What Do We Do Now?

UCLA paid $80 million for a defunct college campus in Palos Verdes, not easily accessible from Westwood. The purchase was ostensibly to accommodate increased enrollment. But the former college had only a few hundred students when it closed. 

From an email received yesterday:

To: Deans and Department Chairs

Dear Colleagues:

As UCLA continues to evolve and pioneer new ways to deliver high-quality education, we are delighted to invite you and your faculty to contribute to our understanding of the options for the academic program(s) for UCLA’s newest campus, UCLA South Bay.

The South Bay campus has been established through the acquisition of the former Marymount California University campus and facilities in Ranchos Palos Verdes and San Pedro. To consider optimal academic programmatic uses of the newly acquired spaces, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Darnell Hunt and Academic Senate Chair Jessica Cattelino have charged the Joint Task Force on the Academic Mission of Campus Expansion to lead a process of ideation and consultation with the UCLA community.

In establishing a small, dynamic and focused campus, we have an opportunity to bring UCLA's distinctive academic excellence closer to diverse communities, to foster new collaborations and enhance our mission of public service.

To this end, we are seeking proposals for innovative academic programs that can be offered at UCLA South Bay. This presents an exceptional opportunity to reimagine the possibilities of how we teach and learn, and engage with our broader community, harnessing UCLA’s commitment to inclusivity, academic excellence and social impact. To learn more about the newly acquired campus, you can watch a brief introductory video or read an overview document (PDF).

We encourage you to share your creative and innovative ideas, outlining academic content, target student group(s) and the unique benefits of your proposed program. Please also include a general overview for potential implementation. Keep in mind that programs with a sustainability, climate change and environmental justice focus are of great interest.

We expect that submissions will not exceed two pages. If you so choose, please submit collaborative, multi-department or school-level proposals.

The deadline for submissions is Saturday, June 10, 2023. Please email your submission to: CampusExpansionTaskForce@conet.ucla.edu.

We strongly believe that our departments will bring forth pioneering academic programs that push the boundaries of traditional models of teaching and learning in higher education and address the evolving needs of our students and communities. Please help us chart a new path for UCLA’s academic growth that is both impactful and innovative.

Thank you for your time and partnership. We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Sincerely,

Christina Christie

Co-Chair, Joint Task Force on the Academic Mission of UCLA Campus Expansion

Dean, School of Education and Information Studies

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Andrea Kasko 

Co-Chair, Joint Task Force on the Academic Mission of UCLA Campus Expansion

Vice Chair/Chair-Elect, Academic Senate

Professor, Bioengineering