ProposedConferenceCenterDemandNarrative_Morabito-7Mar2011

Page 1

1

March 7, 2011 Conference Center Demand Narrative: Prepared by: S. J. Morabito The Need for a Residential Conference Center at UCLA The primary purpose of the proposed center is to support the campus strategic plan in furtherance of the academic mission. The objectives of the center can be summarized as follows:  Facilitate UCLA’s move to become a ‘global research institution’  Enable opportunities for international, national and local collaboration for the academic enterprise  Support and advance UCLA’s partnerships with major institutions of higher education in Asia, Latin America and Europe as well as public and governmental entities  Assist UCLA Professional Schools in competing with elite peers  Facilitate UCLA’s strategic objective to “Reconnect with Los Angeles”  Provide a venue where faculty, students, staff, elected officials and community members from a broad range of demographic and socioeconomic groups can interact to discuss/debate contemporary societal issues  Serve as a welcoming place for faculty to present their work to potential private sector partners and/or research investors The Preferred Location for the Conference Center and Faculty Club The Faculty Center site is the proposed location for the project because it is the only site that meets the major project objectives of providing a modern conference facility on the core campus while providing a permanent solution to the problems encountered by the existing Faculty Center. The gift from the donors provides additional emphasis to this point. The donors are keenly focused on the role of the University in engaging with the Los Angeles region. The gift to the School of Public Affairs (SPA) and for the Conference Center is transformational because it gives SPA the resources to support academic programs related to this mission, and provides SPA and the rest of the campus, a cutting edge facility imbedded in the midst of the academic community to make that connection possible. Constructing the conference center far from the core academic campus could not meet these objectives. The facility would be inconvenient for faculty, and visitors to campus would not be as easily exposed to the campus environment and the academic core. In addition, the challenges faced by the current Faculty Center would remain unresolved.


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.