| F R O M T H E D E A N |
utumn is the season when our community is reinvigorated by the arrival of new students and we return to the work of making art and sowing the seeds of knowledge. In keeping with our expanding educational goals, this issue's cover story focuses on ' community partnerships and K-12 outreach programs. These critical aspects of our school's core mission — Art and the Public Good — rely upon the generosity of supporters and donors who recognize, as we do, that great public institutions have great public responsibilities.
This vision was validated in September at the opening of the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Center, an extraordinary symbol of the importance of the arts in our community and a confirmation of the impact that generous and gifted people — the Broads, architect Richard Meier, and artist Richard Serra — create when they come together on a public project. The first public work by Serra to be permanently installed in Southern California, entitled T.E.U.C.L.A., is on view on the Broad Art Center plaza. 
In order to forge interdisciplinary relationships among the arts, medicine and the sciences, we have founded two new research centers. The Art | Global Health Center, headed by associate professor David Gere (Department of World Arts and Cultures), is collaborating with , the UCLA International Institute and the UCLA AIDS Institute to explore the worldwide role of art and artists in healing. The UCLA Art | Sci Center, directed by professor Victoria Vesna (Department of Design | Media Arts), promotes research that demonstrates the unique benefits of collaborations between media arts and science.
In our ongoing effort to expand our academic mission, a new undergraduate major in the Department of Architecture and Urban Design will admit its first class next fall. The two-year program will offer a Bachelor of Arts degree in architectural studies. This year we are delighted to welcome several new members to the community. Professors Barbara Kruger and associate professor Hirsch Perlman have joined the faculty of our Department of Art. In addition, Herbert Lucas, a long-time friend of UCLA and the Fowler Museum, will serve on our Board of Visitors. Our revitalized sense of initiative is symbolized by our adoption of a new graphic identity for , featured for the first time in this issue of the magazine. Inspired by Serra's sculpture and its fascinating combination of substance and movement, our logo is intended to evoke new aspirations for the school. Today, is in high gear. I invite you to come to campus to see the new Serra sculpture and the reinstalled Murphy Sculpture Garden adjacent to the Broad Art Center. We will offer free public programming at the Center and outstanding presentations in the visual, performing and media arts in the coming year. For more information log on to www.arts.ucla.edu. As always, we look forward to hearing from you. |
Christopher Waterman
Dean
Christopher Waterman and Richard Serra at the press review for the
Eli and Edythe Broad Art Center, photo by Todd Cheney