The UCLA College of Letters and Science (or simply UCLA College) is the arts and sciences college of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). It encompasses the Life and Physical Sciences, Humanities, Social Sciences, Honors Program and other programs for both undergraduate and graduate students.
The College is the largest academic unit at UCLA and the largest in the entire UC system. The bulk of UCLA's student body belongs to the College, which includes 50 academic departments, 99 majors, 25,000 undergraduate students, 2,700 graduate students and 900 faculty members.
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History
The College originated on May 23, 1919, the day when the Governor of California (William D. Stephens) signed a bill into law which officially established the Southern Branch of the University of California. At that time, a two-year Junior College was established as the university's general undergraduate program. The Junior College held its first classes on September 15, 1919 for 260 undergraduates.
At its inception, the Junior College was truly a junior college in both name and fact, because it offered only a two-year lower-division program. Young people interested in earning bachelor's degrees were required to proceed to the Berkeley campus or other universities to attend upper-division third- and fourth-year courses. The inferior two-year program was intolerable to the many Southern Californians who had fought to establish the southern branch. They vigorously lobbied the Regents of the University of California for a third year of instruction at the southern branch, which was promptly followed by demands for a fourth year. The Southern Californians finally prevailed on December 11, 1923, when the UC Board of Regents approved a fourth year of instruction.
At that time, the Junior College was transformed into the College of Letters and Science (named after its northern counterpart at Berkeley) and was expressly authorized to award the Bachelor of Arts degree. Charles H. Rieber, a philosophy professor, was named the first dean of the new four-year college. The College's original departments in 1923 were chemistry, economics, English, French, history, mathematics, philosophy, physics, political science, psychology, Spanish, and zoology.
On June 12, 1925, the College awarded its first Bachelor of Arts degrees to 98 women and 30 men.
According to UC President Clark Kerr, the political science department at UCLA College in his experience was the second-strongest program in the entire UC system after the chemistry program at Berkeley. To date, three faculty members of the UCLA political science department have become UC chancellors (as listed below).
Criticism
The main disadvantage of the gigantic size of the College (as with its counterpart at Berkeley) is a coldly impersonal undergraduate experience, especially in large lower-division survey courses (before students declare specific majors, begin to work more closely with department advisers and faculty members in their chosen major, and switch to smaller upper-division courses). It is because of this specific issue that UC president Clark Kerr experimented with residential college systems at the newer UC campuses at San Diego and Santa Cruz.
Divisions
The College encompasses five divisions — Humanities, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Social Sciences, as well as the Division of Undergraduate Education, which includes 83% of UCLA's undergraduate students.
Alumni
Kay Ryan, English, 16th poet laureate of U.S.
Brad Delson, Linkin Park member
Richard Heck, 2010 Nobel Prize in chemistry
Paul Terasaki, organ transplant medicine and tissue typing
Ezra Klein, The New York Times columnist and co-founder of Vox (website)
Juan Felipe Herrera, social anthropology, 21st poet laureate of U.S.
Randall Park, English, actor, comedian and writer
Sara Bareilles, communication studies, award-winning singer and songwriter
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, history, former professional basketball player who played 20 seasons in the NBA for the Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Lakers
Mayim Bialik, neuroscience, actress, game show host and author
Ralph Bunche, political science, diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize laureate
Gabrielle Union, sociology, actress
Kal Penn, sociology, actor, author, and former White House staff member in the Barack Obama administration.
Notable faculty
Utpal Banerjee, department chair and professor of molecular, cell and developmental biology; professor of biological chemistry, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Jared Diamond, professor of geography, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, National Medal of Science recipient and MacArthur Fellowship (1985)
Alessandro Duranti, professor of anthropology, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Saul Friedländer, MacArthur Fellowship (1999)
Andrea Ghez, MacArthur Fellowship (Genius Grant winner, 2008), professor of physics and astronomy
Ivan Hinderaker, professor of political science and department chair, 2nd chancellor of UC Riverside
Thomas M. Liggett, professor of mathematics, National Academy of Sciences
Thom Mayne, professor of architecture, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Dean McHenry, professor of political science, 1st chancellor of UC Santa Cruz
Calvin Normore, professor of philosophy, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Raymond L. Orbach, professor of physics, provost of UCLA College, 6th chancellor of UC Riverside
Theodore Porter, professor of history and department vice chair for undergraduate affairs, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Charles Ray, professor of sculpture, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Commencement ceremonies
The main graduation commencement ceremony for the College of Letters and Science is held annually on a Friday night in June in Pauley Pavilion. For two years in a row, the scheduled commencement keynote speaker had canceled the engagement. Bill Clinton canceled in 2008 for not wanting to cross a picket line. Actor and alumnus James Franco canceled in 2009 because of his filming scheduling conflicts. Rock band Linkin Park's Brad Delson accepted the last minute invitation to speak at the 2009 commencement ceremony. Mayim Bialik cancelled in 2016 for not wanting to cross a picket line.
In various years, UCLA has received criticism from students for the relative obscurity of commencement speakers.
2005 – Sesame Workshop CEO Gary Knell
2006 – Mayor of Los Angeles Antonio Villaraigosa
2007 – Former professional basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
2008 – UCLA chancellor Gene Block
2009 – Linkin Park guitarist Brad Delson
June 11, 2010 – Columnist Gustavo Arellano of '¡Ask a Mexican!'
2011 – Former Peace Corps director Aaron S. Williams
June 15, 2012 – Kiva and ProFounder co-founder Jessica Jackley
June 14, 2013 – Basketball Hall of Famer Ann Meyers Drysdale
June 13, 2014 – Nobel laureate Randy Schekman
June 12, 2015 – Intellectual Ventures co-founder Nathan Myhrvold