Faculty Center Election Results

The Faculty Center just emailed the results of its recent election. If you did not receive the email, the results are listed below, along with the campaign statements of the winning candidates.

These are the individuals that will have to deal with the UCLA administration with regard to the hotel/conference center issue.

The Election Committee has completed the task of counting the ballots and the following candidates have been elected to served on the 2011-12 Faculty Center Board of Governors

President-elect: Joseph Nagy
Treasurer: Lawrence Kruger

Members-at-large: Charles Berst, Laura Lake, R. Michael Rich

Candidate Statements:

President-elect
Joseph Nagy, Professor of English

I’ve been at UCLA since 1978 and a member of the Faculty Center Association ever since. This is a pivotal time for the Association and the Faculty Center, both of which have proven to be essential strands in the fabric of the UCLA community’s identity, in good times and bad. Preserving the independence and character of the Faculty Center, building up membership, making sure that the University administration appreciates how much the FC means to so many of us, and leaving the FC in sound physical and financial condition for future UCLA generations to utilize and enjoy–these will be my priorities, if I have the honor to be elected as President-elect of the FCA Board of Governors.

Treasurer
Lawrence Kruger, Distinguished Professor of Neurobiology (Emeritus)

I was first appointed to the UCLA faculty in 1957 and have been a continuous member of the UCLA Faculty Center Association from ~1959 to the present. I have previously served a term as Treasurer many years ago (when Mary Erickson was Manager) and have recently pursued active interest in the finances and future of the “Faculty Club” consequent to discovery, (while serving on the Faculty Welfare Committee of the Academic Senate), that the future of our physical plant and financial future was under administrative siege. In recent years, I have continued to serve on Senate committees, including two terms on Library and Emeriti (UEPRRC) Committees, also serving each as Chair. In recent years I have served on the Finance Committee of the Society for Neuroscience and if elected to the Board of the Faculty Center I am likely to pursue an aggressive, rather than conciliatory style. I currently serve UCLA recalled as “Distinguished Professor of Neurobiology (Emeritus)” with minimal teaching responsibility, while writing a new scholarly book and serving UCLA in whatever manner I might be useful.

Member-at-Large (3 open seats)
Charles Berst, Professor of English (Emeritus)

Since Faculty Center members voted 815 to 269-75%-against replacing the Center’s building with a residential conference center/faculty club, its Board should now contribute Center perspectives to the even stronger reservations of three Academic Senate committees and many others. Perfunctory notification and careless “done-deal” planning by Capital Programs have dodged transparent, truly broad-based consultation. Particularly underappreciated, moreover, have been the intellectual, interdisciplinary, and social ties and occasions that make our current Center a very special hub and oasis for faculty and emeriti-a facility arguably more important for faculty retention and recruitment in these tough budgetary times than another conference center.
Forthrightly detailed answers to such questions as the following could now lead to productive consultations: 1. Who and what schools and departments are seeking a conference center? What are their time, space and use needs? 2. Detail annual time, space, and use statistics of existing and prospective campus meeting facilities. 3. Why have alternative sites been dismissed? 4. What are the costs of commercial L.A. facilities? 5. Have flexible, debt-free alternatives such as a Luskin Conference Endowment been considered? 6. Might 20% of such an endowment subsidize refurbishment and overhead of the Faculty Center-to facilitate faculty, emeriti, and conference use?

Laura Lake, Adjunct Asst. Professor (Retired)
Political Science and Environmental Science and Engineering

I am a member of the Ad Hoc Committee to Save the Faculty Center and am committed to saving and improving the Center. My husband, Jim Lake, and I were recruited to UCLA in 1976 and feel privileged to call so many members of the Faculty Center friends. We know that lunch on the Center’s patio is often the final factor that persuades the very best job candidates to choose UCLA. Also, we have celebrated countless family events there. That is why ever since last summer I have been working with faculty members, neighbors, Westwood hotels and our City Councilmemb
er to stop demolition of our beloved Center and urge the Administration to build a conference center without a hotel, near Westwood Village. The Faculty Center must increase its membership and refurbish antiquated conference facilities. As a former UCLA faculty member, environmental leader, and former President of the National Council of Jewish Women/LA, I have the experience and contacts to raise funds and recruit members. My vision for the Board of Governors is to be effective advocates for this beloved and vital institution and wise stewards of a campus treasure. To save the Faculty Center I need your vote.

R. Michael Rich, Research Astronomer – Department of Physics and Astronomy

I am a member of the ad hoc Committee to Save the Faculty Center, and if elected, I will support the 75% of members who voted against demolition of the Faculty Center. I am a Research Astronomer and have been at UCLA, and a member, since 1998; my family has deep UCLA connections. In addition to my qualifications as a scientist (over 300 refereed publications, h-index 64) I have 30 years of involvement in a family real estate business. I can interpret a balance sheet, assess a business plan, and evaluate a stock portfolio. To survive, we must grow. I will work to expand the member base, to advertise our event facilities, and to raise funds for needed renovations. We can restore the Faculty Center to mid-century elegance and make it an attractive and functional site for conferences and events without changing its fundamental character. Every one of our conference spaces has access to a private outdoor patio. All rooms can be updated with the most modern AV equipment, including high-lumen projectors that will allow meetings in our daylit, garden-view rooms, far better than the dreary black boxes with dropped ceilings that are the staple of the typical “modern” conference center.

Will there be changes coming along?