Warren Furutani. UCLA, Unabashed.
Warren Furutani represents the 55th Assembly District in the California State Legislature. With 35 years of first hand, front line experience in public education and community service, he is best known for two special skills: problem–solving and consensus–building.
“UCLA is a great research university, one of this nation’s elite institutions. It is also a public university, owned and operated on behalf of the people of California—all 38,000,000 of them. They hold a contract that says, ‘Everyone has a shot at UCLA. Everyone. Not a guarantee; a shot.’
“Parents need to see that, believe it. Children need to know—if they have the skill and talent and really work at being the best — the door’s open.
More than 1/3 of UCLA graduates began their college careers at a community college.
“Here’s how this plays out at UCLA with each new class:
“The freshmen arrive by express. They are the most talented, deserving candidates selected from the largest number of admission applications to any university in the country.
Among the nation’s major research universities, UCLA has the most students receiving federal financial assistance.
“Then, here come my people—the community college transfers—bringing two years of solid academic success. They’ve made a few stops along the way for work, family obligations or—very often—just some time out.
“That’s how it begins, but—of course—by graduation, no one can tell the transfers from the four-year folks, the financial aid students from the privileged. But everyone knows who the leaders are. UCLA has a unique institutional knack for discovering, nourishing and rewarding exceptional individual performance.
“So, is that it? Everybody on board?
36% of UCLA undergrads are the first in the family to attend college.
"No. Although UCLA can be justifiably proud of its diverse student body, the picture is far from perfect. There is the worrisome, frustrating, unresolved problem of under-represented minorities at UCLA.
“This I believe: On its best days, democracy is a work in progress, and UCLA is no exception. I also believe that access is the sincerest form of entitlement, that excellence is community property, and that—if you’re a publicly-owned, world-class research university—you have no choice. You have to settle for both."
UCLA, Unabashed.
Eli Broad Brad Delson Diane Watson Julia Gouw Sherry Lansing
Moctesuma Esparza Paul Boyer Richard Ziman Betsy Knapp Karen Bass
- Spotlights published by UCLA Marketing & Communications
- © 2009 UC Regents