ ...

to parallel the climate of Southern California to the warm, sunny weather of the Southern Mediterranean. Becket greatly streamlined its general appearance, adding several rows of minimalist, slab–shaped brick buildings to the southern half, the largest of these being the UCLA Medical Center. Architects such as

A. Quincy Jones Archibald Quincy Jones (April 29, 1913 – August 3, 1979) was a Los Angeles-based architect and educator known for innovative buildings in the modernist style and for urban planning that pioneered the use of greenbelts and green design. ...

, William Pereira, and Paul Williams designed many subsequent structures on the campus during the mid-20th century. More recent additions include buildings designed by architects I.M. Pei,

Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates Robert Charles Venturi Jr. (June 25, 1925 – September 18, 2018) was an American architect, founding principal of the firm Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, and one of the major architectural figures of the twentieth century. Together with ...

Richard Meier Richard Meier (born October 12, 1934) is an American abstract artist and architect, whose geometric designs make prominent use of the color white. A winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1984, Meier has designed several iconic buildings ...

, Cesar Pelli, and

Rafael Vinoly Rafael may refer to: * Rafael (given name) or Raphael, a name of Hebrew origin * Rafael, California * Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Israeli manufacturer of weapons and military technology * Hurricane Rafael, a 2012 hurricane Fiction * ''R ...

. 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. This continuous construction gives UCLA the nickname "Under Construction Like Always". One notable building on campus is named after African-American alumnus

Ralph Bunche Ralph Johnson Bunche (; August 7, 1904 – December 9, 1971) was an American political scientist, diplomat, and leading actor in the mid-20th-century decolonization process and US civil rights movement, who received the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize f ...

, who received the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating an armistice agreement between the Jews and Arabs in Israel. The entrance of

Bunche Hall The history of the University of California, Los Angeles traces back to the 19th century when the institution operated as a teachers' college. It would grow in size and scope for nearly four decades on two Los Angeles campuses before California gov ...

features a bust of him overlooking the

Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden The Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden is one of the most comprehensive sculpture gardens in the United States. The garden is located on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles and is run by the Hammer Museum. The sculpture garde ...

. He was the first individual of non-European background and the first UCLA alumnus to be honored with the Prize. The

Hannah Carter Japanese Garden The Hannah Carter Japanese Garden is a private Japanese garden located in Bel Air, Los Angeles, California. Known as Shikyo-en when completed in 1961, it emphasizes water, stones, and evergreen plants. The naturalistic hillside site features stream ...

is located a mile north of campus, in the community of Bel Air. The garden was designed by landscape architect

Nagao Sakurai Nagao Sakurai（桜井長雄） (November 5, 1896 – July 1973) of the Imperial Palace of Tokyo was a landscape architect. Notable designs *Japanese Tea Garden, Central Park, San Mateo, California. * Nishinomiya Japanese Garden, in the M ...

of Tokyo and garden designer

Kazuo Nakamura Kazuo Nakamura was a Japanese-Canadian painter and sculptor (born Vancouver October 13, 1926; died Toronto April 9, 2002) and a founding member of the Toronto-based Painters Eleven group in the 1950s. Among the first major Japanese Canadian arti ...

of Kyoto in 1959. The garden was donated to UCLA by former UC regent and UCLA alumnus

Edward W. Carter Edward W. Carter (June 29, 1911 – April 1996) was an American businessman, philanthropist and art collector. He served as the president of Broadway Stores and chair of the University of California Board of Regents, and was the owner of the ...

and his wife Hannah Carter in 1964 with the stipulation that it remains open to the public. After the garden was damaged by heavy rains in 1968, UCLA Professor of Art and Campus Architect

Koichi Kawana Koichi Kawana ( Japanese: 川名孝一, born March 16, 1930 in Hokkaido – September 13, 1990) was a post-war Japanese American garden designer, landscape architect and teacher. He designed gardens in San Diego, Los Angeles, Denver, Colorado, Chica ...

took on the task of its reconstruction. The property was sold in 2016 and public access is no longer required.

Filming

UCLA has attracted filmmakers for decades with its proximity to

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

. It was used to represent fictional Windsor College in ''

Scream 2 ''Scream 2'' is a 1997 American slasher film directed by Wes Craven and written by Kevin Williamson. It stars Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courteney Cox, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jamie Kennedy, Laurie Metcalf, Jerry O'Connell, Elise Neal, Timot ...

'' (1997). In response to frequent requests for filming at the campus, UCLA has instated a policy to regulate filming and professional photography. "UCLA is located in Los Angeles, the same place as the American motion picture industry", said UCLA visiting professor of film and television Jonathan Kuntz. "So we're convenient for (almost) all of the movie companies, TV production companies, commercial companies and so on. We're right where the action is."

Academics

Divisions

Undergraduate

* College of Letters and Science * Social Sciences Division * Humanities Division * Physical Sciences Division * Life Sciences Division * School of the Arts and Architecture * School of Education & Information Studies (SEIS) * Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science (HSSEAS) * Herb Alpert School of Music * School of Theater, Film and Television *

School of Nursing Nurse education consists of the theoretical and practical training provided to nurses with the purpose to prepare them for their duties as nursing care professionals. This education is provided to student nurses by experienced nurses and other med ...

Luskin School of Public Affairs The UCLA Meyer and Renee Luskin School of Public Affairs, commonly known as the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, is the public affairs/public service graduate school at the University of California, Los Angeles. The school consists of three ...

Graduate

* School of Education & Information Studies (SEIS) * School of Law * Anderson School of Management *

* David Geffen School of Medicine * School of Dentistry * Jonathan and Karin Fielding School of Public Health

Healthcare

Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center June 2012 001

The David Geffen School of Medicine,

, School of Dentistry and Fielding School of Public Health constitute the professional schools of health science. The UCLA Health System operates the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, a hospital in Santa Monica and twelve primary care clinics throughout

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...

. In addition, the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine uses two Los Angeles County public hospitals as teaching hospitals—

Harbor–UCLA Medical Center Harbor–UCLA Medical Center, is a 570-bed public teaching hospital located at 1000 West Carson Street in West Carson, an unincorporated area within Los Angeles County, California. As implied by the name, the hospital is owned by the Los Angeles ...

and

Olive View–UCLA Medical Center Olive View–UCLA Medical Center is a hospital, funded by Los Angeles County, located in the Sylmar neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It is one of the primary healthcare delivery systems in the north San Fernando Valley, especially the area ...

—as well as the largest private nonprofit hospital on the west coast, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. The Greater Los Angeles VA Medical Center is also a major teaching and training site for the university. The UCLA Medical Center made history in 1981 when Assistant Professor Michael Gottlieb first diagnosed

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

. UCLA medical researchers also pioneered the use of positron emission tomography (PET) scanning to study brain function. Professor of Pharmacology

Louis Ignarro Louis J. Ignarro (born May 31, 1941) is an American pharmacologist. For demonstrating the signaling properties of nitric oxide, he was co-recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Robert F. Furchgott and Ferid Murad. Curr ...

was one of the recipients of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering the signaling cascade of

nitric oxide Nitric oxide (nitrogen oxide or nitrogen monoxide) is a colorless gas with the formula . It is one of the principal oxides of nitrogen. Nitric oxide is a free radical: it has an unpaired electron, which is sometimes denoted by a dot in its che ...

, one of the most important molecules in cardiopulmonary physiology. The '' U.S. News & World Report'' Best Hospitals ranking for 2021 ranks UCLA Medical Center 3rd in the United States and 1st in the West. UCLA Medical Center was ranked within the top 20 in the United States for 15 out of 16 medical specialty areas examined.

Research

UCLA is

classified Classified may refer to: General *Classified information, material that a government body deems to be sensitive *Classified advertising or "classifieds" Music *Classified (rapper) (born 1977), Canadian rapper *The Classified, a 1980s American roc ...

among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and had $1.32 billion in research expenditures in 2018.

Rankings

National

The 2024 ''U.S. News & World Report'' Best Colleges report ranked UCLA first among public universities and tied for 15th among national universities. '' The Washington Monthly'' ranked UCLA 22nd among national universities in 2021, with criteria based on research, community service, and social mobility. The ''Money Magazine'' Best Colleges ranking for 2015 ranked UCLA 26th in the United States, based on educational quality, affordability and alumni earnings. In 2014, ''The Daily Beast''s Best Colleges report ranked UCLA 10th in the country. The ''

Kiplinger Kiplinger ( ) is an American publisher of business forecasts and personal finance advice which is a subsidiary of Future plc. Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc., was a closely held company managed for more than nine decades by three generations ...

'' Best College Values report for 2015 ranked UCLA 6th for value among American public universities. '' The Wall Street Journal'' and '' Times Higher Education'' ranked UCLA 26th among national universities in 2016. The 2013 ''Top American Research Universities'' report by the

Center for Measuring University Performance The Center for Measuring University Performance is a research center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. ''The Center'' is best known for an annual report it produces, The Top American Research Universities, that ranks American univers ...

ranks UCLA 11th in power, 12th in resources, faculty, and education, 14th in resources and education and 9th in education. The 2015 ''Princeton Review'' College Hopes & Worries Survey ranked UCLA as the No. 5 "Dream College" among students and the No. 10 "Dream College" among parents. The National Science Foundation ranked UCLA 6th among American universities for research and development expenditures in 2021 with $1.45 billion. In 2017 '' The New York Times'' ranked UCLA 1st for economic upward-mobility among 65 "elite" colleges in the United States.

Global

The ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'' for 2017–2018 ranks UCLA 15th in the world for academics, No.1 US Public University for academics, and 13th in the world for reputation. In 2020, it ranked 16th among the universities around the world by '' SCImago Institutions Rankings''. UCLA was ranked 33rd in the ''QS World University Rankings'' in 2017 and 12th in the world (10th in North America) by the ''Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU)'' in 2017. In 2017, the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) ranked the university 15th in the world based on quality of education, alumni employment, quality of faculty, publications, influence, citations, broad impact, and patents. The 2017 '' U.S. News & World Report'' Best Global University Rankings report ranked UCLA 10th in the world. The CWTS Leiden ranking of universities based on scientific impact for 2017 ranks UCLA 14th in the world. The University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP) conducted by

Middle East Technical University Middle East Technical University (commonly referred to as METU; in Turkish language, Turkish, ''Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi'', ODTÜ) is a public university, public Institute of technology, technical university located in Ankara, Turkey. The ...

for 2016–2017 ranked UCLA 12th in the world based on the quantity, quality and impact of research articles and citations. The Webometrics Ranking of World Universities for 2017 ranked UCLA 11th in the world based on the presence, impact, openness and excellence of its research publications.

Graduate school

UCLA Fielding School of Public Health - Main Entrance

, the ''U.S. News & World Report'' Best Graduate Schools report ranked the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies (GSEIS) 3rd, the Anderson School of Management 18th, the David Geffen School of Medicine tied for 12th for Primary Care and 21st for Research, the School of Law 14th, the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science (HSSEAS) 16th, the Jonathan and Karin Fielding School of Public Health 10th, and the School of Nursing 16th. The QS Global 200 MBA Rankings report for 2015 ranks the Anderson School of Management 9th among North American business schools. The 2014 ''Economist'' ranking of Full-time MBA programs ranks the Anderson School of Management 13th in the world. The 2014 ''Financial Times'' ranking of MBA programs ranks the Anderson School 26th in the world. The 2014 ''Bloomberg Businessweek'' ranking of Full-time MBA programs ranks the Anderson School of Management 11th in the United States. The 2014 ''Business Insider'' ranking of the world's best business schools ranks the Anderson School of Management 20th in the world. The 2014 Eduniversal Business Schools Ranking ranks the Anderson School of Management 15th in the United States. In 2015, career website Vault ranked the Anderson School of Management 16th among American business schools, and the School of Law 15th among American law schools. In 2015, financial community website QuantNet ranked the Anderson School of Management's Master of Financial Engineering program 12th among North American financial engineering programs. The ''U.S. News & World Report'' Best Online Programs report for 2016 ranked the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science (HSSEAS) 1st among online graduate engineering programs.

Departmental

Departments ranked in the national top ten by the 2016 ''U.S. News & World Report'' Best Graduate Schools report are Clinical Psychology (1st), Fine Arts (2nd), Psychology (2nd), Medical School: Primary Care (6th), Math (7th), History (9th), Sociology (9th), English (10th), Political Science (10th), and Public Health (10th). Departments ranked in the global top ten by the 2016 ''U.S. News & World Report'' Best Global Universities report are Arts and Humanities (7th), Biology and Biochemistry (10th), Chemistry (6th), Clinical Medicine (10th), Materials Science (10th), Mathematics (7th), Neuroscience and Behavior (7th), Psychiatry/Psychology (3rd) and Social Sciences and Public Health (8th). Departments ranked in the global top ten by the ''

Academic Ranking of World Universities The ''Academic Ranking of World Universities'' (''ARWU''), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, is one of the annual publications of world university rankings. The league table was originally compiled and issued by Shanghai Jiao Tong University ...

'' (ARWU) for 2015 are Mathematics (8th) and Computer Science (9th). Departments ranked in the global top ten by the ''QS World University Rankings'' for 2020 are English Language & Literature (9th), Linguistics (10th), Modern Languages (7th), Medicine (7th), Psychology (6th), Mathematics (9th), Geography (5th), Communications & Media Studies (13th), Education (11th) and Sociology (7th).

Academic field

Academic field rankings in the global top ten according to the ''

'' (ARWU) for 2015 are Clinical Medicine and Pharmacy (10th). Academic field rankings in the global top ten according to the ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'' for 2014–2015 include Arts & Humanities (10th), Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health (9th), Engineering and Technology (9th), Physical Sciences (9th), and Social Sciences (9th). Academic field rankings in the global top ten according to the '' QS World University Rankings'' for 2015 are Arts & Humanities (10th) and Life Sciences and Medicine (10th).

Student body

The Institute of International Education ranked UCLA the American university with the seventh-most international students in 2016 (behind

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-United States Secretary of the Treasu ...

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

, Arizona State, Columbia University,

The University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Universi ...

, and

Northeastern University Northeastern University (NU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston. Established in 1898, the university offers undergraduate and graduate programs on its main campus as well as satellite campuses in ...

). In 2014, ''Business Insider'' ranked UCLA 5th in the world for the number of alumni working at Google (behind

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...

, Carnegie Mellon, and MIT). In 2015, ''Business Insider'' ranked UCLA 10th among American universities with the most students hired by Silicon Valley companies. In 2015, research firm PitchBook ranked UCLA 9th in the world for venture capital raised by undergraduate alumni, and 11th in the world for producing the most MBA graduate alumni who are entrepreneurs backed by venture capital.

Library system

UCLA's library system has over nine million books and 70,000 serials in over twelve libraries and eleven other archives, reading rooms, and research centers. It is the United States' 12th largest library in number of volumes. The first library, University Library (presently Powell Library), was founded in 1884. Lawrence Powell became librarian in 1944, and began a series of system overhauls and modifications, and in 1959, was named Dean of the School of Library Service. More libraries were added as previous ones filled.

Medical school admissions

According to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), UCLA supplies the most undergraduate applicants to U.S. medical schools among all American universities. In 2015, UCLA supplied 961 medical school applicants, followed by UC Berkeley with 819 and the University of Florida with 802. Among first-time medical school applicants who received their bachelor's degree from UCLA in 2014, 51% were admitted to at least one U.S. medical school.

Admissions

Undergraduate

''U.S. News & World Report'' rates UCLA "Most Selective" and The Princeton Review rates its admissions selectivity of 98 out of 99. 149,815 prospective freshmen applied for Fall 2021, the most of any four-year university in the United States. Admission rates vary according to the residency of applicants. For Fall 2019, California residents had an admission rate of 12.0%, while out-of-state U.S. residents had an admission rate of 16.4% and internationals had an admission rate of 8.4%. UCLA's overall freshman admit rate for the Fall 2019 term was 12.3%. As of 2020, the basis for selection at UCLA includes several academic and nonacademic factors. Those considered "very important" are all academic; they are rigor of secondary school record, academic GPA, standardized test scores, and application essay(s). Those considered "important" are talent/ability, character/personal qualities, volunteer work, work experience, and extracurricular activities. Factors that are not considered at all include class rank, interviews, alumni relation, and racial/ethnic status. UCLA is need-blind for domestic applicants. Enrolled freshman for Fall 2019 had an unweighted GPA of 3.90, an SAT interquartile range of 1280–1510, and an ACT interquartile range of 27–34. The SAT interquartile ranges were 640–740 for reading/writing and 640–790 for math. Among the admitted freshman applicants for the Fall 2019 term, 43.1% chose to enroll at UCLA. UCLA's freshman admission rate varies drastically across colleges. For Fall 2016, the College of Letters and Science had an admission rate of 21.2%, the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science (HSSEAS) had an admission rate of 12.4%, the Herb Alpert School of Music had an admission rate of 23.5%, the School of the Arts and Architecture had an admission rate of 10.3%, the

had an admission rate of 2.2%, and the School of Theater, Film and Television had an admission rate of 4.4%. One of the major issues is the decreased admission of African-Americans since the passage of

Proposition 209 Proposition 209 (also known as the California Civil Rights Initiative or CCRI) is a California ballot proposition which, upon approval in November 1996, amended the state constitution to prohibit state governmental institutions from considering r ...

in 1996, prohibiting state governmental institutions from considering race, sex, or ethnicity, specifically in the areas of public employment, public contracting, and public education. UCLA responded by shifting to a holistic admissions process in Fall 2007, which evaluates applicants based on their opportunities in high school, personal hardships, and unusual circumstances at home.

Graduate

For Fall 2020, the David Geffen School of Medicine admitted 2.9% of its applicants, making it the 8th most selective U.S. medical school. The School of Law had a median undergraduate GPA of 3.82 and median Law School Admission Test (LSAT) score of 170 for the enrolled class of 2024. The Anderson School of Management had a middle-80% GPA range of 3.1–3.8 and an average Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) score of 711 for the enrolled MBA class of 2024. The School of Dentistry had an average overall GPA of 3.65, an average science GPA of 3.6 and an average

Dental Admissions Test The Dental Admission Test (abbreviated DAT) is a multiple-choice standardized exam taken by potential dental school students in the United States and Canada (although there is a separate Canadian version with differing sections, both American and ...

(DAT) score of 22.8 for the enrolled class of 2025. The Graduate School of Nursing has an acceptance rate of 33% . For Fall 2020, the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science (HSSEAS) had a graduate acceptance rate of 27%.

Economic impact

The university has a significant impact in the Los Angeles economy. It is the fifth largest employer in the county (after Los Angeles County, the Los Angeles Unified School District, the federal government and the City of Los Angeles) and the seventh largest in the region.

Trademarks and licensing

The UCLA trademark "is the exclusive property of the Regents of the University of California", but it is managed, protected, and licensed through UCLA Trademarks and Licensing, a division of the Associated Students UCLA, the largest student employer on campus. As such, the ASUCLA also has a share in trademark profits. Apparel, fashion accessories and other items with UCLA'S logo and insignea are popular in many parts of the world due to both the university's academic and athletic prestige, and its association with colorful images of Southern California life and culture. This demand for UCLA-branded merchandise has inspired the licensing of its trademark to UCLA brand stores throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Since 1980, 15 UCLA stores have opened in South Korea, and 49 are currently open in China. The newest store recently opened in Kuwait; there are also stores in Mexico, Singapore and India. UCLA earns about $400,000 in royalties each year through its international licensing program.

Commerce on campus

UCLA has various store locations around campus, with the main store in Ackerman Union. In addition, UCLA-themed products are sold at the gift shop of

Fowler Museum The Fowler Museum at UCLA, commonly known as The Fowler, and formerly Museum of Cultural History and Fowler Museum of Cultural History, is a museum on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) which explores art and material ...

on campus. Due to licensing and trademarks, products with UCLA logos and insignia are usually higher priced than their unlicensed counterparts. These products are popular among visitors, who buy them as gifts and souvenirs. The UCLA store offers some products, such as notebooks and folders, in both licensed (logoed) and cheaper unlicensed (un-logoed) options, but for other products the latter option is often unavailable. Students employed part-time by ASUCLA at UCLA Stores and Restaurants receive discounts when they shop at UCLA Stores.

Athletics

The school's sports teams are called the Bruins, represented by the colors true blue and gold. The Bruins participate in NCAA Division I as part of the

. Two notable sports facilities serve as home venues for UCLA sports. The Bruin men's

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team plays home games at the Rose Bowl in

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. Its ...

; the team won a national title in 1954. The basketball and volleyball teams, and the women's gymnastics team compete at Pauley Pavilion on campus. The school also sponsors cross country,

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

, women's rowing, golf, tennis, water polo, track and field, and women's softball. The mascots are Joe and Josephine Bruin, and the

fight songs A fight song is a rousing short song associated with a sports team. The term is most common in the United States and Canada. In Australia, Mexico, and New Zealand these songs are called the team anthem, team song, or games song. First associated ...

are '' Sons of Westwood'' and '' Mighty Bruins''. The alma mater is '' Hail to the Hills of Westwood''. When Henry "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 uniform "Powder Keg Blue", a powder blue with an explosive kick. This would also differentiate UCLA from all other UC teams, whose official colors are blue and gold. UCLA competes in all major Division I sports and has won 134 national championships, including 121 NCAA championships. Only Stanford University has more NCAA team championships, with 132. On April 21, 2018, UCLA's women's gymnastics team defeated Oklahoma Sooners to win its 7th NCAA National Championship as well as UCLA's 115th overall team title. Most recently, UCLA's women's soccer team defeated Florida State to win its first NCAA National Championship along with women's tennis who defeated North Carolina to win its second NCAA National title ever. UCLA's softball program is also outstanding. Women's softball won their NCAA-leading 12th National Championship, on June 4, 2019. The women's water polo team is also dominant, with a record 7 NCAA championships. Notably, the team helped UCLA become the first school to win 100 NCAA championships overall when they won their fifth on May 13, 2007. The men's water polo team won UCLA's 112th, 113th, and 114th national championships, defeating USC in the championship game three times: on December 7, 2014, on December 6, 2015, and on December 3, 2017. On October 9, 2016, the top-ranked men's water polo team broke the NCAA record for consecutive wins when they defeated UC Davis for their 52nd straight win. This toppled Stanford's previous record of 51 consecutive wins set in 1985–87. The men's water polo team has become a dominant sport on campus with a total of 11 national championships. Among UCLA's 118 championship titles, some of the more notable victories are in men's basketball. Under legendary coach

John Wooden John Robert Wooden (October 14, 1910 – June 4, 2010) was an American basketball coach and player. Nicknamed the Wizard of Westwood, he won ten National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) national championships in a 12-year period as head ...

, UCLA men's basketball teams won 10 NCAA championships, including a record seven consecutive, in 1964, 1965, 1967–1973, and 1975, and an 11th was added under then-coach Jim Harrick in 1995 (through 2008, the most consecutive by any other team is two). From 1971 to 1974, UCLA men's basketball won an unprecedented 88 consecutive games. UCLA has also shown dominance in men's volleyball, with 19 national championships. All 19 teams were led by former coach Al Scates, which ties him with John McDonnell of the University of Arkansas as NCAA leader for national championships in a single sport. UCLA is one of only six universities ( Michigan,

, Ohio State, California, and Florida being the others) to have won national championships in all three major men's sports (baseball, basketball, and football).

USC rivalry

UCLA shares a traditional sports rivalry with the University of Southern California. UCLA teams have won the second-most NCAA Division I-sanctioned team championships, while USC has the third-most. Only Stanford University, a fellow Pac-12 member also located in California, has more than either UCLA or USC. The football rivalry is distinctive for two of the strongest conference programs located in one city. In football, UCLA has one national champion team and 16 conference titles, compared to USC's 11 national championships and 37 conference championships. The two football teams compete for annual possession of the Victory Bell, the trophy of the rivalry football game. The schools share a rivalry in many other sports, and are each the best in the nation for many. UCLA has won 19 NCAA Championships in men's volleyball, 11 in men's basketball, 12 in Softball, and 7 in

women's water polo A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or Adolescence, adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female hum ...

, the most of any school in those sports. USC has won 26 NCAA Championships in Men's Outdoor Track and Field, 21 in men's tennis, and 12 in baseball, also the most of any school in each respective sport. The annual

SoCal BMW Crosstown Cup The Southern California Crosstown Cup is a year-long all-sports college competition between the UCLA Bruins and the USC Trojans. While UCLA and USC have had a sports rivalry since the 1920s,Olympic Games, where UCLA athletes have won 250 medals over a span of 50 years while USC athletes have won 287 over 100 years. UCLA and USC also compete in the We Run The City 5K, an annual charity race to raise donations for Special Olympics Southern California. The race is located on the campus of one of the schools and switches to the other campus each year. USC won the race in 2013 and 2015, while UCLA won the race in 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2017.

Student life

The campus is located near prominent entertainment venues such as the

Getty Center The Getty Center, in Los Angeles, California, is a campus of the Getty Museum and other programs of the Getty Trust. The $1.3 billion center opened to the public on December 16, 1997 and is well known for its architecture, gardens, and views over ...

, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and the

Santa Monica Pier The Santa Monica Pier is a large double-jointed pier at the foot of Colorado Avenue in Santa Monica, California, United States. It contains a small amusement park, concession stands, and areas for views and fishing. Attractions Pacific Park Th ...

. UCLA offers classical orchestras, intramural sports, and over 1000 student organizations UCLA is also home to 66 fraternities and sororities, which represent 13% of the undergraduate population.

Phrateres Phrateres ( ) is a philanthropic-social organization for female college students. History Phrateres was founded at UCLA in 1924 by the dean of women, Helen Matthewson Laughlin.

, a non-exclusive social-service club for women was founded here in 1924 by the Dean of Women, Helen Matthewson Laughlin. Students and staff participate in dinghy sailing, surfing, windsurfing, rowing, and kayaking at the UCLA Marina Aquatic Center in

Marina del Rey Marina del Rey (Spanish for "Marina of the King") is an unincorporated seaside community in Los Angeles County, California, with an eponymous harbor that is a major boating and water recreation destination of the greater Los Angeles area. The p ...

. UCLA is home to a slew of performing arts groups, including an improv comedy team called Rapid Fire. UCLA's first contemporary a cappella group, Awaken A Cappella, was founded in 1992. The all-male group, Bruin Harmony, has enjoyed a successful career since its inception in 2006, portraying a collegiate a cappella group in '' The Social Network'' (2010), while the ScatterTones finished in second-place in the

International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella The International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA), originally the National Championship of Collegiate A Cappella ("NCCA", a play on NCAA), is an international competition that attracts hundreds of college ''a cappella'' groups each ye ...

(ICCA) in 2012, 2013, and 2014, and third-place in 2017, 2019, and 2022. In 2020, The A Cappella Archive ranked the ScatterTones at #2 among all ICCA-competing groups. Resonance, founded in 2012, was an ICCA finalist in 2021. Other a cappella groups include Signature, Random Voices, Medleys, YOUTHphonics, Deviant Voices, AweChords, Pitch Please, Da Verse, Naya Zaamana, Jewkbox, On That Note, Tinig Choral, and Cadenza. YOUTHphonics and Medleys are UCLA's only nonprofit service-oriented a cappella groups. There are a variety of cultural organizations on campus, such as Nikkei Student Union (NSU), Japanese Student Association (JSA), Association of Chinese Americans (ACA), Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA), Chinese Music Ensemble (CME), Chinese Cultural Dance Club (CCDC), Taiwanese American Union (TAU), Taiwanese Student Association (TSA), Hong Kong Student Society (HKSS), Hanoolim Korean Cultural Awareness Group, Samahang Pilipino, Vietnamese Student Union (VSU), and Thai Smakom. Many of these organizations have an annual "culture night" consisting of drama and dance which raises awareness of culture and history to the campus and community. Additionally, there are over twenty LGBTQ organizations on campus, including the undergraduate student organizations Queer Alliance, BlaQue, Lavender Health Alliance, OutWrite Newsmagazine, Queer and Trans in STEM (qtSTEM), and Transgender UCLA Pride (TransUP) as well as the graduate student organizations Out@Anderson, OUTLaw, and Luskin PRIDE. Notably, OutWrite, established under the name TenPercent in 1979, is the first college queer newsmagazine in the country. UCLA operates on a quarter calendar with the exception of the UCLA School of Law and the UCLA School of Medicine, which operate on a semester calendar.

Traditions

UCLA's official charity is UniCamp, founded in 1934. It is a week-long summer camp for under-served children from the greater Los Angeles area, with UCLA volunteer counselors. UniCamp runs for seven weeks throughout the summer at Camp River Glen in the San Bernardino National Forest. Because UniCamp is a non-profit organization, student volunteers from UCLA also fundraise money throughout the year to allow these children to attend summer camp. The Pediatric AIDS Coalition organizes the annual Dance Marathon in Pauley Pavilion, where thousands of students raise a minimum of $250 and dance for 26 hours to support the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, Project Kindle, and the UCLA AIDS Institute. Dancers are not allowed to sit (except to use the restroom) during the marathon, literally taking a stand against pediatric AIDS, and symbolizing the suffering of affected children around the world. In 2015, Dance Marathon at UCLA raised $446,157. During Finals Week, UCLA students participate in "Midnight Yell", where they yell as loudly as possible for a few minutes at midnight to release some stress from studying. The quarterly

Undie Run An Undie Run is an event where a large number of people disrobe until they are only wearing underwear, and then run. The site of Undie Runs are typically college campuses, but they may occur on other sites such as streets. Undie Runs may be pu ...

takes place during the Wednesday evening of Finals Week, when students run through the campus in their underwear or in skimpy costumes. With the increasing safety hazards and Police and Administration involvement, a student committee changed the route to a run through campus to Shapiro Fountain, which culminates with students dancing in the fountain. The Undie Run has spread to other American universities, including the University of Texas at Austin,

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

, and

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

. The Alumni Association sponsors several events, usually large extravaganzas involving huge amounts of coordination, such as the 70-year-old Spring Sing, organized by the Student Alumni Association (SAA). UCLA's oldest tradition, Spring Sing is an annual gala of student talent, which is held at either Pauley Pavilion or the outdoor Los Angeles Tennis Center. The committee bestows the George and Ira Gershwin Lifetime Achievement Award each year to a major contributor to the music industry. Past recipients have included

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...

, Ella Fitzgerald, James Taylor, Ray Charles, Natalie Cole, Quincy Jones,

Lionel Richie Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a songwriter and the co-lead singer of funk band the Commodores; writing and recordi ...

, and in 2009,

Julie Andrews Dame Julie Andrews (born Julia Elizabeth Wells; 1 October 1935) is an English actress, singer, and author. She has garnered numerous accolades throughout her career spanning over seven decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Fi ...

. The Dinner for 12 Strangers is a gathering of students, alumni, administration and faculty to network around different interests. The "Beat 'SC Bonfire and Rally" occurs the week before the USC rivalry football game. The USAC Cultural Affairs Commission hosts the JazzReggae Festival, a two-day concert on Memorial Day weekend that attracts more than 20,000 attendees. The JazzReggae Festival is the largest, entirely student produced and run event of its kind on the West Coast. Sigma Eta Pi and Bruin Entrepreneurs organize

LA Hacks LA Hacks is an annual student-led hackathon hosted at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)'s Pauley Pavilion. According to UCLA in 2020, it is Southern California's largest annual hackathon. History LA Hacks was co-founded by UCLA st ...

, an annual hackathon where students from around the United States come to build technology products. LA Hacks established itself as the largest hackathon in the United States when over 1500 students participated on April 11–13, 2014. LA Hacks also holds the record for the most funds raised via corporate sponsorships with $250,000 raised. Some of the tech world's most prominent people have given talks and judged projects at LA Hacks, including Evan Spiegel (Founder and CEO of

Snapchat Snapchat is an American multimedia instant messaging app and service developed by Snap Inc., originally Snapchat Inc. One of the principal features of Snapchat is that pictures and messages are usually only available for a short time before the ...

), Alexis Ohanian (co-founder of Reddit), Sam Altman (President of Y Combinator) and Chris De Wolfe (Founder of Myspace).

Student government

The Associated Students UCLA (ASUCLA) encompasses the student government and student-led enterprises at UCLA. ASUCLA has four major components: the Undergraduate Students Association, the Graduate Students Association, Student Media, and Services & Enterprises. However, in common practice, the term ASUCLA refers to the services and enterprises component. This includes the Student Store, Bookstore, Food Services, Student Union, etc. These commercial enterprises generate approximately $40 million in annual revenues. As a nonprofit corporation, the financial goal of ASUCLA is to provide quality services and programs for students. ASUCLA is governed by a student-majority Board of Directors. The Undergraduate Students Association and Graduate Students Association each appoint three members plus one alternative. In addition to the student members, there are representatives appointed by the administration, the academic senate, and the alumni association. The "services and enterprises" portion of ASUCLA is run by a professional executive director who oversees some 300 staff and 2,000 student employees. The Graduate Students Association is the governing body for approximately 13,000 graduate and professional students at UCLA. The Undergraduate Students Association Council (USAC) is the governing body of the Undergraduate Students Association (USA) whose membership comprises every UCLA undergraduate student. , the student body had two major political slates: Bruins United and Let's Act. In the Spring 2016 election, the two competing parties were Bruins United and Waves of Change—a smaller faction that broke off of Lets Act. USAC's fourteen student officers and commissioners are elected by members of the Undergraduate Students Association at an annual election held during Spring Quarter. In addition to its fourteen elected members, USAC includes appointed representatives of the Administration, the Alumni, and the Faculty, as well as two ex-officio members, the ASUCLA Executive Director and a student Finance Committee Chairperson who is appointed by the USA President and approved by USAC. All members of USAC may participate fully in Council deliberations, but only the elected officers, minus the USAC President may vote. Along with the council, the student government also includes a seven-member Judicial Board, which similar to the Supreme Court, serves as the judicial branch of government and reviews actions of the council. These seven students are appointed by the student body president and confirmed by the council. USAC's programs offers additional services to the campus and surrounding communities. For example, each year approximately 40,000 students, faculty and staff attend programs of the Campus Events Commission, including a low-cost film program, a speakers program which presents leading figures from a wide range of disciplines, and performances by dozens of entertainers. Two to three thousand UCLA undergraduates participate annually in the more than twenty voluntary outreach programs run by the Community Service Commission. A large corps of undergraduate volunteers also participate in programs run by the Student Welfare Commission, such as AIDS Awareness, Substance Abuse Awareness,

Blood Drives A blood donation occurs when a person voluntarily has blood drawn and used for transfusions and/or made into biopharmaceutical medications by a process called fractionation (separation of whole blood components). Donation may be of whole blood ...

and CPR/First Aid Training. The film program is part of the Bruin Film Society, which is also a registered organization to host advance screenings of films during Oscars season. It hosts other events, like filmmaker panels, through its partnership with production and distribution company A24.

Media publications

UCLA Student Media is the home of UCLA's newspaper, magazines, and radio station. Most student media publications are governed by the ASUCLA Communications Board. The ''

Daily Bruin The ''Daily Bruin'' is the student newspaper at the University of California, Los Angeles. It began publishing in 1919, the year UCLA was founded. The ''Daily Bruin'' distributes about 6,000 copies across campus each school day. It also publis ...

'' is UCLA's most prominent student publication. Founded in 1919 under the name ''Cub Californian'', it has since then developed into Los Angeles' third-most circulated newspaper. It has won dozens of national awards and is regularly commended for layout and content. In 2016, the paper won two

National Pacemaker Awards The National Pacemaker Awards are awards for excellence in American student journalism, given annually since 1927. The awards are generally considered to be the highest national honors in their field, and are unofficially known as the "Pulitzer ...

– one for the best college newspaper in the country, and another for the best college media website in the country. Daily Bruin Text Logo

UCLA Student Media also publishes seven special-interest news magazines: ''Al-Talib'', ''Fem'', ''Ha'Am'', ''La Gente'', ''Nommo'', ''Pacific Ties'', and ''OutWrite'', a school yearbook, ''BruinLife'', and the student-run radio station, UCLA Radio. Student groups such as The Forum for Energy Economics and Development also publish yearly journals focused on energy technologies and industries. There is also a student-run satire newspaper, ''The Westwood Enabler''. There are also numerous graduate student-run journals at UCLA, such as ''Carte Italiane'', ''Issues in Applied Linguistics'', and ''Mediascape''. Many of these publications are available through

open access Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which research outputs are distributed online, free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 definition), or libre op ...

. The School of Law publishes the UCLA Law Review which is currently ranked seventh among American law schools.

Housing

UCLA provides housing to over 10,000 undergraduate and 2,900 graduate students. Most undergraduate students are housed in 14 complexes on the western side of campus, referred to by students as "The Hill". Students can live in halls, plazas, suites, or university apartments, which vary in pricing and privacy. Housing plans also offer students access to dining facilities, which have been ranked by the '' Princeton Review'' as some of the best in the United States. Dining halls are located in Covel Commons, Rieber Hall, Carnesale Commons and De Neve Plaza. In winter 2012, a dining hall called The Feast at Rieber opened to students. The newest dining hall (as of Winter Quarter 2014) is Bruin Plate, located in the Carnesale Commons (commonly referred to as Sproul Plaza). Residential cafes include Bruin Cafe, Rendezvous, The Study at Hedrick, and Cafe 1919. UCLA currently offers four years guaranteed housing to its incoming freshmen, and two years to incoming transfer students. There are four types of housing available for students: residential halls, deluxe residential halls, residential plazas, and residential suites. Available on the hill are study rooms, basketball courts, tennis courts, and Sunset Recreational Center which includes three swimming pools. Graduate students are housed in one of five apartment complexes. Weyburn Terrace is located just southwest of the campus in Westwood Village. The other four are roughly five miles south of UCLA in Palms and Mar Vista. They too vary in pricing and privacy. Approximately 400 students live at the University Cooperative Housing Association, located two blocks off campus. Students who are involved in Greek life have the option to also live in Greek housing while at UCLA. Sorority houses are located east of campus on Hilgard Avenue, and fraternity houses are located west of campus throughout Westwood Village. A student usually lives with 50+ students in Greek housing.

Hospitality

Hospitality constituents of the university include departments not directly related to student life or administration. The Hospitality department manages the university's two on-campus hotels, the UCLA Guest House and the Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference Center. The 61-room Guest House services those visiting the university for campus-related activities. The department also manages the UCLA Conference Center, a 40-acre (0.2 km²) conference center in the San Bernardino Mountains near Lake Arrowhead, California, Lake Arrowhead. Hospitality also operates UCLA Catering, a vending operation, and a summer conference center located on the Westwood campus.

Chabad House

The UCLA Chabad House is a community center for Jews, Jewish students operated by the Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox Jewish Chabad movement. Established in 1969, it was the first Chabad House at a university.The Visual Culture of Chabad, Maya Balakirsky Katz, Cambridge University Press, 2010, page 152. In 1980, three students died in a fire in the original building of the UCLA Chabad House. The present building was erected in their memory. The building, completed in 1984, was the first of many Chabad houses worldwide designed as architectural reproductions of the residence of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, New York. The Chabad House hosts the UCLA chapter of The Rohr Jewish Learning Institute's Sinai Scholars Society.

Healthy Campus Initiative

In January 2013, Chancellor Gene Block launched the UCLA Healthy Campus Initiative (HCI), envisioned and supported by Jane and Terry Semel. The Semel HCI prioritizes the health and wellness of UCLA students, staff, and faculty by "making the healthy choice the easy choice." The goal of the initiative is to make UCLA the healthiest campus in the country, and to share best practices and research with other communities, locally and beyond. The initiative is a campuswide, multi-year effort that champions programs such as the tobacco-free policy, expansion of campus gardens, stairwell makeovers, bicycle infrastructure improvements, healthy and sustainable dining options, and peer counseling, among others. The UCLA Healthy Campus Initiative is credited with providing inspiration for national initiatives including the Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) Healthier Campus Initiative and the University of California Office of the President (UCOP) Global Food Initiative (GFI). In November 2014, UCLA was one of the 20 inaugural colleges and universities to pledge to adopt PHA's guidelines for food and nutrition, physical activity and programming over three years. The Semel HCI is a member of both the Menus of Change Research Collaborative and the Teaching Kitchen Collaborative, and a contributor to The Huffington Post.

Faculty and alumni

Award laureates and scholars

UCLA's faculty and alumni have won a number of awards including: * 105 Academy Awards * 278 Emmy Awards * 1

* 3 Turing Awards * 11 Fulbright Program, Fulbright Scholars (since 2000) * 78 Guggenheim Fellows * 50 Grammy Awards * 16 MacArthur Fellows * 1 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor * 10 National Medal of Science, National Medals of Science * 16 Nobel Laureates * 3 Presidential Medal of Freedom, Presidential Medals of Freedom * 1 Pritzker Prize in Architecture * 3 Pulitzer Prizes * 1 Rome Prize in Design * 12 Rhodes Scholars * 1 Medal of Honor * 2 Mitchell Scholarship, Mitchell Scholars File:Jackie Robinson, Brooklyn Dodgers, 1954.jpg, Jackie Robinson, first African-American player in the Major League Baseball, MLB File:James Franco 4, 2013.jpg, James Franco, Academy Award-nominated actor File:Kareem Abdul-Jabbar May 2014.jpg, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 2nd in National Basketball Association, NBA all-time scoring File:Sean Astin by Gage Skidmore.jpg, Sean Astin, actor File:Arthur Ashe (cropped).jpg, Arthur Ashe, former world #1 tennis player, who won three Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam titles File:Sara Bareilles 10 13 2015 (36191615226).jpg, Sara Bareilles, Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter File:Randy Newman HWOF Aug 2012 (levels adjusted).jpg, Randy Newman, singer-songwriter File:Leonard Nimoy Mission Impossible.jpg, Leonard Nimoy, actor, who played Spock in ''Star Trek'' File:Ben Shapiro (42864830152) (cropped).jpg, Ben Shapiro, conservative political commentator File:Stefano Bloch Faculty University of Arizona Geography, Tucson, USA 2021.jpg, Stefano Bloch, author, graffiti artist, academic File:2016 RiP Tenacious D - Jack Black - by 2eight - 8SC8891.jpg, Jack Black, actor and comedian File:Mayim Bialik, March 2018 (4116) (cropped).jpg, Mayim Bialik, actress and host of ''Jeopardy!'' File:Tom Bradley, 1980.jpg, Tom Bradley (American politician), Tom Bradley, first African-American Mayor of Los Angeles File:Carol Burnett - 1974.jpg, Carol Burnett, actress File:Steve Martin, 2017-08-11.jpg, Steve Martin, actor and comedian File:Rob Reiner MFF 2016.jpg, Rob Reiner, actor and filmmaker File:Ben Stiller May 2019.jpg, Ben Stiller, actor and comedian File:Johnnie cochran 2001 cropped retouched.jpg, Johnnie Cochran, lawyer and civil rights activist File:Francis Ford Coppola 2011 CC.jpg, Francis Ford Coppola, Academy Award-winning filmmaker File:Paul Schrader Montclair Film Festival (cropped).jpg, Paul Schrader, screenwriter and film director File:Troy Aikman 2018 PIT.png, Troy Aikman, Pro Football Hall of Fame member File:Mark Harmon 1 edit1.jpg, Mark Harmon, actor and producer File:George Takei Photo Op GalaxyCon Minneapolis 2019.jpg, George Takei, actor and activist File:Kirsten Gillibrand, official photo, 116th Congress.jpg, Kirsten Gillibrand, U.S. Senator from New York File:James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause.jpg, James Dean, actor File:H R Haldeman, 1971 portrait.png, H.R. Haldeman, former White House Chief of Staff File:Bill Walton 8-26-08.JPG, Bill Walton, Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Basketball Hall of Fame member File:Jimmy Conners 1994.jpg, Jimmy Connors, former world #1 tennis player, who won eight Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam titles File:Mike Morhaime BlizzCon 2007.jpg, Michael Morhaime, co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment File:Jim Morrison 1969.JPG, Jim Morrison, lead singer of The Doors File:TimRobbinsTIFFSept2012.jpg, Tim Robbins, Academy Award-winning actor File:Russell Westbrook (March 21, 2022) (cropped).jpg, alt=, Russell Westbrook, National Basketball Association, NBA MVP and all-time leader in triple-doubles File:Sam Mewis (49630387222).jpg, alt=, Sam Mewis, professional soccer player for United States women's national soccer team, USWNT and Kansas City Current, KCCFC File:Abby Dahlkemper May19.jpg, alt=, Abby Dahlkemper, professional soccer player for United States women's national soccer team, USWNT and San Diego Wave FC File:Azadeh Kian 2022.jpg, alt=, Azadeh Kian, Social Scientist and Director at Paris Cité University File:Jessie Fleming, UCLA midfielder.jpg, alt=, Jessie Fleming, professional soccer player for Canada women's national soccer team, CANWNT and Chelsea F.C. Women As of October 2023, 28 Nobel laureates have been affiliated with UCLA: 12 professors, 8 alumni and 10 researchers (three overlaps). Two other faculty members winning the Nobel Prize were Bertrand Russell and Al Gore, who each had a short stay at UCLA. The alumni Nobel laureates include Richard Heck (Chemistry, 2010); Elinor Ostrom (Economic Sciences, 2009); and Randy Schekman (Physiology or Medicine, 2013). Fifty-two UCLA professors have been awarded Guggenheim Fellowships, and sixteen are MacArthur Fellows Program, MacArthur Foundation Fellows. Mathematics professor Terence Tao was awarded the 2006

. Geography professor Jared Diamond won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for his book ''Guns, Germs, and Steel''. Two UCLA history professors have each won 2008 Pulitzer Prizes for general nonfiction and history. Saul Friedländer, noted scholar of the Nazi Holocaust, won the prize for general nonfiction for his 2006 book, ''The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939–1945'', and Daniel Walker Howe for his 2007 book, ''What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848''. A number of UCLA alumni are notable politicians. In the State of Hawaii, Ben Cayetano ('68), became the first Filipino American to be elected Governor of a U.S. state. In the U.S. House of Representatives, Henry Waxman ('61, '64) represented California's 30th congressional district and was Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. U.S. Representative Judy Chu ('74) represents California's 32nd congressional district and became the first Chinese American woman elected to the U.S. Congress in 2009. Kirsten Gillibrand ('91) is U.S. Senator from the State of New York (state), New York and former U.S. Representative for New York's 20th congressional district. UCLA boasts two Mayor of Los Angeles, Mayors of Los Angeles: Tom Bradley (American politician), Tom Bradley (1937–1940), the city's only African-American mayor, and Antonio Villaraigosa ('77), who served as mayor from 2005 to 2013. Nao Takasugi was the mayor of Oxnard, California and the first Asian-American California assemblyman. Azadeh Kian, PhD at UCLA and Director of social sciences at University of Paris, is a prominent expert on Iranian politics. H. R. Haldeman ('48) and John Ehrlichman ('48) are among the most infamous alumni because of their activities during the 1972 Watergate Scandal. Ben Shapiro (BA '04) is an American conservative political commentator, nationally syndicated columnist, author, radio talk show host, and attorney. He is the editor-in-chief at ''The Daily Wire''. Michael Morhaime (BA '90), Allen Adham (BA '90) and Frank Pearce (businessman), Frank Pearce (BA '90) are the founders of Blizzard Entertainment, developer of the award-winning ''Warcraft'', ''StarCraft'' and ''Diablo (series), Diablo'' computer game franchises. Tom Anderson (MA '00) is a co-founder of the social networking website Myspace. Computer scientist Vint Cerf ('70, '72) is vice president and Chief Internet Evangelist at Google and the person most widely considered the "father of the Internet." Henry Samueli ('75) is co-founder of Broadcom Corporation and owner of the Anaheim Ducks. Susan Wojcicki (MBA '98) is the former CEO of YouTube. Travis Kalanick is one of the founders of Uber. Guy Kawasaki (MBA '79) is one of the earliest employees at Apple Inc., Apple. Nathan Myhrvold is the founder of Microsoft Research. Bill H. Gross, Bill Gross (MBA '71) co-founded Pacific Investment Management (PIMCO). Laurence Fink (BA '74, MBA '76) is chairman and CEO of the world's largest money-management firm BlackRock. Donald Prell (BA '48) is a venture capitalist and founder of ''Datamation'' computer magazine. Ben Horowitz (MS '90) is a co-founder of the Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. UCLA alumni have also achieved prominence in the arts and entertainment. John Williams is laureate conductor at the Boston Pops Orchestra and Academy Award-winning composer of the ''Star Wars'' film score. Martin Sherwin ('71) was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for ''American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer''. Actors Ben Stiller, Tim Robbins, James Franco, George Takei, Mayim Bialik, Sean Astin, Holland Roden, Danielle Panabaker, and Milo Ventimiglia are also UCLA alumni. Popular music artists Sara Bareilles, The Doors, Linkin Park, and Maroon 5 all attended UCLA. Ryan Dusick of Maroon 5 majored in English. Giada De Laurentiis is a program host at Food Network and former chef at Spago. Greg Graffin, lead singer of punk rock band Bad Religion, earned a master's degree in geology at UCLA, and used to teach a course on evolution there. Carol Burnett was the winner of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2013 (also winner of Emmys, a Peabody Award, Peabody and a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005). Francis Ford Coppola ('67) was the director of the gangster film trilogy ''The Godfather'', The Outsiders (film), ''The Outsiders'' starring Tom Cruise, and the Vietnam War film ''Apocalypse Now'' and Dustin Lance Black is the Academy Award-winning screenwriter of the film Milk (2008 American film), ''Milk''. Meb Keflezighi ('98) is the winner of the 2014 Boston Marathon and the Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's marathon, 2004 Olympic silver medalist in the marathon. The UCLA Bruins men's basketball, UCLA men's basketball team has produced Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Basketball Hall of Fame players such as Bill Walton and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as well as current NBA players Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook. Noted UCLA Bruins baseball, Bruins baseball players include Troy Glaus, Chase Utley, Brandon Crawford, Gerrit Cole, and Trevor Bauer. Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts (outfielder), Dave Roberts won World Series titles as a member of the 2004 Boston Red Sox and in 2020 as manager of the Dodgers. UCLA also boasts an excellent military background, with hundreds of alumni serving their nation. Carlton Skinner was a U.S. Coast Guard Commander who racially integrated that service at the end of World War II on the ''Sea Cloud''. He was also the first civilian governor of Guam. Francis B. Wai is, to date, the only Chinese-American and the first Asian-American to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions in World War II. UCLA also lost an alumnus in early 2007 when Second Lieutenant Mark Daily was killed in Mosul, Iraq after his HMMWV was hit by an IED. Lieutenant Daily's service is marked by a plaque located on the northern face of the Student Activities Center (SAC), where the ROTC halls are currently located. As of August 1, 2016, the top three places where UCLA alumni work are Kaiser Permanente with 1,459+ alumni, UCLA Health System, UCLA Health with 1,127+ alumni, and Google with 1,058+ alumni.

Notes

References

External links

*
UCLA Athletics website

Image of UCLA on a zoning map of Los Angeles, 1927
. Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles. {{DEFAULTSORT:California, Los Angeles, University Of University of California, Los Angeles, Universities and colleges in Los Angeles University of California campuses, Los Angeles Public universities and colleges in California, University of California, Los Angeles Westwood, Los Angeles Schools accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Universities and colleges established in 1919 1919 establishments in California Venues of the 1984 Summer Olympics Venues of the 2028 Summer Olympics Olympic Villages Need-blind educational institutions

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