Author Archives: Jonathan Van Dyke

Assemblymember Reggie Jones Sawyer speaks with graduate students Brian Woodward and Angela Ocampo in his Sacramento office during a recent advocacy trip.

Four graduate students and two faculty administrators formed a UCLA coalition that traveled to Sacramento for the annual UC Graduate Student Research Day on April 19, with the goal to communicate the critical impacts of graduate research, taking it beyond the classroom and outside of the lab, and expressing its importance in the real world. They also made the case to state legislators for $9 million in state funding for 900 more graduate students system-wide.

“It was eye-opening for me,” said Brian Woodward, who is finishing up his graduate studies at the school of education’s urban planning division. “That was the first chance I’ve gotten to interact with representatives on a personal level. We’re trying to not only get these representatives interested in what we do as graduate students, and to see the value in why graduate students should be funded, but also trying to make a direct tie-in with what [research] we do as graduate students, and how that might benefit their respective districts, or even California as a whole.”

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UCLA Chancellor Gene Block bestows the UCLA Medal on Congressman John Lewis. (photos by Marc Roseboro)

U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a living icon of the civil rights movement, relived for 1,300 rapt listeners in Royce Hall today key moments in the long struggle for equality, telling compelling personal stories — sometimes dark, but other times light-hearted anecdotes — taken right out of the pages of American history.

In a talk interrupted frequently by thunderous applause, standing ovations and laughter from the audience, Lewis vividly recalled from his childhood the warnings his family gave him to keep quiet when he questioned why black children had to sit in the balcony to watch movies at their local theater and why he was denied a library card when whites could borrow books from the local library.

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The Run As One 5K began at Jackie Robinson Stadium for the second year in a row. (all photos by Jonathan Van Dyke)

For Joe Thompson, the sight of so many veterans lined up for a morning run, jog or walk (with an assist from the occasional four-legged friend) was a sign that bringing veteran groups together was as needed as ever.

Thompson, membership coordinator for Team Rubicon, helped organize the Sixth Annual Run as One 5K on April 1, which began from Jackie Robinson Stadium, located on the campus of the West Los Angeles VA, for the second year in a row. The event is a collaborative effort between veteran organizations Team Rubicon, Mission Continues and Team Red, White and Blue. This year, Student Veterans Association (SVA) and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Association (IAVA) were also involved in the effort. There were approximately 150 veterans and civilians in attendance and more than 15 veterans-oriented vendors came to support and inform at the 5K.

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Nearly 100 volunteers of all ages lent a hand to do some spring cleaning at the Mann UCLA Community School. (photos by Reed Hutchinson)

Volunteers from UCLA and a neighborhood in South Los Angeles gathered Saturday, March 25, at Horace Mann UCLA Community School to give the facilities a good spring cleaning.

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UCLA Luskin Dean Gary Segura talks about the impact of the presidential election on Latinos. Photo by George Foulsham

Gary Segura, dean of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, thinks that Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric may seem all too familiar to Latinos and others in California who endured a similar campaign against undocumented residents a couple of decades ago. The current effort could backfire on Trump and his supporters, suggested Segura, an internationally recognized expert on the Latino electorate, during a presentation March 21, 2017, to a packed room of citizens, policymakers and fellow educators. The UCLA Advocacy event, co-hosted by UCLA Government and Community Relations and the Luskin School, featured introductions by Chancellor Gene Block and Keith S. Parker, assistant vice chancellor for government and community relations.

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UCLA Vice Provost for Enrollment Management Youlonda Copeland-Morgan traveled to Washington, D.C. to testify before Congress on how to improve federal student aid and better meet the needs of today’s students.

She spoke on March 21 before the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development, extolling the success stories at UCLA and the UC system as a whole, when it comes to admitting, enrolling and graduating low-income students.

The video and transcript are available below.

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