ASUCLA Board of Directors recap – Jan. 27

Associated Students UCLA is a multimillion-dollar organization that provides student services and activities the university does not fund. It oversees the Undergraduate Students Association Council, Graduate Students Association, Communications Board, campus services and enterprises. Board of Directors meetings are monthly and open to the public.

Immediate Press Release:

• ASUCLA Executive Director Robert Williams will retire on Feb. 28 after leading the board since 2005. Pouria Abbassi, a UCLA School of Engineering and Anderson School of Management graduate, will succeed Williams as the new director.

Executive director’s Reports:

• Williams said Bookzone will host a book signing event with former UCLA and NBA basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for “Becoming Kareem: Growing Up On and Off the Court” on Jan. 27.
• Williams said UCPath, a uniform center for managing payroll across University of California campuses, is live and the transition went very well.
• Williams said UCLA Recreation’s FITWELL Program, a campus initiative to encourage physical wellness, will host its annual “I Heart Walking” camp in mid-February. Event organizers will lend out Apple watches to participants so they can track their exercising progress.
• Williams said ASUCLA’s Custom Print program has been adding more kiosks around various locations on campus including at the UCLA School of Law’s library.
• Williams said the Small Business Resource Fair, an event for UCLA staff members to engage with participating vendors, is happening on Jan. 30. Williams added the event will allow ASUCLA to inform more departments about the services it provides, such as computers.
• Williams said ASUCLA will accept submissions for its Art in the Union program until Apr. 13. Winning entries will be displayed around Ackerman Union and Kerckhoff Hall.
• Williams said ASUCLA will hold its #1SweetSale event, featuring discounts between 20 percent and 50 percent off goods, on Feb. 15.

Financial Reports:

• Williams said the UCLA Store missed its target by $72,000 for December. He added BearWear, E-commerce, and other areas including textbooks and computers, were behind in sales.
• Williams said the food service sales were disrupted by the local wildfires in late December, which resulted in lower foot traffic.
• He added that food service has projected $200,000 loss in sales and contribution loss of $80,000.
• Williams said that sales from the first five months of the academic year have been strong and added ASUCLA is ahead of its budgeted net income by $162,000, which is $200,000 more than last year.