UCLA commemorates 75th year in Westwood

  ANGIE LEVINE During events for UCLA’s 75th anniversary,
Chancellor Albert Carnesale (left) shakes the hand
of Richard Ibanez, a 1928 UCLA graduate. A
ceremony was held in Dickson Court Thursday afternoon.

By Roopa Raman
Daily Bruin Contributor

In a display of more than seven decades of Bruin pride, UCLA
alumni, staff, faculty and students celebrated Thursday with
community leaders and elected officials the 75th anniversary of
UCLA’s Westwood campus.

Chancellor Albert Carnesale, who spoke at the event, recognized
Edward Dickson, a former UC regent and newspaper publisher, by
officially declaring the grass area near Murphy and Schoenberg
Halls as “Dickson Court.”

“(Dickson) would be so proud of what we have become and be
excited about our extraordinary prospects for the future,” he
said.

Carnesale also recognized the Pioneer Bruins ““ alumni who
studied at the original Vermont Avenue campus for at least one year
““ and identified the dates during the early and mid-1920s
when the location for the current campus was determined and the
university received a $4 million gift for the land.

Dignitaries at the event included District 42 Assemblyman Paul
Koretz, D-West Hollywood, state Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica,
Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Brian Williams, Fifth District City
Councilman Jack Weiss and Zev Yaroslavsky, a member of the Los
Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

  ANGIE LEVINE Chancellor Albert Carnesale
addresses community members at a ceremony celebrating UCLA’s 75th
anniversary Thursday afternoon. The theme of the event, “UCLA
in LA” was developed through a collaborative effort of
students and community members, according to Dennis Slon, associate
vice chancellor for development affairs.

Six community partners attended the ceremony. The organizations
included COPE, a Venice-based group that utilizes 120 UCLA
graduates as health educators and mentors, in addition to
representatives from Sheenway School, a community school that seeks
to expose children to art performances.

Carnesale said UCLA’s strengths in teaching, research and
service have provided links to the surrounding Los Angeles
community in many ways.

“One of my goals is to deepen those relationships … in
ways that will benefit all of us,” he said.

“It really is a magnificent day to be associated with
UCLA,” he said. “We look forward to the continuation of
a truly extraordinary partnership.”

Sherman Grancell, president of the Pioneer Bruins who received
his undergraduate degree in political science in 1929, was also
honored.

Grancell is a former president of Tau Beta Phi fraternity, was a
member of a jazz orchestra, and sold advertisements for the
“Daily Bruin.”

He said the Pioneer Bruins continue to play an active role on
the UCLA campus. They are involved in the Friends of Archeology, a
program in partnership with the Fowler Museum. He added that he and
his wife coordinate a scholarship program for students in the music
department.

Another Pioneer Bruin, Richard Ibanez, a graduate of the Vermont
campus in 1928, contributed to the construction of the Westwood
campus.

With experience in building a business, he served as a hod
carrier, transporting cement to Royce Hall. Ibanez had the
opportunity to lay a brick on the building, an honor he said he
still embraces.

Carnesale noted that many of the community leaders present at
the event have received one or more degrees from UCLA.

Visiting local government officials, meanwhile, expressed
appreciation to the university for its efforts in in the
community.

Councilman Weiss, who graduated from the UCLA School of Law,
said the university had more value to him than just being an
educational institution. He would go bowling on campus with his
friends as a child, he said, and now bicycles around the campus
with his two children.