Diane Watson. UCLA, Unabashed
B.A. ’56, UCLA. M.A. ’67, Cal State L.A. Ph.D. ’87, Claremont Graduate School. Teacher/School Psychologist/Administrator, LAUSD, 1958–76. California State Senate, 1979–98. U.S. Ambassador to Micronesia, 1998–2001. U.S. House of Representatives, 2001 to present. Democratic Regional Whip for Southern California.
“We come to UCLA from everywhere on this planet, carrying our dreams, the promises we make to ourselves. Some of us traveled all the way from the other side of this city.
“Before we arrive, we have this idea that UCLA is the goal, the prize, the destination. Then we discover that it’s the point of departure, and the real voyage has just begun.
I wasn’t even the first Bruin in my family. My great aunt went to UCLA when it was a teachers’ college on Vermont Avenue. Then my aunt, my uncle and — finally — me.
“Walking into classes on the first day and being challenged by people who knew stuff you’d never even thought about, people who didn’t agree with you about much of anything. And, they were just the other students.
“That daily contact with the rest of mankind taught me very quickly to be a part of the process, to make my own in whatever society I found myself, anywhere in the world. Sacramento. Micronesia. Even Congress.
“So, where’s the next big change, the next big opportunity? The global economy, of course. What’s California’s role? Are we up to the challenge? Absolutely.
When I lived on this campus in the fifties, the word was already out: Berkeley owned Tradition. Westwood was The Experiment.
“One. If you ever wonder what the rest of the world is like, check out your local mall. California is the most diverse society on the planet, the first state in the union to become a majority of minorities. As the song says, we are the world.
“Two. We start with a natural edge. It’s called ‘the Pacific Rim.’
“Three. None of this is new. California was a part of the global economy before it was a state. The rest of the world showed up here in 1849, looking for gold, and none of them went home.
“So what role should UCLA have in all of this?
“The role it’s always had: to identify, select, nurture and educate successive generations of California’s leaders in business, government, the sciences and the arts. To pass on a renewable set of skills. How to think. (Not what. How.) How to question, adjust, adapt, evolve and grow.
“Five careers after UCLA, I use that skill set every day. The voyage continues.”
UCLA, Unabashed.
Eli Broad Brad Delson Betsy Knapp Julia Gouw Sherry Lansing
Moctesuma Esparza Paul Boyer Richard Ziman Warren Furutani Karen Bass
- Spotlights published by UCLA Marketing & Communications
- © 2009 UC Regents