UCLA Faculty Association: New Satellite Campus

Our previous post dealt with enrollment growth at UC. At the July Regents meeting, UCLA Chancellor Block talked about having a satellite campus. You can find his remarks at the YouTube video below, starting at around minute 5.* This morning, an email from the chancellor was circulated announcing a new satellite campus. The new sites in Rancho Palos Verdes and San Pedro, were not among the locations he mentioned in July. He did mention a site in San Pedro in July, but it appears to be a different location from the one described in the email.

From the email:

What you need to know:

*UCLA will acquire two sites associated with Marymount California University in Rancho Palos Verdes and San Pedro

*Marymount California University ceased operations this summer; UCLA’s acquisition will allow us to maintain a tradition of higher education on the sites and to advance institutional goals

Specific plans for the properties will be developed jointly by faculty and administrative leaders

Dear Bruin Community:

I write to share the very exciting news that UCLA will acquire two sites associated with Marymount California University (MCU) in Rancho Palos Verdes and San Pedro, 30 miles south of Westwood. This expansion, representing the largest land acquisition in UCLA’s history, was approved by the University of California Board of Regents last week.

With our Westwood campus as its center, UCLA has been a crucial nexus of education, research and public service within Los Angeles for more than 100 years. As demand for our academic offerings continues to grow, this acquisition will allow us to expand student access in line with UC’s 2030 goals, strengthen our connections to the greater L.A. region, and deepen our institution’s research and public service impact. The new sites add to existing ones UCLA operates in downtown Los Angeles, Culver City and elsewhere, as well as across the region through UCLA Health.

Under an agreement with the stewards of MCU — a small private Catholic university that ceased operations this summer — UCLA will acquire the university’s 24.5-acre main campus in Rancho Palos Verdes as well as a smaller 11-acre residential campus a few minutes drive away in San Pedro. While there was intense interest from developers in purchasing and building on these properties, we were able to reach an agreement with MCU largely because of our commitment to carrying forward a tradition of higher education on the sites.

We are in the early stages of planning for the future use of the new properties. In partnership with the Academic Senate, we will establish a faculty- and administration-led task force to determine what kinds of academic programs the spaces might best support and how we can best use them to advance institutional goals. It is my hope that we will have some programs operating on the sites as soon as 2023. I will share updates about this process and the future of the spaces in the months ahead.

In closing, I wish to express my gratitude to all those who worked so hard to make this exciting opportunity a reality. This expansion will be a boon for both our institution and the region, and I am eager to see all the ways in which it will extend UCLA’s already deep impact.

Sincerely,

Gene D. Block

Chancellor

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*Click on the link below to see his remarks starting at around minute 5: