A New Travel Scholarship
The Pearl Blatt Letz Scholarship for Student Travel
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| Portrait of Pearl Blatt Letz by her brother-in-law Raphael Soyer |
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Thanks to a new endowed scholarship, students at UCLA will now have more opportunities to travel across the globe to pursue their studies. Architects Alice Fung and Michael Blatt, the husband and wife team behind Blatt + Fung Architects, established the Pearl Blatt Letz Scholarship for Student Travel in honor of Michael’s late aunt, Pearl Blatt Letz. Pearl Blatt Letz (1911–2010) was an artist and longtime employee at UCLA.
Born on a ranch in Huntley, Wyoming in 1911, Pearl moved several times with her family in her youth, traveling between Louisiana, Texas, and Colorado. She married Ephraim Letz, and together they settled in what is now Rancho Cucamonga. There they grew orange trees, bred chickens, and raised two children. Throughout her life, Pearl fostered a great fondness for the arts; she was a visual artist, musician, and poet. Her history with the University of California began through a staff position at UC Riverside, and she eventually transferred to UCLA where she worked as the lectures and intercampus events administrator in the Department of Fine Arts Production and Public Lectures (Royce Hall) during the 1970s and 80s. She always loved to travel, and after retiring she embarked on journeys around the world. She lived until the age of 99.
“Thanks to Alice Fund and Michael Blatt, the Pearl Blatt Letz Scholarship for Student Travel will enable our students to extend their creative work and research well beyond the context of Southern California, providing vital opportunities in our increasingly global cultural fields.”
– Andrea Fraser
The Pearl Blatt Letz Scholarship for Student Travel is supported by funds that Pearl’s younger sister Lucille Blatt left to establish a scholarship in Pearl’s honor before she passed away earlier this year. Beyond Pearl’s career at UCLA, the family has significant ties to the university. Alice earned her Masters of Architecture here in 1986, and Pearl’s brothers, Jonathan and Jerry, received graduate degrees from UCLA in ceramics and biochemistry respectively. In addition, Pearl’s sister-in-law, Roberta Blatt, was a faculty member of the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies from 1994 to 2011. Michael Blatt was the trustee of Lucille’s estate, and the choice of UCLA as a home for the scholarship was a natural one.
“As a public university, we strive to maintain the accessibility of our programs to students from all walks of life and scholarships are crucial to this effort. This is an incredible opportunity for our students, and it’s especially rewarding for us to see former students like Alice supporting students and giving back.”
– Heather Roberge
The scholarship truly expresses the depth of the family’s engagement in the arts at UCLA. Shared by the Herb Alpert School of Music and the School of the Arts and Architecture, the scholarship will support travel for musicians, visual artists, and architects, a fitting blend of Pearl’s passions and Alice and Michael’s engagement with the university. The first awards will be made this academic year, marking the new beginning and lasting legacy for Pearl’s passion for the arts at UCLA which will support generations of young artists to come.
Alice Fung and Michael Blatt
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