In the year 2019, UCLA celebrated its Centennial Anniversary, marking one hundred years since our university’s founding. The Fiat Lux seminars have been a forum to showcase some of the great accomplishments of our University and to reflect on the rich history and contributions so many have made to the betterment of humanity through research, teaching, and service. See the table below for a list themed Fiat Lux seminars created as part of the Centennial Initiative. Please click the link below to download a sortable Excel sheet.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Discover UCLA’s Museums!
Subject Area: Art History
Course Description: Introduction to dynamic collections and exhibition programs of UCLA Hammer and Fowler museums through hands-on experience. Students learn about unique history and role of these University museums, and become familiar with their objects and exhibition spaces. After first session, all classes meet at museum. Introduction to curators and other museum staff. Students learn about internship and docent opportunities, and gain better understanding of future career possibilities in museums.
Faculty Bio: Saloni Mathur, Professor in the Department of Art History, is author of India by Design: Colonial History and Cultural Display (UC Press, 2007); editor of The Migrant’s Time: Rethinking Art History and Diaspora (Yale University Press/Clark Art Institute, 2011); and co-editor (with Kavita Singh) of No Touching, No Spitting, No Praying: The Museum in South Asia (Routledge, 2014). She has published broadly on museums in an era of globalization, co-curated an exhibition at the Fowler Museum, and taught Museum Studies at UCLA for the past 17 years.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Making Home in Los Angeles
Subject Area: Chicana and Chicano Studies
Course Description: Focus on city of Los Angeles and various ways people make it their home. Examination of city’s history, neighborhoods, and racial demographics. Examination of topics related to gentrification including housing insecurity in Los Angeles; role of art galleries in gentrification; retail alienation and gentrification; UCLA and history of Westwood Village; dislocation and USC Village; displacement, Dodger Stadium, and Chavez Ravine; sports teams and displacement (Rams, soccer); media portrayals of Los Angeles and gentrification; and more. Topics examined through variety of analytical lenses drawn from humanities and social sciences, to understand powerful drive to make home. As part of UCLA Common Experience, study focuses on There Goes the Neighborhood.
Faculty Bio: Charlene Villaseñor Black is Professor of Art History and Chicana/o Studies, Associate Director of the Chicano Studies Research Center, and the editor of Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies. She lives on the Hill as Faculty in Residence to Sproul Hall. She publishes on a range of topics related to the early modern Iberian world as well as contemporary Chicanx art. Her most recent book, with Dr. Mari-Tere Álvarez of the Getty Museum, is Renaissance Futurities: Art, Science, Invention, published in 2019. In 2016 she was awarded UCLA’s Gold Shield Faculty Prize for Academic Excellence.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Architecture – Famous Names, Forgotten People
Subject Area: Classics
Course Description: Royce, Bunche, Haines, and Moore. Famous names on campus, but how many students (or even faculty and staff) know about people for whom these iconic buildings have been named? Introduction to history and architecture of Westwood campus through walking tour. Each class meets at different site (announced in syllabus) where students learn about named individuals and their important associations with UCLA. Many were among first professors on campus, forward-thinking administrators, or prominent alumni like Ralph Bunche (first African-American recipient of Nobel Peace Prize). Survey and examination of architecture and art of each building. Topics include building materials, architectural influences, and what rich decorative art (sculptural reliefs, frescoes, and mosaics)–or lack of it–tells us about ideologies and values of contemporary times.
Faculty Bio: Robert Gurval is Associate Professor in the Department of Classics. His area of research and teaching concerns ancient Rome and the legacy of its empire in popular culture. His current research explores the reception of Cleopatra from antiquity to the 21st century. He has taught at UCLA since 1990. He has served as Department Chair, Chair of the faculty committees on the Honors College, General Education Governance, and Undergraduate Honors, Awards and Prizes. He is recipient of the Rome Prize, UCLA Eby and APA Awards for Excellence of Teaching, and recently Fulbright Scholar in Hong Kong.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: The Architecture of Westwood
Subject Area: Classics
Course Description: Introduction to history of UCLA through weekly walking tours, looking closely, and learning about architecture of Westwood campus. Each meeting held at different location. Beginning at Founders Rock (northeast corner of Murphy Hall), students learn about original campus on Vermont Avenue and move to Westwood 10 years later. Each building or site tells its own story. Students learn of first University architects–brothers Allison and Allison, and George Kelham–and their bold ambitions for new campus. Names of campus buildings remember early professors and department chairs, forward-thinking administrators, or prominent alumni such as Ralph J. Bunche (first African-American recipient of Nobel Peace prize). Students survey and consider functional design, architectural style, and art decoration of these first buildings. When understood in its historical context, architecture can inform us about ideologies and values of contemporary times.
Faculty Bio: Robert Gurval is Associate Professor Emeritus in the Dept of Classics. His area of research and teaching concerns ancient Rome and the legacy of its empire in American popular culture. In addition to his courses in Classics, he has taught seminars on Cleopatra (College Honors); Ancient Rome and Monuments of Washington, DC; and the Architecture of Westwood (Fiat Lux). Last year he organized student walking tours for Alumni Day on history and architecture of UCLA. He has led Travel Study program in Rome. Recently he has lectured and taught Classics in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Hong Kong.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: North and South: UCLA Inventions and Discoveries
Subject Area: Design | Media Arts
Course Description: Introduction to innovations by campus faculty in arts, humanities, and sciences. Each meeting takes place in different part of campus where some new breakthrough happened. Includes engineering building where first Internet (ARPANET) connection was made (1969), various places that are known, and even places that no longer exist. Most scientific and medical breakthroughs are easily known about, but this campus also had some great artists, musicians, and authors who often go unnoticed. Introduction to new concepts in art and music. Students encouraged to research their own area of interest.
Faculty Bio: Victoria Vesna, Ph.D., is an Artist and Professor at the UCLA Department of Design Media Arts and Director of the Art|Sci Center at the School of the Arts (North campus) and California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) (South campus). . With her installations she investigates how communication technologies affect collective behavior and perceptions of identity shift in relation to scientific innovation (PhD, CAiiA_STAR, University of Wales, 2000). Her work involves long-term collaborations with composers, nano-scientists, neuroscientists, evolutionary biologists. http://victoriavesna.com
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Burning Books: UCLA, Fahrenheit 451, and the Politics of Libraries
Subject Area: English
Course Description: Fahrenheit 451 was written in basement of Powell Library. But libraries are not neutral spaces. Students read novel alongside brief readings from philosophers, historians, and literary critics. Consideration of library fires, both intentional and accidental: from famous burning of ancient library at Alexandria; to 16th-century destruction of Mayan writing by Spanish; to destruction of books in Germany, Chile, Mali, and elsewhere in 20th and 21st centuries.
Faculty Bio: Matthew Fisher, Associate Professor of English, did his undergraduate degree at UC Berkeley and his graduate degrees at Oxford University. His research focuses on medieval manuscripts and medieval literature. He is currently at work on a book about library fires.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Artists’ Books in UCLA Library and Beyond
Subject Area: Honors Collegium
Course Description: Introduction to artists’ books at UCLA, mainly through examination of collections at Arts Library, Young Research Library special collections, Clark Library, and Biomedical Library history and sciences special collections. Students gain sense of richness of these collections, particularly with regard to book artists active in Los Angeles and California. Discussion encouraged, mainly through hands-on encounters with artists’ books presented in class. Students have opportunity to create artist’s book.
Faculty Bio: Robert Gore is the Visual Arts Librarian and curator of the artists’ book collection in the UCLA Arts Library. He holds a Master’s degree in Library Science from the University of British Columbia and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Photography from the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design. Also active as a poet, his poems have appeared in Canadian Literature, Prism International, Contemporary Verse 2, and many other literary journals.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Research Revealed: UCLA Humanities, Arts, and Social
Subject Area: Honors Collegium
Course Description: Introduction to wide array of research practices in humanities, arts, and social sciences with emphasis on UCLA. Offered through Undergraduate Research Center. Features talks from faculty and student researchers. Students gain better understanding and appreciation of UCLA role as research university; and how research is conducted, and knowledge created, in humanities, arts, and social sciences. Coursework and discussions also prepare students for conducting their own research projects, applying to research programs, or assisting on faculty member future projects.
Faculty Bio: Since 2016 Kelly Kistner has been the Assistant Director of UCLA’s Undergraduate Research Center for the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. Dr. Kistner received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Washington. Her research and publications have centered on the history and sociology of knowledge production.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: From Morrison to Schoenberg, 100 Years of Great Composers
Subject Area: Music
Course Description: Many of most important modern-era composers have taught or attended class at UCLA. John Williams, James Horner, Michael Gioccino, Bruce Broughton, and Randy Newman are among film greats associated with UCLA. Lukas Foss and Arnold Schoenberg are two of most noteworthy classical composers who have taught here. Jim Morrison of The Doors went to UCLA and started band with fellow Bruins. Students encouraged to identify one of these or any of hundreds more, do some basic research on music they composed and their impact on UCLA community, make short presentation. Prior knowledge of music and its history encouraged but not required. Designed for students with love of great music and willingness to do a little digging.
Faculty Bio: In 2011, Professor Krouse received one of the University of California’s highest honors, a Distinguished Teaching Award for ‘outstanding contributions to university teaching.’ Especial mention was made of his mentorship of undergraduate students. Throughout his long career he has mentored several generations of young people, many of whom have gone on to important careers in music and allied fields. Several of his students have won prestigious awards such as the Prix de Rome, and the ASCAP and BMI Awards to Student Composers, among many others.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Great Composers of UCLA
Subject Area: Music
Course Description: UCLA has been stopping point for some of most significant musical creators of our time. Great composers of Broadway, classical, EDM, film, jazz, pop, rock, and video game music have either attended UCLA as students, taught master classes and courses, or performed on campus. Students sample and explore some of this great music.
Faculty Bio: In 2011, Professor Krouse received one of the University of California’s highest honors, a Distinguished Teaching Award for ‘outstanding contributions to university teaching.’ Especial mention was made of his mentorship of undergraduate students. Throughout his long career he has mentored several generations of young people, many of whom have gone on to important careers in music and allied fields. Several of his students have won prestigious awards such as the Prix de Rome, and the ASCAP and BMI Awards to Student Composers, among many others.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Genius of Arnold Schoenberg and His UCLA Legacy
Subject Area: Music
Course Description: Study dedicated to one of greatest composers of all time, Arnold Schoenberg; who, since escaping from Nazi regime to Los Angeles in 1933, became much-admired and respected professor of composition at UCLA. Besides learning about Schoenberg’s life and musical style, students have rare opportunity to witness rehearsal of Schoenberg’s Ode to Napoleon, attend two exciting concerts, and attend recording session.
Faculty Bio: Professor of Violin at UCLA, violinist Movses Pogossian made his American debut performing the Tchaikovsky Concerto with the Boston Pops at Symphony Hall in 1990, about which Richard Dyer of the Boston Globe wrote: “There is freedom in his playing, but also taste and discipline. It was a fiery, centered, and highly musical performance?”. Upcoming releases include a Schoenberg/Webern DVD, recorded at Schoenberg’s Brentwood home (with Kim Kashkashian, Rohan de Saram, and Judith Gordon), on Bridge Records. He is a 2016/17 Artist in Residence with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Gems of Armenian Music
Subject Area: Music
Course Description: Celebrating richness of Armenian musical heritage, students experience exciting performances of various Armenian music styles, and lectures on its history, by director of Armenian music program. Study takes place in context of historic relationship between Los Angeles Armenian community and UCLA, which recently established The Promise Armenian Institute as hub for new and ongoing research in multiple programs including music.
Faculty Bio: Movses Pogossian is a celebrated prize-winning violinist who made his American debut with the Boston Pops at Symphony Hall in 1990. He has since performed extensively in North America and Europe as a soloist, sought-after chamber musician, and enthusiastic advocate of new music. Movses Pogossian is Professor of Violin and Founding Director of UCLA’s Armenian Music Program, and is Artistic Director of the Dilijan Chamber Music Series. A committed community organizer, he heads the LA Chapter of the Music for Food project, which uses powerful role music can play as catalyst for change.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Pop!, Brief History of Popular Music at UCLA
Subject Area: Music History
Course Description: UCLA has long and complex history of hosting, nurturing, commenting on, and being supported by popular music industry. Study traces names of musicians and musical thinkers adorning campus buildings (Schoenberg, Alpert, Ostin, Geffen). Survey of contributions of UCLA students (and drop-outs) to American popular music (Jim Morrison, Oingo Boingo, Linkin Park, Sara Bareilles); UCLA composers and film industry (John Williams, John Horner, Danny Elfman, Paul Chihara); UCLA student musical culture (Gershwin fight song, Spring Sing, campus electronic dance music [EDM] and hip-hop); UCLA as site for counterculture (Mingus, Frank Zappa, Acid Tests); jazz, legacy of UCLA ethnomusicology, and revival of folk music (Seegers, John Fahey, Kenny Burrell, Central Avenue Sounds); new musicology, popular music studies, and music industry studies (Susan McClary, Jessica Schwartz). Consideration of future of music industry, and what roles UCLA graduates and faculty will play in it.
Faculty Bio: Robert Fink is Professor in the Department of Musicology and the Chair of UCLA’s Music Industry Minor program. He focuses on avant-garde and popular music after 1960, with specializations in minimalism and repetition, soul music, and EDM (his UCLA course on EDM was named “coolest college class” by Spin Magazine). He is a recipient of the UCLA Distinguished Teaching Prize.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Punk U
Subject Area: Music History
Course Description: UCLA has been formative space for emergence, documentation, and institutionalization of punk. It might even be called Punk U for encouraging students and faculty to push intellectual, social, and institutional boundaries–including reaching out to greater Los Angeles community. Tradition of compelling critical thought and creativity, and supporting numerous punk shows, has made UCLA important springboard for punk musicians, documentarians, photographers, artists, scholars, and writers. Seminal role UCLA has played in Los Angeles punk, which has defined alternative music trends for last 35 years, is crucial to how we listen to popular music–including alternative/indie and rap music–today. Consideration of ways in which UCLA punk has shaped contours of punk history and thus contemporary popular music, pedagogy, and institutional preservation and dissemination initiatives. Students dialog with punk alumni, use punk archive, and create do-it-yourself expressions.
Faculty Bio: Jessica Schwartz is Assistant Professor of Musicology at UCLA. She received her Ph.D. in Music from New York University. Her research interests are creative dissent and anti-imperial music, specifically with a focus on American postwar music, nuclear music/ Pacific indigenous resistance, and subcultural practices, such as punk and hip-hop. She is author of Radiation Sounds: Marshallese Music & Nuclear Silences (Duke, under contract) and has published articles in Women & Music, American Quarterly, and Punk & Post Punk.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Playing the King of Instruments at UCLA
Subject Area: Musicology
Course Description: Iconic Royce Hall houses one of largest pipe organs in California. Why is this instrument on campus, and how does it work? Students engage with these questions while learning to play this pipe organ. By using hands and feet to make music on this massive instrument, participants learn about recent research on embodiment facilitated by organ’s capabilities. Students hone deep listening skills to distinguish organ’s characteristic sounds and orchestral sounds it mimics, such as strings, trumpet, and harp. Students also learn about organ’s role in both secular and sacred settings, past and present. Students do not need to know how to read music notation or have prior experience in music performance to participate and learn.
Faculty Bio: Cesar Favila is an assistant professor of musicology. He fell in love with the sounds of the organ when he heard it in church for the first time as a seven-year-old. His passion for the instrument led him to a career in musicology where he has researched the French romantic school of organ and now the music of colonial Mexican convents. He is an elected member-at-large of the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and an E. Power Biggs Fellow of the Organ Historical Society.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Bruins and Othello in Brazil
Subject Area: Portuguese
Course Description: In 1960, UCLA classics lecturer Helen Caldwell (1904-1987) published book on Brazil’s most elusive novel on guilt and female victimization. The Brazilian Othello of Machado de Assis changed way critics interpreted Dom Casmurro (1899), country’s most canonical novel, by Afro-Brazilian writer Machado de Assis (1836-1908). Based on re-examination of Brazil’s obsession with Shakespeare’s Othello, she argued for innocence of supposedly adulterous wife, Capitu. Novel became paradigm of unreliable narration, cross-cultural exchange, and gender bias. Study highlights importance of translation and foreign languages. Exploration of how Caldwell–from Omaha, Nebraska; 1930s dancer of modern Japanese choreography; and UCLA instructor of Latin and Greek tragedies–single-handedly nearly changed standards of Brazilian literary excellence and diversity of understanding. Caldwell also translated four novels by de Assis and published two monographs on his works.
Faculty Bio: José Luiz Passos is Professor of Portuguese and Brazilian literature at UCLA, where he directs the Center for Brazilian Studies at the UCLA International Institute. He is the author of two scholarly books on Brazilian modernism and 19th-century fiction, and the award-winning author of four novels depicting racial and sociopolitical issues in modern Brazil.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: The Origins of Brazil at UCLA
Subject Area: Portuguese
Course Description: Exploration of unique UCLA resources related to Brazilian history, culture, and social life. Focus on Fowler Museum exhibit Axe Bahia: The Power of an Afro-Brazilian Metropolis, as well as on rare illustrated books depicting inception of Brazil held in YRL special collections. Meetings take place in t classroom, Fowler Museum, and YRL, introducing students to key UCLA resources and allowing them to interact with curators, librarians, emeriti faculty, and staff.
Faculty Bio: Jose Luiz Passos is Professor of Portuguese and Brazilian literature at UCLA, where he has served as the inaugural director of the Center for Brazilian Studies. He is the author of “Ruínas de linhas puras” (Ruins of Pure Lines, 1998) on Brazilian literary modernism and “Romance com pessoas” (Novels with Persons, 2014), which interprets Shakespeare’s influence on 19th-century Brazilian fiction. He is also the award-winning author of four novels written in Portuguese, depicting the complex political relationship between the country and the city in modern Brazil.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Feminism and UCLA, 1919 to 2019
Subject Area: Theater
Course Description: In 1919, UCLA was founded; and 19th amendment to U.S. Constitution was ratified, giving women right to vote after decades of campaigning. The first UCLA BA graduating class consisted of 100 women and 24 men; history of UCLA is, in many ways, history of feminism in western U.S. Exploration of history of UCLA and feminism, through readings and discussion built around two special activities: visit to UCLA archives to see historical artifacts and materials relating to the history of women and UCLA; and mandatory attendance at Rebecca Solnit’s CAP talk on evening of October 25, 2018. Solnit is author of viral essay Men Explain Things to Me, which students read in preparation for event.
Faculty Bio: Michelle Liu Carriger is an assistant professor of Critical Studies in the Theater Department where she specializes in fashion and performance of self in everyday life, with emphasis on historiography and archival research. She is the faculty in residence for Saxon Suites, where she works with undergraduates with special interests in queer, feminist, transnational and critical race issues.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Cinema and Migration at the Asian American Film Festival
Subject Area: Theater
Course Description: What is relationship between cinema and immigration? Center for Asian American Studies 50th anniversary film festival used as case study. Discussion of logistics of organizing such event, including competing interests of multiple constituencies (e.g., different ethnic groups that constitute Asian America, and needs of festival programming and of academic institution). Discussion of film content, distribution, and reception. Students attend screenings and panels with professors and some on- and off-screen talent responsible for creating films. Meetings correlate with screenings at specific venues on and near campus. Festival includes 10 sessions with panels as well as screenings of shorts, documentaries, and narrative features. Students attend at least eight sessions.
Faculty Bio: Sean Metzger, Professor in the School of Theater, Film, and Television, is Vice Chair for Undergraduate Studies in Theater, and a Faculty in Residence for Courtside. His publications on cinema include Chinese Looks: Fashion, Performance, Race (2014); Futures of Chinese Cinema (2009); and The Chinese Atlantic (forthcoming in 2020).
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Social Justice, Student Activism, and the Academic Advancement Program
Subject Area: African American Studies
Course Description: Academic Advancement Program (AAP) is not simply university academic program. It is one of largest student enrichment and retention programs in any leading research institution in U.S. Any meaningful overview of program, therefore, cannot simply offer straightforward, programmatically focused history; but must place program evolution squarely in context of history of student diversity and affirmative action at UCLA. Topics include AAP origins, 1964-1973; quiescent years, 1974-1981; UCLA and cultural diversity, 1982-1988; AAP fragmentation, 1985-86; AAP restructuring, 1986-1988; AAP post-Bakke, 1988-1996; and AAP post-Proposition 209, 1996 to present.
Faculty Bio: A pioneer of pipeline programs designed to increase diversity in the health professions, Charles J. Alexander, Ph.D., currently serves as the Associate Vice Provost for Student Diversity and Director of the Academic Advancement Program. He is also an Associate Adjunct Professor in the School of Dentistry’s Division of Public Health and Community Dentistry. He received his BA degree in Sociology from the State University of New York (SUNY), College at Cortland; a MA in Sociology from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and; PhD in the Sociology of Education from Marquette University.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Arthur Ashe and John Lewis: Divergent Approaches to African American Activism
Subject Area: African American Studies
Course Description: Comparison and contrast of political awakenings of Bruin Arthur Ashe (class of 1966) and congressman John Lewis, who will receive the UCLA Medal in spring 2017. Both black men, born in early 1940s in American South to working class parents, who both faced Jim Crow segregation but were able to counter norms of their times by attending and graduating from college. Both were recognized as leaders at very young age. Both were activists, but they deployed very different approaches to pursuit of social justice. Students scrutinize their lives and choices.
Faculty Bio: Dr. Patricia A. Turner was appointed Dean and Vice Provost for UCLA’s Division of Undergraduate Education, effective Dec. 17, 2012. Professor Turner comes to UCLA from UC Davis where, in 1999, she was appointed vice provost for undergraduate education. Patricia is a professor in World Arts and Cultures/Dance and African-American Studies; and her research focuses on racial dynamics as they surface in folklore and popular culture. Her fourth book, Crafted Lives: Stories and Studies of African-American Quilters, was published by University of Mississippi Press in 2009
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Arthur Ashe and the Second Half of the 20th Century
Subject Area: African American Studies
Course Description: Life of Bruin Arthur Ashe, class of 1966, intersects with civil rights movement, rise of tennis in U.S., status of African American athletes, anti-Apartheid movement, and early years of AIDS crisis. By examination of his life through his own words, students increase their understanding of several significant moments in second half of 20th century.
Faculty Bio: Dr. Patricia A. Turner was appointed Dean and Vice Provost for UCLA’s Division of Undergraduate Education, effective Dec. 17, 2012. Professor Turner comes to UCLA from UC Davis where, in 1999, she was appointed vice provost for undergraduate education. Patricia is a professor in World Arts and Cultures/Dance and African-American Studies; and her research focuses on racial dynamics as they surface in folklore and popular culture. Her fourth book, Crafted Lives: Stories and Studies of African-American Quilters, was published by University of Mississippi Press in 2009.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Philanthropy and UCLA Students
Subject Area: African American Studies
Course Description: Examination of role that philanthropy–donation of money and services–plays in life of UCLA undergraduates, and in life of university itself. From scholarships to named buildings, UCLA and its students are beneficiaries of countless charitable acts. Study also covers ways in which UCLA students are philanthropic citizens. From staff charged with raising scholarship funds to individuals who write and illustrate appeals, students hear from wide range of individuals engaged with philanthropy on campus. Examination of career possibilities in world of philanthropy.
Faculty Bio: Dr. Patricia A. Turner was appointed Dean and Vice Provost for UCLA’s Division of Undergraduate Education, effective Dec. 17, 2012. Professor Turner comes to UCLA from UC Davis where, in 1999, she was appointed vice provost for undergraduate education. Patricia is a professor in World Arts and Cultures/Dance and African-American Studies; and her research focuses on racial dynamics as they surface in folklore and popular culture. Her fourth book, Crafted Lives: Stories and Studies of African-American Quilters, was published by University of Mississippi Press in 2009
UCLA Centennial Initiative: American Indian Studies is for Everyone
Subject Area: American Indian Studies
Course Description: Though not represented at its founding, UCLA deserves credit for creating one of first American Indian studies research centers in 1969. Promoting ground-breaking research, and later developing some of nation’s first and most accomplished academic programs in American Indian and indigenous studies, UCLA is home to important research and creative work by, for, and about Native American peoples and their languages, cultures, and contemporary societies. Study celebrates educational mission of UCLA American Indian studies by surveying representative work by leading scholars who have taught or now teach here. Research offers new insights about otherwise-neglected peoples and cultures, who are not accurately represented in primary or secondary education, or in media. Exploration of contributions made to better understand Native American history, law, languages, literature, cultures, and contemporary issues; and why these contributions matter for the global community.
Faculty Bio: Paul V. Kroskrity is a Professor of Anthropology, specializing in the Linguistic Anthropology of Native Americans. He also served as the Chair of the American Indian Studies Program for 26 or the past 32 years. He received his B.A. from Columbia in 1971 and a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Indiana University in 1977, writing a dissertation based on original research in the Village of Tewa, First Mesa, Hopi Reservation, NE Arizona. His research interests include language ideologies, verbal art, and language revitalization. He is the author of ten books and many articles on these topics
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Philippine Studies at UCLA: Strengthening LA-Philippines Connections
Subject Area: Anthropology
Course Description: Los Angeles is home to largest Filipino population outside of Philippines. This diaspora mirrors linguistic and cultural diversity of its homeland; but succeeding migrant generations are not exposed to this diversity. Discussion of UCLA role in helping develop sense of community among Filipino diaspora in Los Angeles. Focus on viewing and interpreting select items from Philippine collections at Fowler Museum. In short term, study aims to offer space in which heritage communities are able to discuss issues of identity and empowerment. In long term, it is hoped this would spur infusion of Philippine material into California history curricula–especially in terms of links between Spanish Philippines and Iberian America. Study designed to initiate engagement with various Filipino diaspora communities in California, and offer space for heritage (re)discovery among Filipino-Americans.
Faculty Bio: Stephen Acabado is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the Department of Anthropology, UCLA. His archaeological investigations in Ifugao, northern Philippines, have determined the recent origins of the Cordillera Rice Terraces, which were once known to be at least 2,000 years old. These findings have encouraged the rethinking of Philippine prehistory. Dr. Acabado directs the Ifugao and Bicol Archaeological Projects.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Everyday Lives of Middle-Class Families in LA
Subject Area: Anthropology
Course Description: Study showcases findings of UCLA anthropologists, including instructor, who study everyday lives of working families in Los Angeles. The Center on Everyday Lives of Families (CELF) carried out detailed, ethnographically-oriented research on how members of middle-class families create home life when both parents work outside home. CELF also documented contemporary material culture inside family homes. Between 2001 and 2004, 32 Los Angeles families participated in CELF research project. CELF data set includes almost 20,000 photographs, 47 hours of family-narrated video home tours, and 1,540 hours of videotaped family interactions and interviews. To extent not possible through other forms of inquiry (including participant observation), researchers followed family members in intimate domestic settings, recording unfolding interactions and activities that capture minute details of family life.
Faculty Bio: Linda Garro is Professor of Anthropology and Academic Senate Distinguished Teacher. She holds doctorates in Social Sciences ‑ Anthropology from UC Irvine and Psychology from Duke with postdoctoral training in medical anthropology at Harvard. She has served as President of the Society for Medical Anthropology and is also a recipient of the Stirling Award from the Society for Psychological Anthropology. She has published extensively in peer reviewed journals and is co‑author of Medical Choice in a Mexican Village and co‑editor of Narrative and the Cultural Construction of Illness and Healing.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Celebration of UCLA American Indian Studies
Subject Area: Anthropology
Course Description: Though not represented at its founding, UCLA deserves credit for creating one of first American Indian studies research centers in 1969. Promoting ground-breaking research, and later developing some of nation’s first and most accomplished academic programs in American Indian and indigenous studies, UCLA is home to important research and creative work by, for, and about Native American peoples and their languages, cultures, and contemporary societies. Study celebrates educational mission of UCLA American Indian studies by surveying representative work by leading scholars who have taught or now teach here. Research offers new insights about otherwise-neglected peoples and cultures, who are not accurately represented in primary or secondary education, or in media. Exploration of contributions made to better understand Native American history, law, languages, literature, cultures, and contemporary issues; and why these contributions matter for the global community.
Faculty Bio: Paul Kroskrity, Professor of Anthropology and American Indian Studies, has taught at UCLA for nearly 40 years. For 26 of those years, he served as the Chair of the American Indian Studies Program and actively participated in the creation of its B.A. and M.A. Programs. He is a Linguistic Anthropologist, trained at Indiana University where he earned his Ph.D. in 1978. His research interests include language and identity, language revitalization, language ideologies and Native American verbal art. His books He is the author of ten books and many articles on these topics.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: A Centennial of Archaeology at UCLA
Subject Area: Anthropology
Course Description: UCLA centennial coincides with that of scientific archaeology, and study of human past through technologies that range from microscope to airborne lasers and satellite images. UCLA has participated in fostering many archaeological advances, including development of radiocarbon dating by Willard F. Libby, PhD, who won Nobel prize for his work; and establishment of feminist archaeology field by Marija Gimbutas, PhD. In addition to learning about lives and careers of many campus researchers, students critically examine what it means to be archaeologist and what it means to give voice to material remains such as artifacts and architecture. Questions addressed include how should past be interpreted in museums, books, and media; whether it is appropriate for people of one culture to study past of another culture; and how archaeology integrates with national identity, and help illuminate sensitive social issues in present.
Faculty Bio: Monica Smith is a faculty member in the Anthropology Department and in the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA, as well as serving in the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology. Her research includes work on early urbanism, the development of ancient cultures in the Indian subcontinent, and the role of heritage in modern societies. She received her MA in Archaeology from UCLA, so is happy to claim the status of being an alumna as well as a professor
UCLA Centennial Initiative: UCLA’s Indian Bones
Subject Area: Anthropology
Course Description: Consideration of more than 1,000 sets of American Indian human remains (representing considerably more individuals) held at UCLA. Emphasis on how they came to UCLA, what has happened with them since they came here, student protests for their repatriation, development of UC’s repatriation policy, and politics of control of remains and/or their repatriation. Topics include collecting Indian human remains; federal and state laws on repatriation; UC’s repatriation policy; division within Anthropology department over repatriation; controversy over purposed but failed attempt to move American Indian Studies Center from Campbell Hall to Haines Hall, where Indian human remains were stored at that time; removal of comingled Indian human remains from Anthropology department; why few UCLA repatriations have occurred; UCLA repatriation controversies; and lack of control of Indians at UCLA over remains of their ancestors.
Faculty Bio: Russell Thornton is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at UCLA. Born and raised in Oklahoma, he is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation. He is former chair of the Cherokee Nation’s Sequoyah Commission and the Smithsonian Institution’s Native American Repatriation Review Committee. He served on the University of California Joint Academic Senate-Administration Committee on Human Skeletal Remains formed by the UC President to develop the UC policy on repatriation. He is the author, editor or coeditor of six books and more than 100 mostly single-authored scholarly papers.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: 100 Years of Protest at UCLA
Subject Area: Asian American Studies
Course Description: Students engage with ongoing history of protest actions by students and larger UCLA campus community. Students learn and conduct research on oppositional actions held on campus against various wars, ongoing social inequalities, and tuition hikes. Approaching protest acts as engaged performances of resistance, consideration of multiple significations of various forms of protest enacted at UCLA.
Faculty Bio: L. MSP Burns is Associate Professor in the Asian American Studies Department, with an affiliation with World Arts and Cultures/Dance. Burns has published on the racial politics of performance, the performance of race, the Philippines, and Filipino diasporas. As a dramaturg, Burns has collaborated with notable artists such as choreographer/theater director David Rousseve, writer R. Zamora Linmark, Tiffany Lytle, and Indian classical dancer/choreographer Priya Srinivasan. Among Burns’s course are Filipino American Experience, Asian American Theater, and Robots in Asian American Imaginaries.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Ethnic Studies and Social Justice at UCLA
Subject Area: Asian American Studies
Course Description: UCLA ethnic studies research centers celebrate their 50th anniversary in 2019, at same time University turns 100. Study asks how centers’ history is linked to advancing research for social justice past, present, and future.
Faculty Bio: David K. Yoo is Professor of Asian American Studies and History at UCLA. He currently serves as Vice Provost of the Institute of American Cultures, the administrative home of UCLA’s ethnic studies research centers. Yoo is a social historian of the United States with research emphasis on immigration and race.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: UCLA 1919, The First Professors
Subject Area: Classics
Course Description: Exploration of early years of UCLA through student research school’s founding departments and academic careers of its first professors. Formerly Los Angeles State Normal School, Southern Branch (later Campus) of University of California was established by act of state legislature, which went into effect on July 24th, 1919. July 1919 Announcement of Classes listed 91 faculty names. Remarkably, 64 were women. Most of these were instructors or teachers in areas of education, some previously employed at Normal School. 25 faculty, however, were professors, mostly at rank of Assistant. Who were these first professors, 19 men and six women? What did they teach, and what do these subjects tell about aims of higher education in 1919? What were their areas of research? And how are they remembered today? Study aims to recover these first faculty, and evaluate their contributions to success of founding Southern Branch and making it into top-ranked university.
Faculty Bio: Associate Professor in Classics. Area of research and teaching concerns ancient Rome and its legacy in popular culture. Taught at UCLA since 1990 and served as Department Chair, Director of its Undergraduate and Post-Baccalaureate Programs, and Chair of the faculty committees on the Honors College (2009-10; 2011-13), GE Governance (2007-10), and Undergraduate Honors, Awards and Prizes (1999-2002). Recipient of Rome Prize at American Academy at Rome, Eby Award for Art of Teaching at UCLA, and American Philological Association’s Excellence in Teaching Award. Taught 5 different Fiat Lux seminars
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Loud Bark, Curious Eyes – A Century of UCLA Student Media
Subject Area: Communication Studies
Course Description: Examination of history of student media at UCLA over past century. Examining primary source data and featuring alumni guest speakers, students trace evolution of campus publications, their staffs, and their content since founding of southern campus of University of California.
Faculty Bio: Tim Groeling is a Professor in UCLA’s Department of Communication Studies. He is the author of numerous articles and two books: War Stories: The Causes and Consequences of Public Views of War (with Matthew A. Baum; Princeton University Press, 2009), and When Politicians Attack: Party Cohesion in the Media (Cambridge University Press, 2010). He has been the recipient of numerous honors, grants, and awards, including the Goldsmith Book Prize and the Bruce E. Gronbeck Political Communication Research Award, funding from the National Science Foundation, and Copenhaver Award.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: History through Intergenerational Communication
Subject Area: Communication Studies
Course Description: UCLA turns 100! What do professors know about UCLA’s history based on their experiences as faculty? Understanding the nuances of interpersonal communication as it applies across various age groups is at heart of this class. Students explore intergenerational communication in conceptual readings, field trip, film, communication training, and face-to-face interview with selected professor.
Faculty Bio: Lené Levy-Storms, Associate Professor of Social Welfare and Medicine/Geriatrics, has a MPH in Biostatistics and a PhD in Public Health. Her research interests include interpersonal communication, aging, care-giving, social relationships, and health. Along with her partner, Susan Kohler, she has created a small business, Connected Hearts, LLC, to license communication training modules to individuals, groups, and organizations. All of the training modules derive from her almost 20 years of research in the area of interpersonal communication and care-giving for dementia-related illnesses.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Conversations on "There Goes the Neighborhood"
Subject Area: Community Engagement & Social Change
Course Description: Students reflect on Los Angeles (aka city of angels) in relation to UCLA. By listening to all nine podcasts of There Goes the Neighborhood–this year’s Common Experience–students gain deeper understanding of Los Angeles history, as well as its cultural diversity and political challenges. Focus on these urgent topics while bringing students together with Faculty-In-Residence (FIR) in open-ended conversations. Offers students scholarly based, interdisciplinary, self-reflective, and experiential framework for understanding Los Angeles and its complex relationship with UCLA. Students gain familiarity with FIRs, First Year Experience, and Center for Community Learning. Students also acquire deeper knowledge of social change within appropriate historical context, articulate personal values and norms in light of larger community-based principles.
Faculty Bio: David Kim teaches in the Department of Germanic Languages. He is the author of Cosmopolitan Parables (Northwestern University Press, 2017) and the co-editor of The Postcolonial World (Routledge, 2016) and Imagining Human Rights (De Gruyter, 2015). His digital humanities project is WorldLiterature@UCLA. He also serves as Faculty-In-Residence. His current book projects include, among others, a co-edited volume on global histories of German literature under contract with Metzler Verlag and an edited volume, titled Reframing Postcolonial Studies and forthcoming with Palgrave Macmillan.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Diversifying Bruin Nation – Where We Were, Where We Are, Where We Are Going
Subject Area: Education
Course Description: Exploration of history of diversity at UCLA. Diversity runs deep in Bruin Nation. Alumni include Arthur Ashe, Tom Bradley, Ralph Bunche, Ann Meyers Drysdale, Jackie Robinson, etc.; many of whom have famously broken key social and professional barriers. According to New York Times Magazine, “… the single most impressive university in the country today is UCLA–it can legitimately claim to be an engine of opportunity.” While this may be so, historical trajectory of UCLA toward becoming more diverse and inclusive is also story of intense struggles. Example: 2013 investigation led by retired California Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno report charged that UCLA administration was out of touch with reality of campus racial climate. As UCLA celebrates centennial, students should not only acknowledge diversity but also celebrate struggle associated with it, which has contributed both to transforming campus and elevating impact of UCLA on society.
Faculty Bio: Mitchell J. Chang is Professor of Education and Organizational Change. Chang’s research focuses on the educational efficacy of diversity-related initiatives on college campuses and how to apply those best practices toward advancing student learning and democratizing institutions. He has written over ninety publications, some of which were cited in U.S. Supreme Court rulings on race sensitive admissions practices. He has served on many national advisory panels, including for the U.S. Department of Ed., White House Domestic Policy Council, National Science Foundation, and College Board.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Race and Racism--Historical and Contemporary Perspective
Subject Area: Education
Course Description: Exploration of race and racism at UCLA from mostly historical perspective. Exploration of historical moments and people that shape(d) UCLA, including 1993 student strike for Chicana and Chicano studies, deaths of Alprentice “Bunchy” Carter and John J. Huggins Jr. at Campbell Hall, Gabrielino/Tongva peoples’ land on which UCLA sits, and more. Students connect this history to their contemporary experiences with race and racism at UCLA.
Faculty Bio: Jessica C. Harris is Assistant Professor of Higher Education and Organizational Change at UCLA. Through her research, Jessica aims to disrupt systems of domination embedded throughout post-secondary education. Her specific research interests interrogate race and racism in higher education and include critical approaches to campus sexual violence for women of color, multiraciality in education, and symbolic adoption v. substantive adoption of racial inclusion rhetoric on campus.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Recognizing and Serving Asian American and Pacific Islander Students
Subject Area: Education
Course Description: Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) students are too often misunderstood, misrepresented, and overlooked in research, policy debates, and development of institutional programs. Focus on size, growth, and diversity of AAPI students at UCLA. Discussion of their unique needs and challenges on campus. Includes guest speakers, who provide insight from their work with AAPI students.
Faculty Bio: Robert Teranishi is Professor of Social Science and Comparative Education, the Morgan and Helen Chu Endowed Chair in Asian American Studies, and co-director for the Institute for Immigration, Globalization, and Education at UCLA. He is also a senior fellow with the Steinhardt Institute for Higher Education Policy at New York University and principal investigator for the National Commission on Asian American and Pacific Islander Research in Education. His research examines the causes and consequences of the stratification of college opportunities with a particular interest in AAPI students.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Interviewing Holocaust Survivors- Memory and History
Subject Area: German
Course Description: Appreciation of value of eyewitness testimony of Holocaust through unique opportunity of working with, interviewing, and learning from Holocaust survivors. Students conduct oral histories with survivors and consider ethics of listening, and composition of testimony, in service of public memory. Through collaboration with Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles, Hillel at UCLA Bearing Witness program, and Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust (oldest such U.S. museum, founded 1961), students have opportunity to talk with Holocaust survivors. Students meet to analyze eyewitness testimony. Study offers personal framework for approaching larger history of Holocaust. Study also highlights contributions of Hillel–and Leve Center for Jewish Studies, which just celebrated its 25th anniversary–in remembering memories and lessons from Holocaust survivors.
Faculty Bio: Todd Presner is Chair of UCLA’s Digital Humanities Program and Ross Professor of Germanic Languages and Comparative Literature. Since 2018, he is Associate Dean of Digital Innovation in the Division of Humanities and Adviser to the Vice Chancellor of Research for Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences research. From 2011-2018, he was the Sady and Ludwig Kahn Director of the UCLA Center for Jewish Studies. His research focuses on European intellectual history, German-Jewish history, Holocaust studies, and digital humanities.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Sports Illustrated – Images of Ex-UCLA Athletes
Subject Area: Gender Studies
Course Description: From Don Imus’ 2007 “nappy-headed ho’s” comment to controversies about transgender athletes or athletes with prosthetics; from covers of magazines to violence in Dodger Stadium parking lot; from audiotapes of Clippers coach’s personal diatribes to celebrity weddings and NFL player coming out pre-draft; discourses of sport draw heavily upon extant ideologies of race, gender, sexuality and class. Introduction to critical analyses of social categories and how they are represented and reproduced in various sports media. Students apply this framework to image of ex-UCLA athlete. Students bi-weekly discuss theme and collectively view film. Each student chooses image, related to sport, to analyze in final paper.
Faculty Bio: Originally from Whangarei, Aotearoa/New Zealand, Michelle Erai graduated from Victoria University, Wellington, with a BA in Sociology and Women’s Studies, and with an MA (Applied) in Social Science Research. After several years working as a contract researcher, Michelle relocated to the United States where she completed a Ph.D in the History of Consciousness (with a parenthetical notation in Feminist Studies), University of California, Santa Cruz. Currently writing her first book, Civilizing Images: Violence and the Visual Interpellation of Māori Women.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Ethnicity and Architecture in Downtown Los Angeles
Subject Area: History
Course Description: Exploration of complex architectural history and ethnicity of Los Angeles through downtown walking tour. Includes close look at urban life and its social consequences. Emphasis on place of UCLA in city. Students attend two campus meetings and one day-long tour of downtown Los Angeles main buildings and streets.
Faculty Bio: Teo Ruiz is a historian of the Middle Ages and has run successful walking programs in Paris and downtown LA. The author of 15 books and hundreds of articles and reviews, he loves the Fiat Lux courses.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Los Angeles Architecture and Ethnicity
Subject Area: History
Course Description: Exploration of complex architectural history and ethnicity of Los Angeles through downtown walking tour. Includes close look at urban life and its social consequences. Emphasis on place of UCLA in city. Students attend two campus meetings and one day-long tour of downtown Los Angeles main buildings and streets.
Faculty Bio: Teo Ruiz has been at UCLA for nineteen years. He is now a distinguished professor in History and in Spanish and Portuguese. The author of many books and artiucles, he runs a walking the city program in Paris every summer.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: UCLA in Los Angeles
Subject Area: History
Course Description: Exploration, through downtown walking tour, of complex architectural history and ethnicity of Los Angeles. Class meets October 19 and 26 on campus. Tour takes place October 21 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., using public transportation from Westwood to reach downtown.
Faculty Bio: Teo Ruiz has been at UCLA for nineteen years. He is now a distinguished professor in History and in Spanish and Portuguese. The author of many books and artiucles, he runs a walking the city program in Paris every summer.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: UCLA in Los Angeles--Cold War and Wende Museum
Subject Area: History
Course Description: Short presentation on emergence of Wende Museum (directed by UCLA History alumnus) as premiere repository of Cold War material culture. Students have opportunity to walk around downtown Culver City, one of most vibrant areas in Los Angeles’ west side.
Faculty Bio: Teo Ruiz is a historian of the Middle Ages and has run successful walking programs in Paris and downtown LA. The author of 15 books and hundreds of articles and reviews, he loves the Fiat Lux courses.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: The History of Leadership at UCLA
Subject Area: Honors Collegium
Course Description: Investigation of evolution of campus leadership. Exploration of aims and accomplishments of UCLA chancellors. Students learn firsthand about history and growth of campus over past 100 years–as well as evolving challenges of leading large public research university–through engagement with current and former campus senior leaders, including chancellors emeritus. Goal is to bring better understanding of complexity and changing role of senior leadership at UCLA.
Faculty Bio: Gene Block was appointed chancellor of UCLA on August 1, 2007. He oversees all aspects of the campus’ three-part mission of education, research and service. Previously, Dr. Block served as vice president and provost of the University of Virginia, where he held the Alumni Council Thomas Jefferson Professorship in Biology and directed the National Science Foundation’s Science and Technology Center for Biological Timing. An expert in neuroscience, Dr. Block’s current research focuses on the effects of aging in the nervous system and how it impacts biological timing in mammals, including humans.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Beating Swords into Laptops–Veterans on Campus
Subject Area: Honors Collegium
Course Description: Focus on campus veterans, Bruins who are beating their swords into laptops. Students learn about challenges facing veterans who return to campus. Students learn interviewing skills and techniques that they apply to formulate interview guide. Students interview veterans on campus, document their experiences, and formulate recommendations to improve their experience at UCLA. Open to veterans-turned-scholars and non-veterans alike.
Faculty Bio: Susan Plann is an oral historian and Research Professor Emerita in the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies. She holds a doctorate in Romance Linguistics and Literature from UCLA. Her most recent book is an oral history of Moroccans who migrate to Spain as unaccompanied children.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Who Are We - Evolution of Student Body
Subject Area: Honors Collegium
Course Description: Examination of how UCLA undergraduate student body has changed over past 50 years. Based on data collected from UCLA students since 1960s, exploration of longitudinal data trends and reports to gain insights into background of UCLA students then and now. Session topics include trends in demographics, financial concerns, college choice/reasons for attending colleges, goals and ambitions, and beliefs and values.
Faculty Bio: Hannah Whang Sayson and Casey Shapiro – Assistant Directors at the Center for Educational Assessment (CEA) in the Center for the Advancement of Teaching (CAT) – having earned their Ph.D. in education from UCLA. Their research interests include diversity, college student learning and development, and quantitative methods. Publication topics include underrepresented students in STEM, civic engagement, and assessment of undergraduate education outcomes.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Central American Migration - Causes and Consequences
Subject Area: International Migration Studies
Course Description: Large-scale migration from Central America to U.S. is now four-decades-old phenomenon. Though origins of migration lie in violence and persecution, U.S. migration policy has never treated Central American arrival as refugee flow. Instead, U.S. has provided de facto asylum, leaving many with in-between status, vulnerable to deportation. At same time, many Central American immigrants and their children have put down roots in U.S. and emerged as important actors in immigrant rights movement. Study seeks to understand causes and consequences of migration from Central America, focusing on places of emigration and immigration, and migration experience itself. Study highlights contributions made by UCLA, and Center for Study of International Migration, to understanding of migration and humanitarian responses. Held in conjunction with one-day international conference on Central American migration on January 31.
Faculty Bio: Roger Waldinger is Distinguished Professor of Sociology at UCLA and Director of the UCLA Center for the Study of International Migration. Waldinger has published nine books, most recently Origins and Destinations: The Making of the Second Generation (with Luthra and Soehl; Russell Sage, 2018) and The Cross-Border Connection: Immigrants, Emigrants, and their Homelands (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2015).
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Dr. Evelyn Hooker, The Mattachine Society, and Homosexuality Depathologized"
Subject Area: LGBTQS
Course Description: Longtime UCLA faculty member Dr. Evelyn Hooker is famous for her pioneering research on male homosexuality, which demonstrated that sexual orientation was not inherently pathological; this work was crucial support in struggle for LGBTQ rights during 1960s and 70s. Hooker developed her influential studies in conversation with members of Los Angeles gay and lesbian community, particularly Mattachine Society, founded in 1950 as one of earliest gay rights organizations in U.S. Introduction to Dr. Hooker’s work at UCLA as connected to struggles of gay rights pioneers in California. Students become acquainted with history of gay activism before 1969 Stonewall Rebellion. Hooker’s historical role as ally of queer folks, at UCLA and beyond, makes her illuminating figure in history of LGBTQ people in U.S.
Faculty Bio: Mitchell Morris is Professor of Musicology in the Herb Alpert School of Music and the Chair of LGBTQ Studies. Before joining the faculty at UCLA, he taught at McGill University and UCSD. His research interests are hugely varied–he is most noted for work on opera; music and ethics; American popular song; ecomusicology; Russian and Soviet music; early music performance; the study of music, gender, and sexuality; and sound in film and TV. He is a frequent collaborator with the L.A. Opera and is a working librettist with opera premieres in the U.S. and Mexico.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Boots to Bruins, from Combat to Campus Life
Subject Area: Military Science
Course Description: Overall goals are to increase knowledge about common student veteran experiences in transition from military, combat-service to civilian college life, and to promote academic success and positive transition to UCLA. Integrates campus resources, off-campus resources, guest presentations, discussion, and student reading and writing towards these goals.
Faculty Bio: Captain Santos Ortiz is an Asst Prof of Military Science. CPT Ortiz graduated from the University of Maryland with a BA in Business and Management. Prior to UCLA, he was Commander of Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the 841st Engineer Battalion out of Miami, FL and most recently was deployed to Afghanistan to assist the 209 Afghan National Army. Direct commissioned as an officer in 2012, Captain Ortiz served over 20 years as an enlisted soldier. Captain Ortiz’s awards include the Bronze Star Medal with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters and the Army Achievement Medal with 4 Oak Leaf Clusters.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: One Hundred Years of Bruin Leaders
Subject Area: Military Science
Course Description: Discussion of concepts of leadership through examiniation of some of greatest Bruin military leaders from past 100 years. Much of this history is little known to wider campus population.
Faculty Bio: Major Steve Kwon, Professor and Chair of Military Science at UCLA, is a graduate of the Military Intelligence Basic and Advanced Course and a graduate of the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He holds a BA in History from UC Riverside and an MS in Administration from Central Michigan University. His previous assignments include Executive Officer to the Chief of Operations Support Division, Military Intelligence Majors Assignment Officer as well as deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Communicating a Centennial of Kindness at UCLA
Subject Area: Public Affairs
Course Description: Until recently, UCLA had been world-renowned mostly for its research and teaching. But now, in its 100th year, UCLA has established Bedari Kindness Institute–and world is learning about that. Exploration of how kindness has long been present at UCLA, during its past 100 years through today. Students experience kindness in classroom and about campus. Students read about and discuss kindness at UCLA through articles about faculty, staff, and students; and through their daily life as Bruin, and with other Bruins.
Faculty Bio: Lené Levy-Storms is an Associate Professor in the Luskin School of Public Affairs, Department of Social Welfare and the Geffen School of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Division of Geriatrics at UCLA. Here core research has been on interpersonal and intergenerational communication in caregiving contexts.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Migration and Human Rights
Subject Area: Sociology
Course Description: Introduction to study of migration and human rights, through speaker series sponsored by Center for the Study of International Migration (CSIM). These interdisciplinary talks, focused on migration and human rights in global perspective, highlight contributions made by UCLA and CSIM to understanding of migration and humanitarian responses. Speakers range from highly prominent scholars to younger researchers working at cutting edge. Students have opportunity for first-hand exposure to key policy and scholarly debates on immigration. Students meet with speaker for 30 minutes before each 30-minute presentation, followed by 45-minute question-and-answer period.
Faculty Bio: Roger Waldinger is Distinguished Professor of Sociology at UCLA and Director of the UCLA Center for the Study of International Migration. Waldinger has published nine books, most recently Origins and Destinations: The Making of the Second Generation (with Luthra and Soehl; Russell Sage, 2018) and The Cross-Border Connection: Immigrants, Emigrants, and their Homelands (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2015).
Centennial Initiative: 100 Years of Political Activism Among UCLA Students
Subject Area: Undergraduate Law
Course Description: Exploration of political activism of UCLA students (and faculty support/participation) over years, including efforts to direct or suppress such activism. To deepen understanding of significance of political activism on campus, it is also placed in national and international context.
Faculty Bio: For the past several years, Professor Frances Olsen has taught an innovative law class on defending activists prosecuted for nonviolent civil disobedience. Joining the UCLA law faculty in 1984, she has also taught throughout the world, including presenting her Civil Disobedience class at Tel Aviv University. Olsen has worked with non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) protecting women in Ethiopia, Japan and the United States. She is internationally renowned for her scholarship on feminist legal theory.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Project Apollo to the Moon
Subject Area: Astronomy
Instructor: Michael Rich
Course Description: Study commemorates 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 and Apollo 13, two of most consequential NASA crewed missions. Exploration of history of Project Apollo, with special emphasis on UCLA involvement: alumnus Walt Cunningham flew on Apollo 7, and Geology department was involved in science of Apollo program. Students view From the Earth to the Moon miniseries from executive producer Tom Hanks, which explores Project Apollo in detail. Discussion of technical challenges, political background, and scientific impact of Project Apollo. Science of project includes new insight into structure and geology of Moon. Study also includes viewing of original materials, including material flown on lunar missions and lunar material.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: UCLA Landmark Studies in the Treatment of Cancer
Subject Area: Biomedical Research
Course Description: UCLA has rich history of making seminal contributions that have advanced treatment of pressing human health issues, including cancer. Exploration of landmark studies, conducted by UCLA professors, which have led to profound advancements in how various types of cancers are treated. Discussion of molecular details, and importance of these studies in establishing foundation for development of novel and effective cancer therapeutics that have saved thousands of lives. Studies include Dr. Owen Whitte’s discovery of BCR-ABL oncoproteins in leukemias, which led to development of drug Gleevec for treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia; Dr. Dennise Slamon’s discovery of HER2 cell surface receptor, which led to development of drug Herceptin for treatment of HER2 breast cancer; and Dr. Michael Jung’s medicinal chemistry work to develop drug Enzalutamide for treatment of castration-resistant prostate cancer.
Faculty Bio: Jorge Torres is a Biochemistry Professor at UCLA. He received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Princeton University and conducted his postdoctoral studies at Stanford University/Genentech Inc. His research interests are in defining the mechanisms that drive human cell division and their dysregulation in human diseases like cancer. He has taught courses on Posttranslational Modifications & Human Disease, and Mechanisms of Tumor Cell Proliferation. He has also published over 40 research articles related to the chemical, computational, proteomic, and genetic dissection of human cell division.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Molecules that Rock
Subject Area: Chemistry
Course Description: Exploration of importance of organic molecules in society. Students learn about molecules that have effect on current everyday lives, and molecules that have impacted human society from historical viewpoint. Discussions feature molecules discovered or studied at UCLA, such as cancer drug Xtandi. Students lead in-class discussions. For final assignment, students work collaboratively to create video rockumentary on molecule of particular interest. No prior Chemistry expertise required; open to students in all majors.
Faculty Bio: Dr. Neil Garg is the current Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. He is a Full Professor and holds the Kenneth N. Trueblood Endowed Chair. He received a B.S. from NYU in 2000 and a Ph.D. in 2005 from Caltech. He was at UCI as a NIH Postdoctoral Scholar before joining the faculty at UCLA. Neil has received the UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award and named California Professor of the Year. He lives with his family on the Hill as part of the Faculty-in-Residence Program. To learn more about Garg and his research and teaching, visit www.chemistry.ucla.edu/directory/garg-neil-k.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Mysteries of Inverted Fountain
Subject Area: Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences
Course Description: Inverted Fountain is best fluid-dynamics experiment on UCLA campus. Students learn its history, design, and operation. Focus on all fluid physics occurring therein. Designed for students who are comfortable making contact with water in Inverted Fountain; students will almost surely get in fountain at times. Class meets October 6, 20, November 3, 17, and December 1 in 5638 Geology Building.
Faculty Bio: Prof. Jon Aurnou studies the dynamics of geophysical and astrophysical flows. Besides all the technical stuff, his group also makes outreach videos that are accessible on youtube (https://www.youtube.com/user/spinlabucla).
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Apollo: Humanity’s First Steps into the Cosmos
Subject Area: Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences
Course Description: Introduction to dawn of space age–along with its motivations, challenges, and setbacks–and ultimate triumph culminating with Apollo program Moon landings. Study touches on political history, technology, and science. Students also see human side of space exploration and get to know little bit about characters involved. Retrospective timed to 50-year mark since Armstrong and Aldrin impressed their bootprints into lunar surface. UCLA has proud history in scientific exploration of Moon. Discussion, generated through books and videos, of this ongoing legacy. Students have opportunity to interview UCLA scientists who were there when Moon rocks were unveiled, examine Moon rocks, and make telescopic observations of Moon.
Faculty Bio: Prof. McKeegan (Ph.D., physics) was born in the same month as NASA, and witnessed the moon landings as a youth. He recalls some of the excitement of the human exploration of the Moon, and hopes to convey aspects of this to the students for whom, sadly, this adventure is a mere historical event. He has many years of experience teaching in the GE cluster and in GE planetary science courses. McKeegan is an expert in planetary origins and has analyzed many extraterrestrial material in his labs. He has written papers on the “Age of the Moon” and has chaired NASA committees on ET materials.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Life and Work of Five Female UCLA Scientists
Subject Area: Earth, Planetary, & Space Sciences
Course Description: Exploration of life and work of five female scientists who worked at UCLA over last 100 years. Study highlights some exciting research that has been carried out at UCLA over last 100 years; and highlights some contributions by women to science, which are often neglected in public media. By focusing on both research and person behind work, study aims to make science and its discoveries more tangible and less abstract.
Faculty Bio: Hilke E. Schlichting is a Professor of Planetary Science at UCLA. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Cambridge in England and her Ph.D. in Astrophysics from Caltech. Her work is driven by the desire to understand the formation of planets both at home in our own Solar system and abroad in Exoplanet systems. She studies planet formation from various different angles using analytic theory, orbital dynamics, as well as observations of the solar system and exoplanets.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: History of UCLA through the Eyes of Trees
Subject Area: Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Course Description: Examination of evolutionary and ecological processes in tree populations. Gene flow and natural selection shape genetic composition of populations. That reflects evolutionary history and determines evolutionary response to future environmental change. Students learn how current UCLA landscape has evolved over years through study of various types of trees on campus.
Faculty Bio: Victoria Sork is a professor in the UCLA Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. She is a pioneer in the field of plant landscape genomics, an area that integrates genomics, evolutionary biology, and conservation. Professor Sork came to UCLA in 2000 and became became Dean of Life Sciences in September 2009. Her research focuses on tree populations, especially California oaks and their ability to respond to rapid climate change.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Artificial Intelligence for Social Impact
Subject Area: Electrical & Computer Engineering
Course Description: No math required, but critical thinking a must. For students of all majors. Prepares students for intuitive understanding of artificial intelligence (AI) and how it is applied to societal problems. UCLA is birthplace of inventions (such as Internet) that have shaped modern AI landscape. As future leaders, students should aim for mastery of three goals: ability to define AI; understanding of how AI applies to societal problems today; and exploration of how AI will shape society in future.
Faculty Bio: Achuta Kadambi, Assistant Professor in UCLA Electrical and Computer Engineering, directs the Visual Machines Group. Powered by artificial intelligence, the group creates imaging systems that can see the unseen. Professor Kadambi received his PhD from MIT, his BS from UC Berkeley. Earlier this year, he was named to the Forbes 30 under 30 list and received the NSF research initiation award. He has taught seminars in artificial intelligence at institutions such as UCLA, MIT, and IIT-Bombay. Professor Kadambi is currently coauthoring a textbook to appear in MIT Press.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Women and Minorities in Geosciences at UCLA
Subject Area: Environment
Course Description: Examination of contributions of geoscientists and environmental scientists at UCLA who are from traditionally marginalized groups to their fields. In doing so, students learn about important scientific concepts in different fields. Discussion of benefits of diversity to science and institutions, as well as origins of comparatively western-medieval demographics of geosciences and environmental sciences. Consideration of experiences of women versus those of men, women of color versus women, and different races and ethnic groups. Discussion of strategies to promote equity. Students make presentation, write Wikipedia entry or blog post, and make video journal.
Faculty Bio: Aradhna Tripati is a professor of geoscience and environmental science. As a scientist and educator, her aims are to (i) develop, calibrate, and apply tools for use in studies of climate change, (ii) improve public awareness of climate change, and the basic and social relevance of earth and ocean sciences, and (iii) enhance diversity in higher education.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Breathe Well – Tobacco-Free UCLA Medicine, Nursing, and Public Health
Subject Area: Medicine
Course Description: Study offers rationale for UCLA tobacco-free campus, which is supported by UCLA Healthy Campus Initiative Breathe Well pod. Topics include overview of health and environmental harms from tobacco use; historical background of tobacco control; successful interventions for reducing tobacco use, including tobacco?free environments; and how to become change agent regarding tobacco control on campus and in society.
Faculty Bio: Michael Ong is Associate Professor in Residence of Medicine at UCLA. He received his M.D. from UCSD and his Ph.D. in Health Services and Policy Analysis from UCB. His research focuses on the intersection of health economics with general internal medicine, including tobacco control.
Linda Sarna is Dean and Professor at the School of Nursing and holds the Lulu Wolf Hassenplug Chair. She received her Ph.D. from UCSF. Her research focuses on nursing involvement in tobacco control and in oncology nursing research focused on quality of life and symptoms of patients with lung cancer.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Neurobionics: Past, Present, and Future at UCLA and Beyond
Subject Area: Neuroscience
Course Description: Ability to detect and interpret brain signals has grown exponentially over past decade. Ability to stimulate and manipulate brain is also progressing rapidly. Many of these technologies are being developed and perfected at UCLA, offering unparalleled opportunities to improve health and human experience. At same time, these rapid developments raise important ethical dilemmas. Study includes demonstration of real brain-computer interface. Students learn about different ways (in medicine and society) that brain/mind can be read and manipulated, problems and opportunities that such technologies can address, engineering innovations required to advance field, opportunities that lie ahead, and ethical issues surrounding these advances. Focus on UCLA role in this revolution, with interactive and discussion-based study.
Faculty Bio: Nader Pouratian, MD PhD, is an associate professor of Neurosurgery, Radiation Oncology, and Bioengineering. He received his BS and PhD in Neuroscience as well as his medical degree from UCLA before completing his neurosurgical training at the University of Virginia. His research takes advantage of the unique opportunities afforded by awake neurosurgical procedures.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: History and Biology of Stem Cells
Subject Area: Obstetrics & Gynecology
Course Description: Students learn about history and biology of stem cells, and how UCLA scientists have contributed to field. Stem cells have dominated scientific conversation and resources, without contest. Alongside discovery of their capacity for self-renewal, ability of cells to differentiate into various types soon led to classifying them and their ability to give rise to adult tissues of three embryonic germ-cell lineages. Unipotent stem cell differentiates into one cell type; oligopotent differentiates into few, but not all, cell types within specific tissue; multipotent differentiates into all cell types from specific germ layer; pluripotent, able to differentiate into cells of mesodermal, endodermal, and ectodermal germ cell layers; and totipotent–commonly known as zygote–capable of differentiation into embryonic and extra-embryonic cell types, and gives rise to entire organisms.
Faculty Bio: Dr. Gregorio Chazenbalk, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UCLA. Dr. Chazenbalk, an internationally recognized cell and molecular biologist with more than 30 years of experience, has demonstrated substantial leadership experience in directing successful and productive research reflected in 108 peer-review publications. One of his major accomplishments has been the discovery of novel pluripotent non-tumorigenic stem cells isolated from adipose tissue (Muse-AT cells) with a high potential capacity of tissue regeneration and functional recovery.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Coach John Wooden: Greatness and Grace
Subject Area: Psychology
Course Description: Coach John R. Wooden led UCLA men’s basketball team from 1948 to 1975, claiming 10 NCAA championships during last 12 years of his tenure. He was first person enshrined in Basketball Hall of Fame for his achievements as both player and coach. In 1999, he was named by ESPN as greatest coach of 20th century; and in 2003, President George W. Bush presented Wooden with Presidential Medal of Freedom, highest honor given to civilian. Exploration of life and work of Coach Wooden. Particular attention paid to his pyramid of success, how he was viewed and is remembered by his players, and relationship between his philosophy and academic research.
Faculty Bio: Tara K. Scanlan is a Research Professor and Founding Director of the International Center for Talent Development. She received her Ph.D. in Sport Psychology from the University of Illinois. Her research, teaching, and outreach focus on the Psychology of Excellence and Sport Psychology. She has published extensively on the topics of enjoyment/passion and commitment. Karen Givvin is a Researcher and Adjunct Professor, and earned her Ph.D. at UCLA. Her research focuses on teaching and learning. She has also studied student motivation across the domains of school and sport.
UCLA Centennial Initiative: Better with Age, Psychology of Successful Aging
Subject Area: Psychology
Course Description: As people age, they accumulate knowledge and wisdom but may be more forgetful. Most people think of aging negatively, in terms of decline. But many stereotypes about aging are not true. While some things may decline in old age, better description of aging involves changes and not simply decline. Attitudes about aging can influence how well we age. People often report feeling younger than their chronological age, and one can do many things to stay sharp in older age. Study covers topics such as happiness, memory, brain training, wisdom, humor, habits, retirement, and what constitutes successful aging. Discussion of cognitive, social, and emotional changes that happen with age; and how people live and learn, focus on what is important, achieve balance, and get better with age. In celebration of UCLA centennial, discussion of how people with connections to UCLA (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jared Diamond, Frank Gehry, Jackie Robinson, John Wooden) have influenced what it means to age well.
Faculty Bio: Alan Castel is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles. He studies learning, memory, and aging. He is interested in how younger and older adults selectively remember important information. He lectures internationally to people of all ages and has received several teaching awards. His research has been featured in the New York Times and Time Magazine. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto, did a fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis, and has been on faculty at UCLA since 2006.
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