University of California, Los Angeles

University of California, Los Angeles, public, coeducational institution in Los Angeles, California, and one of the largest campuses in the University of California System. The university dates from 1882 when the Los Angeles State Normal School, a public teachers’ college, was established. In 1919 the college became the first branch campus of the University of California. The main campus, in Berkeley, California, was founded in 1868 (see University of California, Berkeley). The new branch campus in Los Angeles, called the Southern Branch of the University of California, offered two-year programs in the sciences and humanities. In 1924 four-year bachelor’s degree programs were added, and in 1927 the school’s name was changed to the University of California at Los Angeles. The name was then shortened to University of California, Los Angeles, in 1958 and is commonly referred to as UCLA.

The University of California, Los Angeles, confers bachelor’s, master’s, professional, and doctoral degrees in the arts and sciences, humanities, business, architecture, engineering, law, and the health professions. The university is a leading research institution and consistently ranks in the top ten American universities in research funding. Among its many institutes are the James S. Coleman African Studies Center, which owns one of the largest collections of African objects in the United States; the Center for the Study of Evolution and the Origin of Life; the world-renowned UCLA Film and Television Archive; and the Harold Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies. The UCLA library ranks among the top five university research libraries in North America for the size of its collection. The university’s medical and dental schools are among the most prestigious in the United States.

UCLA’s campus covers 170 hectares (419 acres) in the Westwood area of Los Angeles. Graduates of the school include Ralph Bunche, former undersecretary general of the United Nations and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize (1950); Tom Bradley, mayor of Los Angeles; Academy Award-winning film director Francis Ford Coppola; and rock musician Jim Morrison.