UCLA Political Science Department

Spring 2011 Newsletter

Table of Contents:

1. Chair’s Message: Ed Keller Remarks on his 3 Years as Chair
2. Political Science Board of Visitors Chair
3. UCLA NOBLE LAUREATE and Political Science Alumna Elinor Ostrom
4. Alumnus Interview: Walter P. Loughlin
5. Bollens Ries Hoffenberg Lecture: UCLA Chancellor Emeritis Chuck Young Remarks on Path to Sustainability
6. UCLA Alumni Day Recap
7. Faculty Retirements
8. Passing of Faculty Member Victor Wolfenstein
9. Giving Back and Getting Involved

Chair's Message

Dear Alumni and Friends of the UCLA Political Science Department,

We have now reached the end of the academic year, 2010-11. This coincides with the end of my three year tenure as Chair of the department. The time has gone by quite quickly. We have had our ups and downs, but it all comes with the territory. Beginning July 1, 2011, Professor Jeffrey Lewis will be our new chairperson. Please join me in welcoming him and in giving him all our support during his tenure.

At this moment, we are fiscally healthy as a university and as a department, and this should serve the department well as we move ahead. At the same time, I cannot emphasize enough how much we need the support of our alumni. You are all testimony to the greatness of the department and we see you as essential representatives of all that we are and hope to be as one of the leading political science departments in the country. We continue to produce world-class graduate and undergraduate alumni; and, despite the hard economic times we have experienced over the past two years our faculty has continued to remain at the forefront of our profession.

This academic year has been very busy for the department. In early March we hosted a departmental luncheon for one of our most distinguished alums, Elinor Ostrom, a UCLA Political Science graduate from our BA, MA and Ph.D. programs, and Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Indiana University-Bloomington, who was in 2009 awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences (which includes a segment of political science). Professor Ostrom was invited to campus to receive the UCLA Medal, the ultimate prize that the campus offers. The department was able to host Professor Ostrom and to express to her our pride in her achievements and also to inspire our current and past students to strive to be the best that they can be.

In late March, we co-hosted, along with the School of Public Affairs, the Bollens Ries Hoffenberg Lecture. This event has occurred for more than twenty-five years. It is dedicated to commemorating the contributions of three distinguished past faculty members: Jack Bollens, Chuck Ries and Marvin Hoffenberg, and organized by a steering committee made up primarily of alumni. This year’s speaker was UCLA Chancellor Emeritus, Charles E. Young who gave a presentation entitled, “The State of California and Its University.” As in the past, the lecture was well attended by faculty, students and staff from the campus as well as by alums and the local community at large.

Lastly, if you haven’t already considered a year end gift to the Political Science Department, I highly encourage you to do so. Gifts to UCLA are tax-deductible and make a lasting contribution to our mission. As in the past we are committed to remaining one of the top political science departments in the world, and you can greatly help us in this endeavor. You can make a gift here: https://giving.ucla.edu/PoliticalScience or mail contributions to the department in the name of the UC Regents and earmarked for the UCLA Political Science Department.

Thank you for your continued support.

Best Regards,

Ed Keller
Chair

Message from Chair of the Political Science Board of Visitors

It is hard to believe that we are wrapping up the second year of the Political Science Board of Visitors charter. On behalf of the Board of visitors, I would like to thank Department Chair, Ed Keller, for all of his contributions as Department Chair and for his vision and support that helped the Board of Visitors hit the ground running. We wish him well as he moves back to his scholarly research. We also would like to congratulate Professor Jeffrey Lewis on assuming his new duties as Department Chair and we all look forward to working with him to further develop the BOV’s mission.

I would like to take a moment to reflect on all that has been accomplished over the inaugural two years of the BOV’s activity. As a Board, we've worked hard to increase the department’s outreach and engagement with its alumni, graduate and undergraduate student community through specific events like the open house at UCLA Day, the departmental newsletters, Facebook and LinkedIn webpages which have all helped increase involvement with the department.

We had the opportunity to partner with Political Science Student Organization to host a career panel in April and due to the excellent response, we hope to plan a similar event during the upcoming fall quarter. There are several other initiatives that are underway. We are working on hosting a special admissions session in late summer for alumni whose children are planning to apply to UCLA which will be modeled after a similar effort by the UCLA Law School. We think this is a unique opportunity to reconnect families to the department. We are also developing an initiative to more actively engage with department alumni who are attorneys. Stay tuned for further developments.

The Board of Visitors has taken initial strides in working with the department to create a foundation for strong alumni engagement and we look forward to another successful year.

Best Regards,
Bill Pratt
Chair

UCLA Noble Laureate and Political Science Alumna Elinor Ostrom

(UCLA Political Science B.A. ’54, M.A. ‘62 and Ph.D. ’65) was honored with the UCLA Medal, the university’s highest award by UCLA Chancellor, Gene Block. She received her award at the annual College of Letters and Sciences Awards Dinner on March 29, 2011. Chancellor Block noted Ostrom’s great achievement calling her, “An exemplar of UCLA’s highest ideals” and someone “who has devoted her intellectual process for the betterment of society.”

Earlier that day, Ostrom gave a lecture at a Political Science Department luncheon at the UCLA Faculty Center. Ostrom talked about her research and her time as an undergraduate and graduate student at UCLA noting that times were very different for women in academia in the 1960s. She expressed gratitude for her warm reception since returning to campus and hoped to return again for a visit in the future. Ostrom is currently a faculty member at Indiana University.

In a moving presentation following her lecture, the female graduate students in the Political Science Department presented Ostrom with an award as a tribute to her pioneering spirit and her legacy as the first alumna ever to win the Nobel Prize in Economics.

“When Geraldine Ferraro attended law school at Fordham, she was told by a male faculty member that she was taking the place of another male student. She was only one of two women in her law school class,” said Political Science graduate student Heather Bergman. “It was around the same time that Elinor Ostrom was a PhD student at UCLA, where the percentage of female graduate students was hardly any better: 18%. But because of what Elinor did as a student and as the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Economics, the sky is now the limit for us. It is no small part that because of her today over half of the PhD students in UCLA’s Political Science Department are women.”

Profile: Walter P. (Pat) Loughlin, UCLA Political Science Alumnus and Member of the Board of Visitors

Pat earned his B.A. in Political Science from UCLA in 1972 and M.A., J.D., from Yale University, 1976. Pat was a member of the UCLA men’s water polo team during the year that they won their first national championship. He has served as an Associate Independent Counsel, during Michael K. Deaver and Iran-Contra prosecutions. He currently teaches Law at Columbia law school and practices law in New York as a partner at Kirkpatrick Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis LLP:

Question: What brought you to UCLA?

Pat: "My parents had seven children and moved to California for the express purpose of taking advantage of what the UC system had to offer. My siblings attended, at various times, UCLA, Berkeley, and UC Santa Barbara. When I matriculated in 1968, UCLA had no tuition for state residents and only a $100 registration fee per quarter. That quarterly registration fee increased, by the time I graduated in 1972, to $300 per quarter -- still the best higher education bargain ever."

Question: For the past 40 years your life has been centered on the East Coast, what brings you back to UCLA to volunteer your time and expertise on behalf of the students?

Pat: "Although I came back East to attend law school in 1972 with every intention of returning to California, one's life sometimes takes unexpected turns. I live and work a long way from California but most of my family remains in the San Francisco Bay Area and business frequently takes me to the West Coast. UCLA is where I came of age, was exposed to serious scholarship, spent long hours in a swimming pool and the weight room with teammates, made enduring friendships, and fell in love for the first time. These are ties that bind."

To read more about Pat Loughlin click here.

Bollens-Reis-Hoffenberg Lecture

The department was honored to have Chancellor emeritus Charles Young (UCLA Political Science MA ’57, Ph.D ’60) deliver the 2011 Bollen-Reis-Hoffenberg lecture. Chancellor Young used this opportunity to give his vision of the University’s financial future. He does not see the current budget difficulties as a temporary setback caused by a difficult economy; rather he sees it as an enduring reality going forward. He proposed a bold path toward self-sufficiency for the University that includes increased fees for students and growing a reliance on major gifts and donations. Despite the issues it would raise in terms of access, he believes that in generating more revenue, additional financial aid could assist students to ensure that a UC education was still financially accessible to all. Yet, it is also a course, he argues, that would leave the University less exposed to the crises, cutbacks and deadlocks of Sacramento politics. Moreover, it is a path, he contends, that will give the largest university in California the freedom to best sustain and grow UCLA’s excellence in research and teaching.

To view his lecture, click on the link below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P99CZi6JdDo

UCLA Alumni Day 2011

The Fourth UCLA Alumni Day took place on May 21, 2011. More than 1,100 UCLA Alumni and their guests came for a day on campus where they attended power panels, and enjoyed the Planetarium, bus tours and a dinner with Chancellor Gene Block amongst other activities. Mark your calendar for next UCLA Alumni Day, May 5, 2012.

The Political Science department was present at the morning’s Info Fair, and it was great to see and reconnect with the many Political Science alumni and their families who stopped by. We encourage alumni who have not yet attended UCLA Day to make it a priority for next year.

WE ARE ONLINE: Facebook and LinkedIn

We are now online and alumni and friends can interact with the department, learn about upcoming events, and participate in online discussions with faculty.

You can find us on Facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/UCLA-Political-Science-Alumni/318845565800.

And you can join our LinkedIn Group at:
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=1803152&trk=anet_ug_hm.

We are still looking for dedicated alumni who’d like to help maintain these pages, facilitate discussions, and interact with faculty. If you have an interest in getting involved or volunteering, please contact Totran Nguyen at Totran@uclalumni.net.

Retirements

Carole Pateman

Professor and current president of the American Political Science Association has chosen to retire this year after nearly 22 years with the department.

Born in Maresfield, Sussex, England, Professor Pateman actually left school at age sixteen, but was accepted into Ruskin College in 1963—an independent adult education school in Oxford for working class students with no formal educational requirements. She studied economics, politics, history and sociology, and during that period, many Ruskin students sat for the Oxford University Post-Graduate Diploma in Political Science and Economics. In 1965, Professor Pateman was the only woman who sat for the examination, and obtained a distinction. She was consequently accepted into Oxford University’s Lady Margaret Hall to read Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE), and remained at Oxford to earn her D. Phil.

She has attained several professional offices throughout her career, the most recent being the president of the American Political Science Association (2010-2011). She has been a Distinguished Professor within the department, and concurrently holds an appointment in the Women’s Studies Department. Her prior teaching posts span Europe and Australia, as well as Stanford and Princeton Universities. She has enriched UCLA’s Political Science program with this wealth of experience and knowledge throughout her tenure. Her research interests have focused on political theory and race, ethnicity, and politics, and most recently explored the concept of a basic income for all individuals.

Richard Baum

Throughout his 42-year tenure at UCLA, Professor Richard Baum has contributed significantly to the field of Asian politics, as well as acting as the prior director of the UCLA Center for China Studies. His research interests focus on Chinese and comparative politics and foreign relations, and as a result he has written and edited nine books and numerous articles. He has served on the editorial boards of a number of Asia-specific research publications, and has provided expert media commentary for CNN International, NPR and the BBC, among other outlets.

When interviewed about his latest book, "China Watcher: Confessions of a Peking Tom" (University of Washington Press, 2010), he makes this statement; "there’s nothing written in stone that says two superpowers can’t exist, peacefully—without a war…We surpassed Great Britain without a war, we never challenged their supremacy. The Chinese to be sure have interests and concerns, and priorities that we do not share." When Professor Baum’s students ask him whether China is going to ‘eat our lunch’, his response is "I think it’s probably a good idea to invite the Chinese to the lunch table, and maybe offer to share with them a few potato chips and oreo cookies, but I think your peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are safe for a long time to come."

Passing of Victor Wolfenstein

Husband, father, grandfather, professor, psychoanalyst, author, distinguished teacher, and in the words of one of "Vic’s" classmates from his freshman year at Columbia, "unquestionably the most intelligent and caring person I have known", passed away in December at the age of 70. Professor Wolfenstein was a member of the department for 45 years. He taught his final course this fall entitled "Platonic Dialectic and Spiritual Liberation" which finished only days before his death. He had been at UCLA since 1965, becoming a full professor in 1979. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1974 and UCLA's Harriet and Charles Luckman distinguished teaching award in 1994. He was born in Cleveland in 1940. He received his bachelor's degree from Columbia College in 1962 and his master's and doctorate in political science from Princeton University in 1964 and 1965. He is survived by his wife, 4 children and 4 grandchildren.

For more on Professor Wolfenstein’s life and career:
Read the Daily Bruin article
Read the Department's article

Giving Back and Getting Involved

Dear Alumni,

Gifts to UCLA make a lasting contribution – to students, communities and the world. By investing in the promise of human potential, UCLA’s alumni, faculty and friends demonstrate confidence in the power of knowledge to improve people’s daily lives.

The impact of such philanthropy is measured in problems solved, innovations sparked, diseases cured and lives enriched. Gifts to UCLA of every size enable transformations in the department. The University of California faces state-budget-drive challenges, but support from alumni and friends like you make a difference in the life of the UCLA Political Science Department.

I encourage you to consider a gift to the UCLA Political Science Department. Alumni and friends who are, or wish to become, Chancellor’s Associates may now direct their annual gifts to the UCLA Department of Political Science and retain all of the benefits that have traditionally been given to Chancellor’s Associates. For information, visit http://www.theuclafund.ucla.edu/gtg/recog/chancellorsassociates.aspx#ca

Alumni interested in making a gift to the UCLA Political Science Department by endowing a scholarship, supporting faculty research, making a planned gift or other gift, should contact Kira Baccari in the development office at 310-825-8930 or email her at kbaccari@support.ucla.edu

In addition, if you have news you would like to share with us or want to get involved with the department we would love to hear from you. You can email us with your suggestions or ideas at psalumni@polisci.ucla.edu.

Best Regards,

Ed Keller

Chair
UCLA Political Science Department

Read the Fall 2010 Alumni Newsletter Here