ucla ucla magazine july 2020 magazine july 2020

From a Distance The coronavirus left familiar landmarks like Wilson Plaza unusually empty, but Bruin resilience keeps us full of hope. Powerful images and words tell the story. c OV i D-19 SP D-19 ecial magazine. u C la .edu

UC77_Cover.indd 1 5/26/20 12:47 PM JULY 2020 COVID-19 SPECIAL

WE ARE HERE FOR YOU Now, more than ever, we want to support our students and community. We are committed to your continued education and our team is here for you.

UCLAEXTENSION.EDU 22 34

ON THE COVER For our cover and COVID-19 photo essay, Adam Amengual photographed scenes from a nearly empty campus, following UCLA’s transition to online instruction.

ON THE BACK COVER Photographer Jessica Pons captured Dr. Natasha Wheaton outside Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, holding a drawing from a grateful patient. 36

FEATURES

20 PANDEMIC DAYS A crisis thrust the UCLA community into new ways of thinking and acting. Despite challenges, Bruins have remained brilliant and resilient. DEPARTMENTS

36 HAND IN HAND ACROSS AFRICA 4 AT ISSUE Despite many challenges, UCLA’s spirit remains strong A new style of partnerships changes lives on the vast continent. 8 QUICK TAKES How to address anxieties over automation

44 ALL THINGS [NOT] BEING EQUAL 14 CHANGE AGENT Sadiqua Bynum ’16 on her Hollywood career As the coronavirus pandemic has exposed feelings of xenophobia and highlighted social 16 FORWARD THINKER Ananya Roy takes on societal challenges inequities, UCLA’s Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion is working to find solutions. 18 LIFE SIGNS Tips for working at home and staying connected

52 OBJECTS OF NECESSITY 58 HAPPENINGS Arts, entertainment and sports to enjoy virtually (CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT) ADAM AMENGUAL; JESSICA PONS; COURTESY OF THOMAS SMITH With generous donations, the community responds to UCLA during the COVID-19 crisis. 60 END POINT #LightUCLABlue pays tribute to essential workers PHOTOS

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86218-20SU-UCLA-Mag-Ad.indd 1 4/9/20 4:10 PM UC77_TOC_SHIP_REV.indd 1 6/3/20 11:21 AM For the cover and photo essay “A Quiet Place” (page 22), L.A.-based photographer ucla magazine july 2020 ADAM AMENGUAL went on a visual scavenger hunt, wandering around the UCLA volume 31 number 4 campus for 10 hours — and walking about 10 miles. “I feel very lucky to be given the opportunity to document the UCLA campus at such a unique time in history,” he says A PUbLICATION OF UCLA STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS of the photo shoot. Amengual, who enjoys surfing and meditation, has contributed to CHANCELLOR GQ, The Hollywood Reporter, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Gene Block

vICE CHANCELLOR, STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS Mary Osako ’96 During the pandemic, JOHN KEATLEY started to create portraits using FaceTime. He CHIEF MEDIA AND ExECUTIvE COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER used this method for “All Things [Not] Being Equal” (page 44). “When the quarantine Steve Ritea happened, someone said to me, ‘Get ready to not create,’ which didn’t sit well with me,” Keatley says. “With all the videoconference calls, I wondered if there was a path DIRECTOR, CREATIvE SERvICES Powell Michael forward there. I’m surprised by how enjoyable shooting through FaceTime has been, and what I thought were constraints have ended up flourishing into creative freedom.” EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Peg Moline

MANAGING EDITOR As a development marketing copywriter for UCLA, ARIEL OKAMOTO explores John Harlow how the generosity of alumni and friends enables the breadth and depth of the CHIEF COPY EDITOR university’s education, research, and local and global outreach. When writing about Cheryl Cheng ’02 the community’s and UCLA’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic in “Objects of DESIGN DIRECTOR Necessity” (page 52), she observed that collaborative spirit in action. In her free time, Suzannah Mathur Okamoto enjoys volunteering with her church and local human service agencies. ADvERTISING PRODUCTION MANAGER Don Leddy Don Leddy [email protected] As the coronavirus pandemic began to sweep the country, so did feelings of xenopho- ASSOCIATE EDITOR EDITORIAL bia. In response, writer PATTY PARK ’91 quickly pivoted her story about Vice Chan- Delan Bruce 10889 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1400 cellor Jerry Kang’s first five years leading the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Los Angeles, CA 90024 PRODUCTION DESIGNER (310) 794-0281 (“All Things [Not] Being Equal,” p. 44) to reflect the shifting reality. “One of the things Heather Cisneros [email protected] that stayed with me during my conversations with Jerry was the need to give each GRAPHIC DESIGNER ADDRESS UPDATES other grace,” Park says. “And trust that we’re all trying our best to figure things out.” Joseph Montoya (800) 825-2586 CONTRIbUTING PHOTO DIRECTOR alumni.ucla.edu/update Rachael Lieberman (for UCLA alumni) Raised in France and Italy, L.A.-based photographer ANAÏS WADE shot the COPY EDITOR SUbSCRIPTION INqUIRIES photographs for this issue’s “Objects of Necessity” (page 52), which she describes Mary Nadler [email protected] as “a documentation of how objects can be a vehicle for memory, especially when experiencing historical times such as the COVID-19 pandemic.” A collection of her FACT-CHECKER CONSUMER/MARKETING Tajinder Rehal MANAGER essays and poems were published in the book The Blue of Summer. Wade’s clients Melony Varnado include Kinfolk magazine, Levi’s, The New York Times and The North Face. EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Louise Kim

JESSICA WOLF has worked in communications and media relations at UCLA for a decade. When writing “A World Changed, a World the Same” (page 30), she felt “proud of the attention and intention that has always and will always emanate from this institution to mitigate inequity and be a vehicle of progress.” Before joining UCLA, Wolf was an entertainment business reporter, covering consumer electronics, home entertainment software and the digital revolution of the 2000s.

UCLA Magazine (ISSN 1075 — 2749) is published quarterly by the University of California, Los Angeles, 10889 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1400, Los Angeles, CA 90024-6517. Periodicals postage paid at Los Angeles and at additional mailing offices. Subscriptions: for Life, Blue and Gold members of the UCLA Alumni Association, $4 of membership fee for an annual subscription. For donors to the university, $4 of each unrestricted $100 contributed annually for an annual subscription. For others, $8 per year in the United States, $26 foreign. Send subscription inquiries and address changes to: Business Manager, UCLA Magazine, 10889 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1400, Los Angeles, CA 90024-6517. © 2020 by The Regents of the University of California. Persons wishing to reprint any portion of UCLA Magazine’s contents are required to write in advance for permission. UCLA Magazine accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or artwork. Materials will not be returned unless accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Address inquiries to: Editor, UCLA Magazine, 10889 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1400, Los Angeles, CA 90024-6517; email: [email protected]; fax: (310) 794-6883.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: UCLA Biographic Data Department, 10889 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1000, Los Angeles, CA 90024-4201.

Printed on a recycled paper stock using vegetable-based inks. Please recycle.

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UC77_Contributors.indd 2 5/26/20 4:37 PM “We can shape the recovery in ways that will help make our society more prepared, resilient, compassionate and just.” ISSUE

AT Let’s get streaming. system has been leading efforts to treat patients and research treatments, and has been advising local, state and national health authorities on an effective pandemic response. Our faculty have been principled voices analyzing the racially and economically disparate impact of COVID-19 and how the pandemic is both revealing and exacerbating long-standing inequality. Multiple campus departments have produced masks and other personal protective equipment. And in April, we announced our partnership with Beyoncé’s BeyGOOD initiative to distribute online mental health resources and cutting-edge cognitive behavioral approaches to help MOTIVATION MINDFULNESS MEMORY + AGING people manage the stress caused by this pandemic. WITH SEAN D. YOUNG, PhD WITH DIANA WINSTON WITH ALAN D. CASTEL, PhD Even as the UCLA campus may be relatively quiet, the UCLA spirit is as strong and vital as ever. As we focus on the needs of today, we are also trying to contemplate the needs of tomorrow. This pandemic will have a long-lasting physical, economic and Strong UCLA Spirit emotional impact on our society and will reshape many of our assumptions and institutions. During the pandemic and the trauma of racist killings, How our nation delivers health care, sustains social relationships, builds communal organizations and structures its economy will all Bruins have shown compassion, courage and resilience. require imagination and vision, as we move forward together and adapt to the unknown. But adapt we will. Just as we have in the past. By UCLA Chancellor Gene Block While we can’t know the future, I do think we can learn from the past. One of the lessons of history is that even while painful, trauma, at ADAPTABILITY HAPPINESS WELLNESS times, can lead to transformation. IT’S BEEN A HARD TIME for our nation and our campus. In the The Great Depression of the 20th century was devastating for WITH IRIS FIRSTENBERG, PhD WITH RAKESH SARIN, MBA, PhD WITH NINA SHAPIRO, MD midst of a pandemic that had already upended our lives, the deaths American families and businesses, but the economic innovations we of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery reminded us adopted in response gave us the modern Social Security system and of unhealed racial wounds and how much we all have to do to truly important, though imperfect, protections for workers’ rights. achieve justice for all. In addition to our existing equity efforts, some In the depths of the Cold War, the Soviet Union’s Sputnik 1 satellite of which you can read about in this issue, rest assured that we will do struck fear into the hearts of millions of Americans as it circled even more to make sure our community treats all with dignity. overhead. But the space race — and the moon mission it invigorated — Subscribe now to unlock your all-access pass to our complete video library When I think about how Bruins have responded to COVID-19, I am created not only beneficial technologies, but also knowledge and even humbled by the courage and resilience of our community. mathematics that were entirely new to human history. of exclusive faculty interviews—packed with actionable insights to help Our students have adjusted to new ways of learning and forming I mention these not to give the anodyne hope of shallow silver supercharge your life. Each season, we explore a new area of research coming community. Professors have pivoted and developed innovative ways linings. We cannot hide from the real pain of COVID-19 or our ongoing of restructuring classes. Our staff kept the public informed, made sure racial divisions. At the same time, we must believe that if we pay from the nation’s #1 ranked public university. lower-income students have the equipment needed to work at home close attention to the lessons we are learning through these hard and preserved essential campus operations. Departments across UCLA experiences, if we have the humility to learn from our errors and the have offered free online programs to the general public. Our alumni and confidence that we can get better, then we can shape our future in friends have donated both monetary assistance and moral support. ways that will help make our society more prepared, more resilient, Our work has gone beyond meeting the need to reinvent the UCLA more compassionate and more just. community. We have also heeded the call to provide leadership and This is not an inevitable outcome, of course. It will depend on us support to the broader community. making wise choices, informed by the best information and our most In so many ways, UCLA is delivering the deep expertise, broad cherished values. That is the challenge that lies ahead. And it is the TED CATANZARO ’84

perspectives and wise counsel that are so vital right now. Our health challenge to which UCLA is committed. PHOTO Scan this code to start now or visit westward.ucla.edu

4 ucla magazine july 2020

UC77_AtIssue_SHIP_REV.indd 4 6/3/20 11:04 AM Share information. Share resources. Share comfort. Together we are. Share kindness. Bruin strong. Share gratitude. Share strength.

#BruinStrong

SCO010_UCLA_Mag_July2020_MECH.indd 1 5/4/20 1:32 PM QUICKTAKES notable quotable “As a public institution, it’s our responsibility to make sure “Auditing systems [where humans monitor that every child — from all machine performance] is an area that is only going to grow and grow,” he says. “This means people who communities, backgrounds, can be the interface between the engineering world and the real world that we live in.” geographies, abilities — For example, truck drivers could train self­driving transport vehicles. Journalists could oversee news deserves an opportunity algorithms on Facebook. This approach also has the potential to make society more equitable, whereas to be prepared for, go to unsupervised tech threatens the opposite. and graduate from college. Artificial intelligence is gaining a foothold in areas that can have a substantial and potentially grave And that means we have to influence on people’s lives, such as determining who gets employment, housing or loans. Some machines be in the community.” map out where police patrol. Workers could help — Youlonda Copeland-Morgan, vice provost of ensure that algorithms — which often are shown to Enrollment Management at UCLA Student Affairs inherit human bias — will work fairly. Srinivasan also suggests protecting those in flexible but vulnerable internet­enabled jobs: Why not arrange things so that the workers become co­owners of the company itself? “This model could be [applied to] everything from eBay to Uber [so that] workers have greater equity in the business,” he says. “It’s all about who gets access to the pie that’s created through these technological transformations.” Meanwhile, demographics alone suggest there is room for significant growth in caregiving, which isn’t susceptible to automation. As baby boomers, the second­largest living generation, proceed into their elder years, the demand for caretakers Anxieties Over AutOmAtiOn is expected to increase. As for the possible effects of the coronavirus, Srinivasan asserts in an op­ed that “employment TECHNOLOGICAL MARVELS OFTEN bring techno­ work and automation. These concepts go with the flow guarantees and basic income are critical for the UCLA’s Ramesh logical anxieties, especially when new advances of technological progress and emerging trends, while sustainability of not just workers, but the numerous Srinivasan has threaten to affect the labor market. also cultivating a fairer society. businesses that need the assistance of the state Today, people worry about robotics and artificial “Changes in technology move far more rapidly than and federal government to keep afloat and, most ideas for the intelligence, as automation has claimed hundreds social and political planning,” says Srinivasan, who importantly, to provide more, not less, jobs on the future of work — of thousands of jobs in the United States in the past recently published Beyond the Valley: How Innovators other side of this pandemic.” and workers. 20 years. And experts predict that such technologies Around the World Are Overcoming Inequality and Creating For now, it’s important to remember that will massively decrease blue­ and white­collar the Technologies of Tomorrow. “It’s important that we technology is not a negative in and of itself. “It’s employment in the coming decades. are ahead of the curve with solutions to ensure that not about ‘automation good’ or ‘automation bad,’” However, Ramesh Srinivasan, a professor of everybody in our society is protected.” Srinivasan says. “We need to get automation right.”

information studies at the UCLA Graduate School Thinking creatively about the jobs of the future AUTOMATION: AUTOMATION: JOSH JOSH COCHRAN. COCHRAN. QUOTE: QUOTE: GINA GINA TRIPLETT. TRIPLETT. — Wayne Lewis of Education & Information Studies, sees great is one starting point. From Srinivasan’s point of view, opportunity. He’s advocating for a digital bill of rights certain types of automation will require — or at least Continue the conversation with Ramesh Srinivasan on Twitter @rameshmedia.

— policies that include forward­thinking ideas about should have — human supervision. ILLUSTRATIONS ILLUSTRATIONS

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on the move Beat the Work-From-home Blues Start a routine that boosts your mood and your health.

WORKING FROM HOME HAS ITS UPSIDES, create a schedule: Use a timer. Use an alarm, Terry also recommends scheduling a but it’s not all conference calls in pajamas. so that you don’t find yourself sitting on strenuous workout at least three times a Without the daily physical and social the couch working for hours,” says Elisa week. Break a sweat by doing exercises TOMATO GAZPACHO activity found in the workplace, it’s Terry ’94, associate director of fitness and in repetitions of 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50. easy for the body and mind to become wellness at UCLA Recreation. For example, 10 mountain climbers, 10 inactive, even unhealthy. The next step is to choose your activities. squats and 10 jumping jacks. Then, do 20 But staying on the move at home is “Work for 25 minutes, and then move for of each, and so on. easier than you might think. With tips and 5 minutes,” Terry recommends. “Then you One final tip: Mix in mindfulness medita- SERVINGS: 4 to 5 resources from health-minded Bruins, you just rinse and repeat. The movement can be tion. It’s transformational on its own and a can start a new favorite habit today. anything, from taking a little walk to doing great way to cool down after exercise. INGREDIENTS “The most important thing is that you little exercises to washing your hands.” — Zane Cassidy 4½ cups ripe tomatoes (11 Roma tomatoes or 6 large beefsteak or heirloom tomatoes), chopped 1 cups English cucumbers, peeled, seeded, chopped 5 tablespoons red onion, chopped Forget the Workout, here’s the Work-In ucla eats 6 tablespoons red bell peppers, seeded, chopped The Bruin Health Improvement Program shares three exercises that you can try in your living room. ∑ cup extra-virgin olive oil 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar sOuP tAlk MOUNTAIN CLIMBERS 1 tablespoon kosher salt A UCLA recipe proves a cold soup can be warming in tough times. A rock-solid plank is the foundation of the mountain climber. “INSIDE” TIPS FOR STAYING FIT ½ tablespoon sugar The movement of the legs is an attempt to disrupt the plank, but don’t allow it! To set up, place your hands or wrists right The Bruin Health Improvement BY THE END OF APRIL, 85% of Americans were living under some form of ½ teaspoon cumin under your shoulders. Extend your legs into the top of a plank Program’s Instagram (@bhip_ucla) stay­at­home orders due to the coronavirus pandemic. Many have been taking 2½ ounces fresh basil or push-up. Move one leg toward your chest and then back to offers a variety of workout videos the opportunity to cook family meals at home with two newfound luxuries — the plank position, and then repeat with the other leg. This that you can do at home. time and togetherness — that normal circumstances don’t often allow. can be done slowly or quickly. Keep your shoulders over your wrists. Do not allow your hips, torso or shoulders to rotate. According to Google Trends, the most sought­after recipe worldwide since GARNISH (OPTIONAL) Part of UCLA Recreation’s FitWell March 1 has been for banana bread. Six of the top 10 recipe searches were 5 ounces crabmeat, or to liking Program, UCLA MoveMail emails for baked goods. Google searches for “bread” reached an all­time high in late 5 ounces diced avocado, or to liking videos that will get you moving. March, and Nielsen data revealed that sales of baking yeast were up 457% SQUATS To subscribe, visit: fitwell.recreation. from last year for the week ending March 28, as Americans rushed to stock up Stand with your feet hip or shoulder width apart. Turn ucla.edu/programs/fitness- for home baking. Grocery stores have been struggling to keep items like baking DIRECTIONS your toes out slightly — about 10 degrees. To descend, resources#MoveMail. powder and flour in stock as consumption has skyrocketed. Put the tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion bend your hips and knees as if you were sitting into a chair. But as temperatures rise during the summer, home cooks following safer­at­ and bell peppers in a blender and puree Keep your thighs and feet in line with one another, and The UCLA Mindful app offers home guidelines might look for other recipes — delicious, budget­friendly and until liquid. don’t let your knees bend past your ankles. Maintain a good guided meditations, led by the simple ones using ingredients you can easily find in your pantry and fridge, or neutral posture and keep your torso tall. To ascend, drive Add olive oil and red wine vinegar to the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research easily procure at the grocery store. Rather than standing in front of a hot stove through your feet to straighten your legs and stand tall. tomato mixture and season with salt, Squeeze your glutes at the top. Center’s Diana Winston. For more or oven, quarantine bakers might find comfort in preparing cooler dishes. sugar and cumin. information, visit: uclahealth.org/ Enter UCLA Senior Executive Chef Joseph Martin and his tomato gazpacho marc/mindful-meditations. recipe. In a spring quarter defined by remote learning, UCLA Dining Services Pour the tomato mixture into a sealable served 2,400 meals a day on campus, in contrast to the 32,000 it dishes container, add the fresh basil, cover and refrigerate for 12 hours. JUMPING JACKS The Hammer Museum at UCLA’s out daily during normal times. While Martin and his colleagues are quickly Start in an athletic standing position, keeping your hips and Mindful Awareness Meditation adapting and adjusting to the new conditions, he’s hoping Bruins who aren’t Then use the blender to puree the tomato knees soft. From a neutral position, lightly jump your feet sessions are held every Thursday on the Hill can enjoy this recipe at home. mixture with the basil, and pour it through apart (approximately 12 to 18 inches) and simultaneously from 12:30 to 1 p.m. via Zoom. Remember: The crabmeat or avocado garnish is optional, so feel free to add a fine-mesh strainer. move your arms from your sides to up over your head. Lightly For more information, visit: others — like chopped bell peppers — to suit your tastes. jump your feet back together, and move your arms back to your Drizzle in additional olive oil, and then hammer.ucla.edu/programs- And don’t worry if you’re preparing this dish for just one or two. While the sides. Be sure that your knees don’t cave in as you jump out. repeat the puree. Keep your knees in line with your feet and hips. Land softly. events/2014/05/mindful- recipe serves four to five, this gazpacho tends to get better and better as it ON ON THE THE MOVE: MOVE: COURTESY COURTESY OF OF GAZPACHO: GAZPACHO: BHIP. BHIP. ISTOCKPHOTO. ISTOCKPHOTO. Low-impact version: Tap your right foot out to the side and awareness-meditation. sits in the fridge. It should keep for three days, so feel free to save yourself a Garnish with crabmeat or avocado — or both. raise your right arm overhead. Repeat on the other side. PHOTOSPHOTOS bowl or two for later. — Delan Bruce Serve cold.

10 ucla magazIne JULY 2020

UC77_Quicktakes_SHIP_REV 2.indd 10 6/4/20 2:28 PM UC77_Quicktakes_SHIP_REV.indd 11 6/3/20 1:22 PM STAY SHARP Look AfTeR YouRSeLf, Finding YOur WAY UCLA research suggests work can help preserve memory. MenTALLY

IF YOU NEED HELP With help from Beyoncé and the BeyGOOD NEARLY TWO-THIRDS OF THE 5.8 MILLION PEOPLE living initiative, UCLA tools are online. If you are having thoughts of hurting yourself or someone with Alzheimer’s disease in the United States are women. The else, please immediately call 911 or the National Suicide reason seemed obvious: Women outlive men in this country by an Prevention Lifeline at (800) 273-8255. average of five years, and advancing age is the biggest risk factor for Alzheimer’s and other dementias. But research by Elizabeth AFTER COVID-19 PEAKS, published a self-care toolkit Rose Mayeda, an epidemiologist in the UCLA Fielding School of we may need a smart task to help people struggling with CONNECT WITH A HELPING HAND Public Health, suggests other factors also might be involved. force to plot new rules for the irritability, anxiety, sadness Mayeda, with colleagues from UC San Francisco and Boston getting to know each other and fear associated with the To speak with someone about the STAND Together College, found that women who participated in paid work during again, believes Michelle G. COVID-19 crisis, available on During COVID­19 Care Package, call (888) UC-STAND early adulthood and middle age experienced a slower rate of Craske, UCLA professor of the STAND Together During (827-8263). Volunteers will return your call within memory decline later in life than women who didn’t. Memory loss psychology and psychiatry COVID-19 website. This new one business day. is among the first signs of dementia. and biobehavioral sciences. initiative is in partnership drives anxiety. We don’t know Plus, there might be Mayeda’s group analyzed data from the Health and There will be questions with Beyoncé’s BeyGOOD, what is going to happen — to feelings of guilt among those Retirement Study, in which more than 6,000 women born about daily rituals that have the philanthropic arm of our lives, families or jobs.” who fail to become a master IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS baker or learn a new language between 1935 and 1956 reported their work history and marital eased social pressures for Parkwood Entertainment. She adds, “There are a UCLA Student Affairs has launched the Student Support during the pandemic. and parental status between the ages of 16 and 50. When the millennia. Handshakes, for Craske has been refining lot of health care workers Line, which helps Bruins navigate through all the COVID­19 On the other hand, says women were 50 or older, they took memory-performance tests example, date back to ancient the DGC online therapy tools, with post­traumatic stress information and assists them in making decisions about Craske, there could be new every two years. The group found that among married mothers, Babylonians. Will elbow bumps making them more specific. disorder. [For] some, it may how best to manage the crisis. For information, call habits to hold on to, such as the average memory performance for those between ages 60 replace them? What other Those developments have not manifest for months. (310) 825-3894, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., talking to friends on Zoom and and 70 who had never engaged in paid employment declined at a social norms could change? helped shape the pandemic- “It’s a perfect storm of or email [email protected]. 61% faster rate than those who had. After months of living specific STAND Together general anxiety and shame, and appreciating common spaces. The Tasmanian­born The good news is that the study suggests women don’t have through the stress of the website, where new materials levels of depression are going to UCLA Health’s website provides the latest COVID­19 psychologist points out that to work the entire period from ages 16 to 50 to reap the rewards: pandemic, people might be and topics offering hope and increase down the road. Depres­ information — and features a chatbot to help answer global mental health doesn’t Those in the study who took time away from work — when their grappling with widespread advice are posted weekly. On sion is that state of resignation, coronavirus questions: uclahealth.org/coronavirus children were young, for example — showed similar trajectories to trauma, warns Craske, director the website, Craske calmly failure, that so often follows follow obvious patterns. During World War II, suicide rates those who didn’t. The same might apply to other interruptions in of the Anxiety and Depression shares the “five C’s” that can anxiety. That sense of ‘I’ve lost UCLA’s COVID-19 information page compiles the most decreased, but they rose again paid work — like unemployment during the coronavirus pandemic. Research Center at UCLA and help ease COVID-19 anxiety: opportunities I’ll never get back.’” up­to­date information and news on campus: when peace eroded the “We are Mayeda says other research suggests co-director of UCLA’s Depres- • Stay connected with fam- Anecdotally, Craske has seen newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/coronavirus-information- all in it together” spirit. that high levels of mental stimulation sion Grand Challenge (DGC). ily, friends and colleagues. several disturbing trends, such as for-the-ucla-campus-community and social engagement help keep the The DGC seeks to cut the • Focus on what you can a rise in drinking at home, which Lifting restrictions will create mind sharp. She believes her findings global burden of depression control, like your health can be less self­regulated than its own anxieties — when will underscore the potential value of by understanding, preventing and wellness. in public with friends. For some, it be safe to mingle, date, travel FOR PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH policies that support women who and treating the world’s great- • Stay calm. Meditate or try drinking could lead to other or eat out? How will we deal choose employment: equal pay for est health problem. Aiming deep breathing exercises. problems. For instance, alcohol with this new world? Part of UCLA Recreation’s FitWell Program, MoveMail equal work, paid family leave to revolutionize treatment, it • Cut down on the news. plays a part in the increase in As Craske says, self­ emails videos of exercises that you can do at home: and affordable child care. created STAND (Screening • Care for yourself and domestic abuse, which has risen monitoring mental health is fitwell.recreation.ucla.edu/programs/fitness- — Dan Gordon ’85 & Treatment for Anxiety and others. Show kindness. while other crimes in America crucial. The UCLA Mental resources#MoveMail Depression), a scalable system have fallen dramatically. Health Tracker, part of the that uses digital technology to Long-term impact Relationships are also being original STAND program, asks The UCLA Mindful app offers guided mindfulness screen and create personalized, According to BeyGOOD, tested. One outcome of safer­at­ users a few questions each week meditations that can help relieve stress and anxiety: evidence-based treatment. the pandemic has dispro- home orders could be a baby and generates useful feedback. uclahealth.org/marc/mindful-meditations It’s a critical time to self- portionately affected the boom. Conversely, it could also “Everybody should be checking check your mental health, economically disadvantaged lead to the end of relationships. in on their mental health in the The Semel Healthy Campus Initiative Center’s 6 Feet Apart Craske says. Or, to paraphrase and communities of color. In March, when restrictions were same way they keep an eye on podcast focuses on emotional and physical well­being: the lyrics sung by Kenny Rog- And its threat to mental eased in Xian, China, there was a their physical well­being, like healthy.ucla.edu/livewellpodcast-6-feet-apart ers, “drop in to see what condi- health is significant. “This record surge in divorces. checking your blood pressure,” tion [your] condition is in.” thing we are in is unpredict- In addition, as temporary Craske says. “And it will be criti­ Find cooking tutorials, healthy recipes, culinary tips able and has left us feeling furloughs turn into permanent cal over the next few months.” and more on the UCLA Teaching Kitchen website: Five crucial tools [like we are] without control,” job loss, economists fear that The COVID­19 Care Package fitwell.recreation.ucla.edu/teachingkitchen WORK: WORK: ISTOCKPHOTO. ISTOCKPHOTO. MENTAL MENTAL HEALTH: HEALTH: ISTOCKPHOTO ISTOCKPHOTO Using STAND principles, Craske says. “We don’t know the true toll on employment may is available on ucla.edu/

Craske and the DGC have when it’s going to end, which PHOTOSPHOTOS not be known for months. stand­together. — John Harlow

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UC77_Quicktakes_SHIP_REV 2.indd 12 6/4/20 2:29 PM UC77_Quicktakes_SHIP_REV.indd 13 6/3/20 1:22 PM “UCLA automatically felt welcoming — just seeing the campus and meeting AGENT the coaches and the girls on the team.” CHANGE gets pushed off a ledge, falls down a spiral this superhero show that reaches out to a lot jumping on the couch and stuff. Our neighbor staircase and lands on this huge spiked thing of different audiences. Some of the scenes across the street was a gymnastics coach that’s sticking up from a broken table. They are kind of weird, but I feel like the way at this recreation center, so I went there, put me on a wire that kept me from falling all [Watchmen creator] Damon Lindelof explains progressed really fast and got into a club gym the way down to my back. You have to trust [racism] on this platform encourages people that was focused just on gymnastics. the other crew members, because when to be more open to understanding that not you’re doing stunts, there’s such a fine line everything is what it seems. You had energy to burn! What was it about between safety and danger. gymnastics that resonated with you? What kind of learning curve did you I’m a very competitive person, and In Black Panther, you play a woman experience, going from gymnastic gymnastics allowed me to do that in a warrior. What was it like working on routines to death-defying stunts? healthy way. If some girl did a routine a 2018’s top-grossing movie? In terms of being agile and understanding certain way, I’d be like, “I’m going to do it Ryan Coogler is one of the most chill how my body works in relation to the space better.” And also, I just like performing. My directors I’ve ever worked with. He’s very that I have, gymnastics helped a lot. But favorite event was always floor, because I particular about what he wants, but his making the transition was challenging, felt like I could really express myself that sets are very relaxed. I played one of Black because, in gymnastics, everything’s forward way and be as powerful as I wanted to be. Panther’s bodyguards, called the Dora Milaje. movement, backward movement, linear For the first two weeks in Atlanta, we trained, movement. Whereas, when you do something Several colleges offered you a full athletic learned the fight choreography and got like [the sport] parkour — which is basically scholarship, but you and your family paid comfortable with the spears on our bo staffs. a mixture of flipping and kicking — a lot of for your first two years at UCLA before you Then, just before filming started, we had to times you’re taking off in a diagonal direction received a scholarship. Why? shave our heads bald. or landing in a twisty movement. In order to My mom and I took a junior year road trip to do stunts, I had to “unpuzzle” my body. visit those other schools, and I’d notice there It was full immersion into Black Panther’s was no diversity. It felt weird. I didn’t feel at world of Wakanda. As a teen gymnast, you have said home. But UCLA automatically felt welcoming Breaking Barriers Exactly. you were often the only Black girl in — just seeing the campus and meeting the competition. Similarly, the entertain- coaches and the girls on the team. In HBO’s Watchmen, you stunt-doubled for ment industry employs relatively few GYMNAST-TURNED-STUNT-PERFORMER Sadiqua Bynum ’16 got off on the wrong foot at UCLA — she Regina King in the role of superhero Sister people of color. How do you deal with A quote from Gandhi is tattooed on your arrived on campus nursing a torn Achilles tendon. But soon she got past the injury. By her senior year, Night. How was she to work with? this lack of diversity? arm. What does that quote mean to you? All-American gymnast Bynum, a three-time All-American, ranked eighth nationally in the floor exercise category, wowing judges Regina is very down to earth and funny. It has been kind of an up and down. With It says, “Strength does not come from Sadiqua Bynum ’16 with straight-backed double backflips. Most of the time, when you work with other stunts, I think it starts with [how] the scripts physical capacity. It comes from an may have fallen into Mentored after graduation by stuntwoman Natalie Padilla ’08 (Wonder Woman), Bynum has regularly actresses, they want to do their own stunts [are written], so that the Black characters — indomitable will.” I got the tattoo my nailed the landing, working on dozens of projects, including Black Panther and HBO superhero series — which can get a little annoying, because especially women — aren’t just getting hit freshman year, because I’d torn my left Hollywood’s stunt Watchmen. She also starred in Cadillac’s “No Barriers” commercial, playing a fierce lady in red who crashes they’ll overdo their movements or won’t do once, and then falling or running through a Achilles [tendon] and came to UCLA with an world, but she landed through a window and chases down a luxury car. “When you’re doing action, you really have to keep your them the way they’re supposed to be done. field and hiding behind a building or whatever. injury. At the time, gymnastics defined who on her feet and hit the eyes open,” Bynum says from her home in Atlanta. Regina was very particular about her moves, We’re able to do so much more, but there I was, and since I wasn’t able to compete, it ground running. but she also trusted my skills and the fact haven’t been that many Black stuntwomen was a really low time. But then I read that You majored in sociology at UCLA. Did you envision a career in stunt work? that I was there to support her. in this industry who have been able to quote and got inspired by the idea that you perform at that level, just because there can push yourself through any situation if By Hugh Hart I thought I might get into social work or personal training, but when I graduated, I started coaching gym- nastics at a kids program run by my UCLA coach Randy Lane. He suggested I look into stunt work, and I Sister Night is a rarity on TV — a Black haven’t been the opportunities. you keep your mind focused on your goal. was like, “What the heck is stunt work?” I had no idea. female action hero. Indomitable will — nobody can take that Seeing a Black woman in the lead with a lot of You started gymnastics at a very young away from you. It was an important moment Coach Lane put you in touch with Natalie Padilla, who helped you break into the business of action to do was awesome, but we do have a age — when you were just 2 years old. for me when I realized that even though I’m stunt work. What was your first big job? DEANNA DEANNA HONG HONG ’14 ’14 ways to go. I think there’s been this missing My parents had trouble keeping me still, not doing gymnastics on this team right now,

I doubled for Angela Bassett in the American Horror Story TV show. It was a cool scene: Angela’s character PHOTOPHOTO link in movies and TV, so I loved being part of because I was always running around and I still feel like I’m meant to be here.

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UC77_ChangeAgent_SHIP_REV.indd 14 6/3/20 1:59 PM UC77_ChangeAgent_SHIP_REV.indd 15 6/3/20 1:59 PM UC77_Forward Thinker.indd16 SLUGTK SECONDWD 16 FORWARD THINKER ucla magazine ucla Ananya Roy, Ananya director By Cheryl Cheng ’02 Cheng Cheryl By organizations and and organizations and Inequality on Institute of the challenges. Democracy, works works Democracy, social movements movements social community with to address societal societal address to

july 2020 Progressive Problem Solver Ananya Roy — a professor WAYS TALK SANE Roy PEOPLE —aprofessor IN POLICY,” Ananya TO WAS HEAR NICE ABOUT “IT We’re focused on four: housing justice, predatory financialization, policing and incarceration, and and incarceration, and policing financialization, predatory justice, housing four: on We’re focused we build and challenges, these addressing to in play arole has research academic We that believe One of the key things we’ve done is to think about some of the most pressing social challenges at the the at challenges social pressing most the of some about to is think we’ve done key the of things One What are the institute’s key areas of focus? of areas key institute’s the are What organizations? other among unique Democracy and Inequality on Institute the makes What on how research and critical thought can solve problems in L.A. and around the world. the around and L.A. in problems solve can thought critical and research how on a about —says Affairs Public of School Luskin UCLA the at welfare social and planning urban of about the policy frameworks that can actually enact housing justice. We also believe that housing housing that We believe also justice. housing enact actually can that frameworks policy the about in work our we do that is institute an as different us makes what Ithink them. address can that action sanctuary spaces. Cities like L.A. have seen an incredible increase in housing precarity. Our work is is work Our precarity. housing in increase incredible an have seen like L.A. Cities spaces. sanctuary movements. and organizations communities, with partnerships strong struggle. of lines front the on are that movements social and organizations community with solidarity moment. That means that we not only analyze these problems, but we like to think about research and and research about we like to think but problems, these analyze only we not that means That moment. focuses work Her change. societal to real lead can policy public progressive that believes Roy strongly UCLA, at Democracy and Inequality on Institute the of director the As debate. presidential Democratic 5/27/20 2:13 PM

PHOTO ROBERTO GUDIÑO M.F.A. ’12 UC77_Forward Thinker.indd17 The whole model of affordable housing in California California in housing affordable of model whole The an there’s that showing is crisis coronavirus The The issue of housing justice is directly related to to related directly is justice housing of issue The cost of living and stagnant wages. How can the city city the can How wages. stagnant and living of cost where the families are able to own their homes, but the the but homes, to their own able are families the where of a bulwark against gentrification and displacement. and gentrification against abulwark of demonstrates that it’s important to prevent families families to prevent important it’s that demonstrates housing this solve way we can the not is That down. crisis? this solve expand tenant protections. tenant expand can matters. really housing public where is this And crisis. trickles all it that hope you And housing. affordable of a we do so exploited, and excluded policed, are color of criminalize the homeless. Some reports show that that show reports Some homeless. the criminalize very slow and meager. And the numbers keep growing. growing. keep numbers the And meager. and slow very attorneys, looking at municipal ordinances that that ordinances municipal at looking attorneys, now, because the homeless are so vulnerable to to vulnerable so are homeless the now, because going to start thinking about how hotels and motels can can motels and hotels how about thinking to start going It’s much more accessible. And it also means that it’s sort sort it’s that means also it And accessible. more much from becoming homeless. We think about how we how We about think homeless. becoming from place to keep people in their homes. Our research research Our homes. their in people to keep place units afew build you then and market-rate housing, L.A. communities which in ways the with up tied is precarity L.A.’s housing crisis is attributed to several factors: factors: several to attributed is crisis housing L.A.’s homelessness. of out get to them for difficult more unacceptable. is This campaign. rights country other any about numbers those we had If man. woman unhoused an of expectancy life average The L.A. unhoused population. When [announcing the safer-at- the [announcing When population. unhoused to the services to provide need immediate and urgent the in increase to continues which homelessness, the lack of affordable housing, the ever-increasing ever-increasing the housing, affordable of lack the on year last million $30 about spent L.A. of city the of streets the on day every dying are people unhoused is broken. Basically, the model is: You is: of alot build model the Basically, broken. is in the world, we would be launching some major human human major some launching be we would world, the in unhoused an for years 51 and years, 48 is today L.A. in housing. Community land trusts are one example, example, one are trusts land Community housing. be used to shelter the unhoused. But all of that has been been has that of all But unhoused. the to shelter used be he’s said Gov. Newsom Gavin order] California, in home belongings of the homeless. We’reeven it making homeless. the of belongings the destroying about are which sweeps, homeless land is taken off the market. It makes home ownership ownership home makes It market. the off taken is land the so by anonprofit, perpetuity in owned is itself land lot of work on mass incarceration and policing. policing. and incarceration mass on work of lot A lot of the work we do is with public interest interest public with is we do work the of A lot We also need to think about other models of of models other about to think We need also We have a crisis of human life at the moment. Three Three moment. the at life We human of have acrisis

It also really matters to have the protections in protections to have the matters really also It

totally inhumane. inhumane. totally

reduce evictions, expand rent stabilization and and stabilization rent expand evictions, reduce

spread of coronavirus. of spread County. And this is such a critical area right right area acritical such is this And County. That moratorium on eviction is crucial, but the ability of of ability the but crucial, is eviction on moratorium That All of the issues you focus on have tremendous tremendous have on focus you issues the of All Gov. Newsom has put a moratorium on evictions evictions on amoratorium put has Gov. Newsom optimistic for a more just and democratic future? democratic and just amore for optimistic and hopeful remain you do How challenges. coronavirus pandemic. But is that enough? that is But pandemic. coronavirus work for years. It shows how creative and thoughtful thoughtful and creative how shows It years. for work who is secure and who is not. I recognize that I’ve had had I’ve that Irecognize not. is who and secure is who working-class and middle-class communities. communities. middle-class and working-class investment public massive for need the is we’re seeing never were they because normal, as continue not will rent. paying about worried ordinary. The University of California system gives me me gives system California of University The ordinary. crises. If they can be optimistic, we have no reason not not reason we have no optimistic, be can they If crises. everyday of face the in be can and are communities communi and families from — students first-generation of crisis. The U.S. is the world’s richest country and and country richest world’s the is U.S. The crisis. of people or themselves for to fend left being communities U.S., the in inequalities structural the exposing is crisis My students give me so much optimism. They’re extra They’re optimism. much so me give My students stay in the UC system for my entire academic career. I I career. academic my entire for system UC the in stay seeking immigrants, who live under conditions of of conditions live under who immigrants, seeking future. just amore for hope and optimism that support sick [because they] have no paid sick leave, unhoused unhoused they] leave, sick paid have no [because sick I grew up in Kolkata, India, in a middle-class household household amiddle-class in India, Kolkata, in up I grew If there’s anything to be optimistic about, perhaps things things perhaps about, optimistic to be anything there’s If for people, particularly for working-class communities. communities. working-class for particularly people, for movement. And these movements have been doing this this doing have been movements these And movement. How did your interest in these issues come about? come issues these in interest your did How perhaps the world’s only rich failed state. I think what what Ithink state. failed rich only world’s the perhaps kind this facing have been that communities for normal This long-term. to be going is this of impact now. The from weeks afew to shift going not is to rent pay people tremendous optimism. This is why I have chosen to Ihave chosen why is This optimism. tremendous ties that are struggling — gives me hope and optimism. optimism. and hope me —gives struggling are that ties social and mobility socioeconomic of systems tant that’s possible at UCLA. at possible that’s scholarship and research the to do privilege that to use my responsibility it’s Therefore, privilege. tremendous of moment current the shapes It precarity. tremendous of My experience ascholarship. on 18 of age the inequality. and poverty about critically to think taught always Iwas progressive. very as seen be would that can we do work the how We about have toto think be. to help keep people in their homes during the the during homes their in people keep help to justice that we have. The fact that we have so many many we have so that fact The we have. that justice immigration is dramatically different from asylum- from different dramatically is immigration in basic lifesaving infrastructure as a protection for for aprotection as infrastructure lifesaving basic in believe the public university is one of the most impor most the of one is university public the believe be it unprotected workers having to go in while they’re they’re while to in go having workers unprotected it be As a society, we created these structural insecurities insecurities structural these we created asociety, As I left India and moved to the U.S. on my own at at my own on U.S. to the moved and India I left L.A. is a city of inequality, but it’s also a city of social social of acity also it’s but inequality, of acity is L.A. - - - “We have that that the work to think and hope we do can about how optimism optimism just future.” just for amore support ucla magazine 17 magazine ucla july 2020 5/27/20 2:13 PM UC77_Life Signs_SHIP.indd 18

18 LIFE SIGNS ucla magazine ucla A better work-life A better By Dan Gordon ’85 Gordon Dan By could go wrong? — what efficient balance that’s more more that’s balance

july 2020 How to Manage Home Work orders in March, millions of Americans became became Americans of millions March, in orders DISTANCING TO COVID-19 PHYSICAL LED WHEN workers frequently cited numerous benefits, including better work-life balance, increased productivity, productivity, increased work-lifebalance, better including benefits, numerous cited frequently workers employees. In 2017, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that around 5% of workers were employed at home, home, at employed were 5% workers of around that reported Bureau Census 2017, In U.S. the employees. conference and emails at school business Tang the of dean 2003, familiar. was In too all was script the Management, of of survey respondents would take a pay cut of up to 5% in order to work from home. Remote Remote home. from to work to 5% order up of in cut apay take would respondents survey of 34% and that found survey 2019 Labs’ Owl company Videoconferencing to likely accelerate. that’s a trend it’s and not needing to commute and lower levels of stress. of levels lower and to commute needing not on-site, worked who those than job their in happy being to likely report more 29% were workers remote Fortune FaceTime School Anderson UCLA the at professor Tang, adistinguished Christopher For workers. remote the technology SARS to the response in mode lockdown into went university the when Singapore of University National the Even before the COVID-19 pandemic made working from home more popular and necessary, major major necessary, and popular more home from working made COVID-19 the pandemic Even before 500 companies were already offering fully remote jobs, driven by the needs and desires of their their of desires and needs by the driven jobs, remote fully offering already were companies 500

or Zoom to create a virtual working environment,” Tang recalls. “We had to rely on texts, texts, on to rely had “We Tang recalls. environment,” working a virtual to create Zoom or coronavirus epidemic. It forced students, staff and faculty to work from home, but but home, from to work faculty and staff students, forced It epidemic. coronavirus

to make that happen was primitive by today’s standards. “We didn’t have Skype, have Skype, didn’t “We standards. by today’s primitive was happen to that make calls.” 5/26/20 12:24 PM

ILLUSTRATION WHITNEY WONG UC77_Life Signs_SHIP.indd 19 Successful remote workers establish a daily routine and environment environment and routine adaily establish workers remote Successful which can result in you feeling socially isolated — or, depending —or, depending isolated socially feeling you in result can which during the day has four legs. If the ritual also incorporates a workout, aworkout, incorporates also ritual the If legs. four has day the during you to likely see one only the if —even attire professional donning occupied with a quiet activity, such as a jigsaw puzzle. a jigsaw as such activity, aquiet with occupied children, you might need to establish some boundaries. “It’s important important “It’s boundaries. some to establish need might you children, to adhering mostly Tang But recommends allows. job your —if early by the done to be need or person, amorning of you’re if more example, and random becomes that aschedule into slipping against cautions always can’t tools communication remote state-of-the-art even jobs whose workers for And members. family other or children pets, of demands disrupting the be could there household, your on flexibility of your schedule also means the lure of nonwork activities activities nonwork of lure the means also schedule of your flexibility an important call or need to focus on a project, they can keep children children keep can they aproject, on to focus need or call important an have parents If luxury. that has everyone not but close, can that a door a morning routine of showering, getting out of your pajamas and and pajamas your of out getting showering, of routine a morning co-workers, with chitchat of absence the also There’s weekends. and evenings into to blend work allow and it to overdo potential the alities, and the difficulty of remaining disciplined — or, — for disciplined Type of remaining difficulty the and still working,” Tang says. Ideally, your office is in a separate room with with room separate in a is office Tang your Ideally, says. working,” still Set aPattern Set If you have family at home, and especially if that includes young young includes that if especially and home, at have family you If from home as if you’re going in to work,” Tang says. Ideally, that Tang that Ideally, to in work,” you’re if says. going as home from Find Quiet Time Quiet Find For needs. scheduling your meet or productivity your maximize nonpeak during gym or store grocery go to the to flexibility the Having Hours Regular Keep time. work and time personal between separation mental set you which during coffee of cup alingering simply or meditation means advises).It cozy, he too (not office aproper up setting means proximity. to physical up measure members, team and managers with interactions constant require to communicate that even though Mom or Dad is at home, they are are they home, at is Dad or Mom though even that to communicate breaks. coffee and lunch timed regularly with hours, same the workday the end and start then school, from home get kids the time Tang but life, work-from-home the of perks great the of one is times a Tang to is establish idea, says, The better. the all priorities, day’s the working to treat “You need mindset. right the in them places that he says. It’s OK to take advantage of the flexibility to set hours that that hours set to flexibility the of to advantage take OK It’s says. he home,” at even important, is hours work regular “Keeping haphazard. following: the recommends he leap, the make To past. the in successfully was it than sectors, business But Tang views remote work as far more viable today, across many many today, across viable more far Tang as work But remote views But the work-at-home life isn’t without challenges. The increased increased The challenges. without work-at-home the isn’t life But “It’s important to communicate that even though Mom At home, you might need to establish some boundaries. or Dad is at home, they are still working,” Tang says. A person - — remains as important as ever. To do this while working remotely ever. as remotely To working while this do important as — remains “View the time you save by not having to commute as an opportunity opportunity an as to commute having by not save you time the “View To compensate, Tang says, remote workers need to err on the side side the on to err need workers Tang remote To says, compensate, body the capture fully can’t far, it us but taken has Technology Gather Around the (Virtual) Watercooler (Virtual) the Around Gather where one of the biggest upsides to the work-from-home life comes in. in. comes life work-from-home to the upsides biggest the of one where with socializing Tang suggests employees, remote other with work notes Tang conflict. or disagreement for apotential is there where effort to reach out to keep up our social network.” social our up to keep out to reach effort you If connected. you keep that conversations coffee-break and cooler one off ideas work bouncing from constrained feel don’t employees possible, as much As concerns. raise and questions ask clarifications, seek check-ins, and updates to frequent give sure be asupervisor, or aclient members, team other with Whether overcommunication. of your overall job satisfaction. Find ways to replicate the casual water casual the to ways replicate Find satisfaction. job overall your engagement of rules different requires Videoconferencing another. colleagues,” Tang says. colleagues,” your and company the on perspective adifferent provide can environment work physical the away from time spending employee, “As aremote circulating. blood the keep and arest, brain and eyes like you to if instance, For opportunities. and challenges with comes suggests. “Keep in mind that there are other people doing the same same the doing people other are there that mind in “Keep suggests. snack, set limits and remind yourself that just because there’s ample ample there’s because just that yourself remind and limits set snack, Speak Up Speak Seek Social Connections Outside of Work of Outside Connections Social Seek If you have an interoffice instant messaging platform, such as Slack, set set Slack, as such platform, messaging instant interoffice have an you If — colleagues with open channels communication the to keep vital It’s Paying attention to your own wellness — both mental and physical physical and mental — both wellness own to your attention Paying Well Be Tang That’s says. outlets, social other to cultivate measures proactive social the is home from to working downside many,For amajor camaraderie the building for also but matters, work-related for just not from the workspace for short periods to break up the day, the up your give to break periods short for workspace the from away to step helpful also It’s aprice. carry actions such nearby, food thing. And they might feel lonely at times, so we need to make an to an make we need so times, at lonely feel might they And thing. he colleagues,” former and family friends, with reconnect to virtually conversations. to nonwork devoted room or achannel up videoconferencing. or phone via hours lunch and breaks by taking them and mission organization’s your of success to the critical be can that clarity. and camaraderie balancing meetings, face-to-face than that so communication of lines to have open important also it’s that matters on particularly email, and text than rather video and voice use isolation. The absence of daily contact with co-workers necessitates necessitates co-workers with contact daily of absence The isolation. language, tone of voice and other nuances of in-person interactions. interactions. in-person of nuances other and voice of tone language, 9 1 magazine ucla july 2020 5/26/20 12:24 PM - PANDEMICPANDEMIC DAYSDAYS

AA CRISISCRISIS THRUSTTHRUST THETHE UCLAUCLA COMMUNITYCOMMUNITY INTOINTO NEWNEW WAYSWAYS OFOF THINKINGTHINKING ANDAND ACTING.ACTING. DESPITEDESPITE GREATGREAT CHALLENGES,CHALLENGES, BRUINSBRUINS HAVEHAVE REMAINEDREMAINED BRILLIANTBRILLIANT ANDAND RESILIENT.RESILIENT.

EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED. support one another — as this crisis continues to As we go to press with this issue, we know that expose deep-seated vulnerabilities in our culture the world will be coping with the COVID-19 pan- and economy. We round it out with a personal demic for some time. Our world has never seen essay from a nurse who recently graduated from anything like it. Rapidly spreading and mysterious, the UCLA School of Nursing. with a vaccine still elusive, the coronavirus contin- And I’ll admit to some little things that brought ues to confound the best minds in the world. me bits of comfort and joy in recent weeks: Being Like universities around the globe, UCLA and able to easily make a left turn on Sepulveda its faculty, staff and students are in the thick of Boulevard. Taking a virtual class with my pal and it, as administrators work to keep everyone safe aerobics queen Molly Fox (and seeing her for the while maintaining university operations. first time in 30 years). More time with people I We at UCLA Magazine left the Wilshire- love. When I gather around my laptop and phone Glendon office on Friday, March 13, which for Zoom meetings, classes and happy hours, it was a few days after Chancellor Gene Block feels like the families who listened together to announced UCLA’s transition to remote learning. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “fireside chats” during the On March 18, we quickly sent photographer Great Depression. Seeing my colleagues (and all Adam Amengual to see what he could find on our the newscasters) at home is kind of nice, too. suddenly deserted campus. We wanted to show you how Bruins adjust, You will see some of the images he captured pivot and invent. To give you some inspiration, on the following pages, including solo walkers some hope and a bit of a record of our days during on a near-empty campus and bare shelves at the this exceptional time. What resources are out UCLA Store as people stocked up on supplies. At there as we dig even deeper and longer into our first, we were conflicted: Do we show students in altered life — on page 12, “Look After Yourself, masks or not? Do we show people hugging? Cel- Mentally” discusses how UCLA’s existing ebrating, even though most of the Class of 2020 Depression Grand Challenge (DGC) will address wouldn’t be able to — at least not for a while? our long-term mental and emotional health needs We know UCLA researchers are among those after the pandemic is over through its STAND working on vaccines, testing and treatments, Together initiative. We can also excitedly share but more time and study is needed. Ideas that the STAND Together project — based on and action are under way for sure, including a programs created by DGC — was launched in pilot Seed Grant program that the UCLA AIDS partnership with Beyoncé’s BeyGOOD initiative. Institute is running. It makes sense. The umbrella Experts advise that we acknowledge the institute will speed up the grant process, says grief we’re feeling for the things and people Jerome Zack, co-director of the UCLA AIDS we’ve lost: loved ones, our sense of security and Institute, helping to provide funding to think spontaneity. Also, the grief of our nation as we tanks and helping investigators work together to mourn those killed by the racist disregard for understand and trounce this thing. Black life. Take a moment to feel the sadness, Then, in “A World Changed, a World the maybe ask others what they are mourning and Same” on page 30, you’ll read about how what they need from you. students, faculty and staff are coping — inspiring Be safe, be well and together we will get PHOTO ADAM AMENGUAL

PHOTO ADAM AMENGUAL examples of the way our community has rallied to through this. — Peg Moline

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UC77_Covid_SHIP_REV.indd 20 6/3/20 1:57 PM UC77_Covid_SHIP_REV.indd 21 6/3/20 1:57 PM A QUIET PLACE • MARCH 18,18, 20202020 PP H H O O T T O O S S B B Y Y A A D D A A M M A A M M E E N N G G U U A A L L

SOLO RIDER Following UCLA’s March 10 transition to online instruction, students and faculty began to leave campus and head home. As a result, Janss Steps, a normally busy thoroughfare on campus, became unusually quiet.

HOSPITAL HELPERS The Emergency Medicine Research Associates — based in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA’s Department of Emergency Medicine — publicized volunteer opportunities at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. The student-run, faculty-supported clinical research program gives undergraduate students the chance to assist with screening, consenting and enrolling patients in clinical trials and observational studies.

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UC77_Covid_SHIP_REV.indd 22 6/3/20 1:57 PM UC77_Covid_SHIP_REV.indd 23 6/3/20 1:57 PM NO FOUNTAIN ACCESS Though fewer students were out and about, a water fountain on the Hill was wrapped in plastic WALKING ALONE and blocked off to prevent possible A student walked through

A QUIET PLACE contamination. an eerily empty campus near the Court of Sciences.

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UC77_Covid_SHIP_REV.indd 24 6/3/20 1:57 PM UC77_Covid_SHIP_REV.indd 25 6/3/20 1:57 PM SAFETY AT THE UCLA STORE Gloves and sanitizer — hallmarks of the COVID-19 era — were present at the UCLA Store’s cash register.

A QUIET PLACE

LAPTOP CHECKOUT Students rushed to check out loaner laptops before the slowdown in campus operations.

ONE LAST BOX Paper products, like this last box of facial tissues, flew off the shelves at the UCLA Store.

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UC77_Covid_SHIP_REV.indd 26 6/3/20 1:57 PM UC77_Covid_SHIP_REV.indd 27 6/3/20 1:57 PM MASKING ADAPTABILITY While reserving N95 masks for health care workers, Bruins smartly pivoted to wearing a wide variety of face coverings every day.

A QUIET PLACE

SPACE TO STUDY The reading room at Powell Library is normally filled with industrious students. But this year, pages were left unturned as most shifted to working remotely.

TAKING A BREATH

Medical staff found a green haven at the UCLA Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden, which provided a quiet space for them to catch up with family and friends.

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UC77_Covid_SHIP_REV.indd 28 6/3/20 1:57 PM UC77_Covid_SHIP_REV.indd 29 6/3/20 1:57 PM UCLA RISES TO THE CHALLENGE WITH HUMANITY, A WORLD CHANGED, CREATIVITY AND STRONG COMMUNITY RESILIENCE.

A WORLD THE SAME By Jessica Wolf

IN AN EFFORT to stem the tide of COVID-19, state April 15, more than $200,000 had been raised from 1,069 and national policies have enforced safe physical distancing. donors, in increments as small as $8. But these measures quickly brought into sharp relief the “We’ve heard from a lot of donors about how grateful deep vulnerabilities and inequities that already existed in our they are to have a chance to help,” Turner says. “There economy and culture — the effects of which will reverberate is a story behind almost every gift. People are writing on long after the virus’s most pressing threat has passed. the website’s donor wall and dedicating their gift to a But the ways in which communities have rallied to specific teacher or department, some UCLA entity that was address and mitigate those vulnerabilities and inequities instrumental in that giver’s life. It’s very moving.” will also reverberate. And as a result, our creativity will Turner hopes the generosity that provided the much- be enhanced, and our commitment to one another will be needed discretionary funds will extend beyond this crisis, strengthened. At UCLA, that sense of community in the with donors helping to refill the coffers. face of inequity emerged early. As soon as UCLA realized the need to shift to remote teaching, Patricia Turner, senior dean of the UCLA College of Alumni gather to support well-being Letters and Science, recognized that many students would In addition to helping students and faculty during the lack the basic technology to thrive in such a scenario. COVID-19 crisis, UCLA Alumni Affairs is also committed to She immediately pledged her entire $90,000 discre- supporting the worldwide network of Bruins through events tionary fund — raised during the Centennial Campaign for and connections. Shortly after safer-at-home policies went UCLA — to ensure students in need were able to acquire the into effect, the UCLA Alumni Association organized a mind- technology required for remote learning. Grants for laptops fulness webinar, which more than 500 alumni attended. Due and Wi-Fi access were given on a first-come, first-served to its success, the webinar has become an ongoing series. basis. Other deans and department heads also committed “I was stunned at the turnout,” says Kristine Werlinich, support from their own discretionary funds, and the Bruin senior director of regional communities and Future Bruin Tech Award was launched. Ina Sotomayor, UCLA’s financial Initiatives. “The feedback has been great. We were happy aid director, immediately agreed to support the effort by to be able to provide something like this and to be able to overseeing the application and vetting process, ensuring that do it so quickly. Our alumni are proud to be associated with the most eligible students received the funding. UCLA and are so consistently generous.” “That money was set aside for unorthodox situations, to The Alumni Association is also focused on sharing its help when a student looks like they are going to fall between career-networking portal UCLA ONE, helping Bruins find the cracks — sort of a rainy day fund,” Turner says. “Well, work during challenging economic times. it’s raining. I couldn’t think of a better use for it.” Amid the shockwaves of COVID-19, there’s an And contrary to what outside perceptions might be, immediate need for mental health solutions, and UCLA is Turner knew there would be a lot of students who would uniquely suited to rise to that challenge, especially during a need help. “UCLA does have a financially vulnerable student time of global anxiety, stress and distress. population,” she says. “Obviously, they are smart as a The Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC) has whip because they were admitted, but with lower-income been researching and teaching about mindfulness and students, there is always a risk we will lose them in the meditation for more than 14 years. Last year, it launched spring quarter. To let Wi-Fi access or the lack of a laptop be UCLA Mindful, a free meditation app. There are also guided the deal breaker this year — we couldn’t let that happen.” meditations at uclahealth.org/marc. In addition, MARC UCLA launched a fundraising campaign around the Bruin quickly transitioned its free lunchtime meditation sessions ADAM ADAM AMENGUAL AMENGUAL Tech Award, and alumni showed up in a big way. Hundreds at the Hammer Museum at UCLA to a virtual environment —

PHOTOPHOTO BY BY PHOTOG PHOTOGPHOTOPHOTO NAME NAME of donors chipped in on the first day of the campaign. As of they’re now available as a podcast and a live event online.

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UC77_Covid_SHIP_REV.indd 30 6/3/20 1:57 PM UC77_Covid_SHIP_REV.indd 31 6/3/20 1:57 PM During public briefings, political leaders and policymak- And we might be better for this ers regularly broach the topic of mental well-being in these With millions of people working, learning, creating, sharing unprecedented times. In response, MARC has stepped up and connecting from home, environmental scientists and efforts to reach underserved communities in virtual ways, activists are keenly observing the effects of mass changes connecting with schools and local nonprofits, says Diana in human behavior. Just three weeks into L.A.’s extensive Winston, MARC’s director of mindfulness education. restrictions on movement, a study on air quality revealed “It’s an important time for our center. We know what we that the city had some of the cleanest air in the world. But have to offer is part of the mental health solution,” Winston UCLA environmental experts are also aware that these H E R O E S O N T H E F R O N T L I N E S says. “What we are doing is what we have always done. It’s changes are temporary. After all, the ability to work online just that suddenly people are listening more, admitting they isn’t necessarily widespread. need some help, some tools. And we have them at the ready.” With web-based services like Zoom, Houseparty, Google Hangouts and similar platforms taking the spotlight in the wake of COVID-19, it’s easy to get excited about Love sparks involvement revamping popular support for net neutrality laws. But UCLA alum and professional basketball player Kevin Love, that notion isn’t simple, says John Villasenor, professor of I TURNED 22 ON APRIL 9. I live can’t imagine a patient going through every- an outspoken advocate for the dialogue and research electrical engineering, law, public policy and management A VIEW FROM in Westwood. Because of the coronavirus thing and then not being able to be with their around anxiety and depression, was one of the first at UCLA Samueli School of Engineering. pandemic, all my roommates had left. But one of family at the end. celebrities to offer financial support for some of the hardest- “The current situation has underscored how vital internet BEHIND THE MASK my best friends, who lived next door, moved in I don’t think I have felt super scared for hit workers in America. He pledged $100,000 to pay the access is,” he says. “Everyone deserves good internet with me. She works on the same hospital floor as myself at any point, but I have felt really scared salaries of workers at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, the access. That said, it’s also important to not lose sight of the me, so we have similar exposure levels. We hung for my cancer patients, because their immune home arena for his team, the Cleveland Cavaliers. inequities in the role it plays. For a computer programmer, out, watched New Girl and had a dance party in systems are compromised. internet access can make it seamless to the living room. I guess you do what you can do. And I have worried a little bit about my family work from home. But for someone whose This was not what I expected when I was — like my twin brother, who is on the pre-med job is stocking shelves in a food distribution preparing to graduate [on June 13]. So much of track at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo — but they “[Together], we can solve problems that none of us warehouse, there’s simply no option to work this has been heart-wrenching. There have been have been all right. can solve alone. And the best insurance policy has from home, regardless of how good their really happy days and really sad days. At the hospital, I worry every time someone internet service might be.” When the news started getting crazy, I was in walks into a room — like, what if the person is always been knowing that others have your back.” A critical element of our ability to create my public health rotation, visiting different areas carrying something? You just can’t know that — Daniel Fessler, director of the UCLA Bedari Kindness Institute effective and lasting solutions to the virus is around Los Angeles, like Skid Row. I loved being stuff. But everyone is doing the best they can, cooperation, which comes part and parcel with at UCLA because of the diversity of people I met. wearing all the best protection they can. kindness, says Daniel Fessler, director of the When the pandemic started, I was not in an When you wear the N95 masks for long Even in the wake of anxiety, uncertainty, and very UCLA Bedari Kindness Institute. acute care setting, so it did not sink in. But I had periods, they really cut into you. Even a surgical real security and privacy challenges, the shift to virtual In April, the UCLA Volunteer Center launched a letter- read The Hot Zone by Richard Preston [about mask makes me break out. But nurses are operations for a campus as massive as UCLA has also writing campaign to show support for the health care Kate Gieschen ’20, Ebola and other viruses], and I was paying known for their ingenuity and have been finding brought an unsurprising influx of creativity. workers who were effectively risking their own lives during who graduated attention to the news. So I knew it could get bad. creative solutions. I got some headbands and Shortly before safer-at-home policies went into effect, the height of the spread of the virus. I’m from a family of doctors in Davis, Califor- buttons to help with my mask. the university’s a cappella group shot a lighthearted hand- Around the same time, a group of parents from China from the UCLA nia. When I was in eighth grade, I had to go to the The nurses who teach and work with me are washing instructional video for social media. Around the whose children are attending UCLA started a grassroots hospital, which was when I realized how impor- so patient, so strong. They have always been same time, UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance fundraising campaign for UCLA Health. The philanthropy School of Nursing tant nurses are. I loved my doctors, but they were badass, but now the world knows it. brought South Africa’s Ladysmith Black Mambazo to was their way of saying thank you to the university for in June, reveals only there for minutes. The nurses, who were People ask me how it feels to be entering the stage in a nearly empty Royce Hall. The concert was taking care of their family members. there for 12 hours a day, made the difference. the profession at this very tense time. It makes livestreamed, in partnership with local radio station KCRW. Social media accounts began to show video footage of how she and other They are trained to run toward danger, to me feel proud to be joining the ranks of people Students began building versions of Royce Hall and other New Yorkers cheering from their windows and balconies young health care for people. But then they are told they running toward crises and those who need help parts of campus in the video game world Minecraft, hoping every night at 7 p.m. — the time when medical workers can’t go into a room because they don’t have the most. These days, I feel more acutely the to hold commencement ceremonies in the virtual space. change shifts. In Los Angeles, buildings across the city professionals the right mask — it must be so challenging, weight of sacrifice that the individuals I will The Hammer Museum joined the social media campaign and the UCLA campus began to #LightItBlue as a thank the total cognitive dissonance. work with are experiencing — they are being #MuseumMomentofZen, in which museums from around you to first responders and health care workers. This kind have dealt with Everyone has been quoting Mr. Rogers: “Look called above and beyond the line of duty. It the world share photos and videos of their art collections. of visibility is so important, Fessler says, because people the coronavirus for the helpers. You will always find people who makes me scared for them, almost protective The UCLA centennial edition of LA Hacks pivoted from are more apt to show kindness to each other when they are helping.” And I hope there is more trust in over them. But I’m honored to be joining the its Pauley Pavilion gathering to a virtual event. More than witness kind acts in their environments. And that’s hard to pandemic. the helpers than mistrust in the system. type of people I want to become. 1,000 college and high school students from across the see in a stay-at-home environment. I have been frustrated on behalf of the people It’s been a battle for the people in my country participated in the online hackathon, creating about “But throughout human evolution, being part of a whose employers have not provided enough generation, who now know more about what 200 software projects aimed at improving the quality of life cooperative prosocial group has been critical to meeting protective clothing. It’s not the fault of one they can handle, and who now remember what in Southern California. One of the winning apps would help many of the challenges that we face working together,” he person or organization, but it makes me think is important. I hope that the people who get people keep track of where they go when stepping out of adds. “We can solve problems that none of us can solve very carefully about where I will end up working. groceries for their elderly neighbor will carry self-isolation, also providing real-time information from L.A. alone. And the best insurance policy has always been One of the things that has really upset me on visiting them. I hope we can hold on to the County on COVID-19 cases in the app user’s neighborhood. knowing that others have your back.” is the idea of people who are dying alone. I just positivity we’ve shared.

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UC77_Covid_SHIP_REV.indd 32 6/3/20 1:57 PM UC77_Covid_SHIP_REV.indd 33 6/3/20 1:57 PM NATASHA WHEATON, M.D. ASSISTANT CLINICAL PROFESSOR, H E R O E S O N T H E F R O N T L I N E S DEPARTMENT OF EMERGENCY KEVIN CONSUEGRA, R.N. MEDICINE AT RONALD REAGAN EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT UCLA MEDICAL CENTER AT RONALD REAGAN UCLA Wheaton is the mother of two MEDICAL CENTER boys, 4 and 6, and actually made it “Now more than ever, in a world through a mild case of COVID-19. of confusion and uncertainty, “Though this has been an incredibly I strive to be a force for good challenging time for all,” she in my practice and for my says, “I feel truly privileged to be a patients. All of my family is on physician and honored to be able the East Coast in the midst of to serve our community.” this pandemic. I hope the care I provide has a ripple effect that is felt by my family over there.”

VANESSA FRANCO, M.D., PH.D. EMERGENCY MEDICINE AND SPORTS MEDICINE PHYSICIAN AT RONALD REAGAN UCLA MEDICAL CENTER AND UCLA MEDICAL CENTER, SANTA MONICA Franco did her residency at UCLA. “COVID has forced us to adapt quickly to what seems like an ever-changing world,” she says. “Having watched Frozen 2 with my kids numerous times, I try to live by Anna’s mantra and just ‘do the next right thing.’” Portraits by Jessica Pons 34 ucla magazine july 2020 july 2020 ucla magazine 35

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PHOTO BY PHOTOG NAME UC77_Africa.indd 37 Hand in Hand Hand in Hand Hand in Hand Hand in Hand Across Africa Africa Across Across Africa Africa Across A new style of partnerships changes lives on the vast continent. Illustration Andrea by Ucini By John Harlow John By ~ ucla magazine 37 magazine ucla july 2020 5/26/20 12:42 PM BY THE END of this for optimism. These include the global legacy of century, 1 in 4 people in the world could be South Africa’s Nelson Mandela and the promise African, says Thomas Smith, a professor in of peaceful nations such as Ivory Coast, whose the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary gross domestic product has nearly doubled over Biology at UCLA, quoting United Nations data. the past decade, challenging gloomy stereotypes. He believes this massive demographic shift Among a wave of fresh-thinking UCLA will prompt countries to rethink partnerships scholars who might have never expected to be with Africa, a youth-dominated continent working in Africa, three inspirational leaders that’s larger than the United States, China, spoke with UCLA Magazine. India and most of Europe combined. And UCLA is ahead of the game, as hundreds of Bruin students, scientists, doctors and Unexpected Journeys administrators work hand in hand with local Smith started out as an evolutionary biologist colleagues across the 54 incredibly varied chasing an unusual finch, which led him to the countries that make up Africa today. jungles of Cameroon in West Africa. Anne Unlike past “parachute doctors” — who Rimoin M.P.H. ’96, a professor of epidemiology would jump into a crisis, often perform heroically at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, and then go home — UCLA people are deeply might have become a Hollywood lawyer if the embedded in African communities, helping Peace Corps had not offered her a position to to prevent the next medical, economic or track 30-inch-long worms in West Africa. And environmental calamity. Sundeep Gupta was an epidemic intelligence In January 2020, Chancellor Gene Block and officer working at the Centers for Disease his team of UCLA administrators attended the Control and Prevention in Atlanta before UCLA Diversity in Higher Education Colloquium in and Malawi came calling. Bloemfontein, South Africa — co-hosted by the From Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon, University of the Free State in South Africa, Vrije it’s 600 miles of rough road and river south to Universiteit Amsterdam and UCLA — to promote Rimoin’s bare-bones offices in Kinshasa, the diversity and equality in global education. They capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo met tireless and passionate advocates for (DRC). And it’s another 1,500 miles south to change, many of whom work through malaria and Gupta’s desk at the Partners in Hope offices deprivations unthinkable to many colleagues. in Malawi. The UCLA trio face very different It’s not hyperbole to suggest that their roles challenges, but they’re united in their deep are vital to the future of the world. “UCLA’s part- commitment to working with African partners. nerships in sub-Saharan Africa have been incred- When Smith got started, he recalls, “I was in ibly successful in helping tackle regional issues Central Africa studying a fascinating species [of to improve the quality of life,” Block said upon bird] called the black-bellied seedcracker, which his return. “It is important for UCLA, as a public shows unique variations in the size of its bill. I research university, both to share our expertise went to the rainforests in Central Africa, where and to learn from and collaborate with colleagues my passion for biodiversity, sustainability and around the world for the advancement of society.” people was reinforced. It’s a paradigm shift away from previous “In those days, I was living in a tent. But efforts to help Africa through “aid with strings” decades later [in 2015], we developed the packages or infrastructure investments that have Congo Basin Institute [CBI] to host scholars OPPOSITE: Rainforest bred monstrous civil wars and ugly kleptocracies. studying topics ranging from the rainforest’s professor Smith, who has been working in Cameroon for enormous capacity to sequester carbon to Augustin Siec, three decades, agrees that there are still wide- zoonotic [species-jumping] diseases such the late Baka chief who spread corruption and brutal struggles, which as Ebola.” Located in Cameroon, the CBI is had a deep create mass displacements — 750,000 people UCLA’s first foreign affiliate.

understanding COURTESY OF THOMAS SMITH were driven from their homes in Burkina Faso last Smith adds: “In 2011, my colleagues and I COURTESY OF THOMAS SMITH of the forest’s

ecology. year. But there are also extraordinary reasons discovered that the swine flu, [which was] first PHOTO PHOTO

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UC77_Africa.indd 38 5/26/20 12:42 PM UC77_Africa.indd 39 5/26/20 12:43 PM identified in Mexico, had taken a U-turn. It had and guitarists can hear the African difference. moved from people back to swine, and no one The Congo Basin Institute provides a center — including the World Health Organization — for science in Africa for Africans, says Smith, knew it had reached Africa. Swine are the mixing offering facilities to young Africans who other- vessels for influenza. This is how new pandemics wise might have taken their skills abroad. start — there are no borders anymore.” In a 2017 TED Talk, Cameroonian Kevin Njabo Smith saw something like the coronavirus — the Africa director and an assistant adjunct coming. He remembers a prescient research professor at the UCLA Institute of the Environ- paper from 13 years ago that referred to “the ment and Sustainability’s Center for Tropical presence of a large reservoir of SARS-CoV-like Research — mourns the wholesale exportation of viruses in horseshoe bats that, together with the “the best and the brightest” from Africa. culture of eating exotic mammals in southern Njabo says he was drawn to UCLA not only China, is a time bomb.” because of its ability to develop programs that Smith adds, “Even more than China, Central could save lives — like the 1 million people, Africa is ground zero for infectious diseases that mostly children, who die from malaria each year spill over from animals to humans. These include — but also by its ability to encourage expatriates the ones we know — Ebola and SIV [the origin to return home. “For every African who returns of HIV/AIDS] — but many we don’t. It turns out home, nine new jobs are created,” Njabo says. there are varieties of coronavirus circulating in At the Congo Basin Initiative, he says, “we are African bats. Motivated by the current pandemic building a one-stop shop for logistics, housing of SARS-CoV-2, our lab has launched a new study and development of collaborative projects, to assess the risk of these potentially dangerous, empowering Africans to find their own solutions. yet undescribed coronaviruses — both now and If this had existed when I was 18, I would have under future climate change.” never left home — but I am coming back.”

Losing and Learning Skills A Joyful Day As an investigator, Smith works closely with the The brain drain is a dilemma that haunts Rimoin, Baka people, seminomadic hunter-gatherers who a popular voice across media who urged for intimately know the rainforests of Cameroon and calm during the early stages of the COVID-19 Gabon. He pays tribute to his friend Augustin Siec, outbreak. Raised in Los Angeles, she credits a a Baka chief who could hear a rustle in the canopy “brilliant” French language teacher for opening and identify not only the species of the animal but her eyes to Francophone Africa. also its gender and role in the forest’s ecology. “My father [David Rimoin, who was famed for Smith has been worried that the younger his work on inheritable diseases] was in medicine, among the 30,000-strong Baka community — but I was considering becoming an entertain- under pressure from urban officials to settle ment lawyer. [Then] the Peace Corps offered to in villages — have been losing this indigenous send me to Benin [in West Africa] to track and knowledge. But the CBI, which employs Baka eradicate Guinea worm infections. Who could research assistants, has created opportunities resist? And my French made all the difference,” for them to relearn the skills of the “professors she says. Rimoin remembers a joyful day when a of the forest,” including herbal medicines that Benin woman said to her: “You have found who could unlock future cures for diseases. Siec’s you are.” And she was right. recent death from misdiagnosed tuberculosis Since 2002, Rimoin has worked in the DRC, OPPOSITE, reminds Smith that health projects across Africa the troubled country once known as Zaire, and CLOCKWISE still have a long way to go. her research has revealed the zoonotic secrets FROM TOP LEFT: Smith’s dream is that one day Africans them- of monkeypox and other emerging pathogens in Cameroonian scientist Alvine selves will run the CBI, including its labs. But first, remote areas along the Congo River. Tchouga inspects Cameroonians will have to become more econom- Every day brings light and dark, she says. For an ebony sapling. ically self-sustaining. To help achieve that, Smith example, in 2019, 50,000 Congolese died from Kevin Njabo partnered with San Diego–based Taylor Guitars measles, a disease that was thought to have been discusses Africa’s on The Ebony Project, which is planting 15,000 eradicated from the world. scientific brain ebony trees, interspersed with high-value fruit But there’s also hope: In February 2020, after drain at a 2017 TED Talk.

COURTESY OF CONGO BASIN INITIATIVE saplings, in Cameroon. According to Taylor Gui- the latest Ebola outbreak in North Kivu, DRC, the COURTESY OF CONGO BASIN INITIATIVE tars, ebony wood creates richly ringing overtones last few patients were safely released from the Thomas Smith (center) with PHOTOS

PHOTOS with a clear lineal quality across the spectrum — hospital. Even more good news: Rimoin’s team friends.

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PHOTOSPHOTOS COURTESY COURTESY OF OF ANNE ANNE RIMOIN RIMOIN “Right from the start, I was not interested in in interested not Iwas start, the from “Right Wuhan, China, which was ground zero for the the for zero ground was which China, Wuhan, COVID-19 pandemic. “It’s complicated,” Rimoin Rimoin complicated,” “It’s COVID-19 pandemic. Chickering M.P.H. ’95, the program’s associ program’s the ’95, M.P.H. Chickering Rimoin Health, Immigrant and Global for Center difficult to find alternatives.” alternatives.” find to difficult work to do. Plus, she jokes, “phone reception is is reception “phone jokes, she Plus, to do. work who never gives up.’” gives never who fighting for causes such as protecting the bonobo bonobo the protecting as such causes for fighting not did but Verdes, Palos in school elementary areas of the Congolese forest — and discovered discovered —and forest Congolese the of areas and senior administrative analyst, and Kirstin Kirstin and analyst, administrative senior and have relocated who colleagues the appreciates ape from being hunted as bush meat. Although Although meat. bush as hunted being from ape sisters!” UCLA tough three Iare and at together Iwere and “Kirstin ate director. systems. This precious data could help prevent or or prevent help could data precious This systems. says. Wet markets “are built into the culture, and and culture, the into “are built Wet markets says. yes now, to save time!’ In [the Bantu language] Bantu [the In now,yes to time!’ save official, alocal see Igo When persistent. very am “I admits, epidemiologist the boss,” so “just as Mama Étêté Mama million people. After all, she and UCLA have UCLA and she all, After people. 5 million director country Program’s Research UCLA-DRC front line,” Rimoin says, with her characteristic characteristic her with says, Rimoin line,” front frequently on NPR, HBO and MSNBC, she has no no has she MSNBC, and HBO NPR, on frequently raise more funds to protect those workers on the the on workers those to protect funds more raise remote in living 1976 in —people outbreak Ebola parachute medicine,” Rimoin says. “I was was “I says. Rimoin medicine,” parachute plans to walk away from the DRC — even if its its if —even DRC the away from to walk plans months, and that was 11 years ago. Kirstin, Nicole Nicole Kirstin, ago. years 11 was that and months, three for aproject up set me to help Kinshasa Lingala, I am called ‘Mama Étêté,’ or ‘the woman woman ‘the or Étêté,’ ‘Mama called Iam Lingala, treat future outbreaks. future treat their in antibodies lifesaving had still they that first-recorded the of survivors down tracked trapped wild animals are sold as food — as in in —as food as sold are animals wild trapped the people need the protein in areas where it’s it’s where areas in protein the need people the understanding of the issues. And Ilove it.” And issues. the of understanding my and trust —to build term long the for there to the DRC, such as Nicole Hoff Ph.D. ’14, the the ’14, Ph.D. Hoff Nicole as such DRC, to the the COVID-19 crisis, and she has appeared appeared has she and COVID-19the crisis, been tracked back to “wet markets,” where where markets,” to “wet back tracked been practicality. and enthusiasm of blend bloody spasms of civil war continue to displace to displace continue war civil of spasms bloody her knowledge has been in demand during during demand in been has knowledge her to came “Kirstin says. other,” Rimoin each know better than in Benedict Canyon.” Benedict in than better he will say, ‘Oh, it’s you. I will just say yes, yes, yes, yes, say just Iwill you. it’s say, will he ‘Oh, “It’s incredible and hopeful, but we still have to we still but hopeful, and incredible “It’s The sources of many such outbreaks have outbreaks such many of sources The As director of the Fielding School’s UCLA UCLA School’s Fielding the of director As When a Fielding colleague described Rimoin Rimoin described colleague aFielding When Rimoin is well-known around Kinshasa, Kinshasa, around well-known is Rimoin - There are still problems, but for many observers, observers, many for but problems, still are There There are as many positions of interest for for interest of positions many as are There Gupta takes a low-key approach to his clinical to clinical his alow-key approach takes Gupta where the need is greatest,” says Gupta, speak Gupta, says greatest,” is need the where decolonized, as we have helped nations develop develop nations we have helped as decolonized, doctors, such as Faysal Saab ’07, M.D. ’12, to ’07, Faysal Saab ’12, as such M.D. doctors, capital the Lilongwe, in wards AIDS the in work ence in Malawi is key, allowing recently arrived arrived key, is Malawi recently in allowing ence with 20, to around one from increased has clinics and Mozambique to the Congo Basin,” Rimoin Rimoin Basin,” Congo to the Mozambique and a promise to be here, to maintain funding, and and funding, to maintain here, to be a promise estab 1994, in UCLA at residency his completed of Malawi — one of the Central African countries countries African Central the of —one Malawi of Malawians who got tested for and diagnosed with with diagnosed and for tested got who Malawians says. “The way we practice global health is much much is health global way we practice “The says. staff have worked in Malawi. in have worked staff Malawi Miracle gist, a family physician, an assistant professor professor assistant an physician, afamily gist, and students UCLA 200 far, So around ground. UCLA doctors introduced self-testing kits, and and kits, self-testing introduced doctors UCLA the on personnel and funding contributing UCLA focus on improving medical practices, using both both using practices, medical improving on focus more collaborative than in the past. It’s been been It’s past. the in than collaborative more Africa South from research its with respect priority is to not let Africa down.” down.” Africa let to is not priority spanning countries are there as Africa in Bruins were Malawians HIV. Ten 100,000 ago, years But clinic. to HIV to go an embarrassed were men programs director at Partners in Hope. “You go Hope. in Partners at director programs and UCLA at Medicine of School Geffen David past decade is a miracle of modern medicine and and medicine modern of amiracle is decade past the over witnessed has he what that says He pandemic. HIV by the weakened severely most the Africans are learning to trust that. Our first first Our that. to trust learning are Africans the We have made infrastructures. health own their says. Smith themselves, Africans the for works what about but happen, should think Westerners what about not It’s continent. the 830,000. around it’s today treatment; undergoing this experimental switch increased the number of of number the increased switch experimental this medicine. evidence-based and theory textbook today, years; 45 was birth at expectancy life the thinking about flexible approaches to diseases. diseases. to approaches flexible about thinking incredible awareness of the university, earning earning university, the of awareness incredible it’s an emotional revitalization of anation. of revitalization emotional an it’s treatment HIV of number The rising. and 64 it’s ing from Lilongwe. He says the stable UCLA pres UCLA stable the says He Lilongwe. from ing the at Diseases Infectious of Division the in bring antiviral drugs to the country. At that time, time, At that country. to the drugs antiviral bring lished the nonprofit Partners in Hope, Malawi, to Malawi, Hope, in Partners nonprofit the lished So what is UCLA’s role in Africa? “There is an an is Africa? UCLA’s in “There is role what So One diagnostic issue was that many young young many that was issue diagnostic One Gupta wears many hats: He is an epidemiolo an is He hats: many wears Gupta In 2000, Perry Jansen, a doctor who had had who adoctor Jansen, Perry 2000, In

ucla magazine 43 magazine ucla july 2020 - - - - Kakoma, Malawi. in workers Hope in Partners in Anne Rimoin FROM OPPOSITE, Kinshasa. TOP: 5/26/20 12:43 PM ALLALL THINGSTHINGS not BEINGBEING EQUALEQUAL

“Just because you have the right As the coronavirus pandemic has exposed feelings of xenophobia and to do something doesn’t mean highlighted societal inequities, UCLA’s Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion it’s the right thing to do,” says Jerry Kang, vice and Vice Chancellor Jerry Kang are working to find solutions. chancellor of UCLA’s Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. BY PATTY PARK ’91 | PHOTOS BY JOHN KEATLEY

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UC77_EDI_SHIP_rev.indd 44 6/3/20 1:47 PM UC77_EDI_SHIP_rev.indd 45 6/3/20 1:47 PM “I want things that don’t THE WORK AHEAD: UCLA’s Office of Equity, even feel possible now to be Diversity and Inclusion possible, especially for the most JERRY KANG REMEMBERS the moment vividly. It was the fall of 2015, and he had just marginalized on campus.” arrived at Meyerhoff Park for an Afrikan Student Union protest. A fraternity party had generated —OLIVIA SHEARIN anger over its racial overtones, and he could hear chants of “Black Bruins matter!” “Seeing the tremendous pain and anger our African American students were experiencing broke my heart,” recalls Kang, a distinguished professor of law and Asian American studies, who had just months before taken on the inaugural AS UCLA MADE PLANS to the power of words and the grace of role of vice chancellor for UCLA’s Office of Equity, ramp down operations and reduce strangers, which might help us muddle Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). In a heartfelt population density in the residence through to the other side. impromptu speech, he addressed the crowd: “I’m a halls amid the COVID-19 pandemic, tenured professor and hold an administrative role, one question was always on Jerry but none of that actually matters if individually I Kang’s mind: How will this affect DO WORDS MATTER? do not feel pain or you don’t understand that Black students on the margins, those who According to the Asian Pacific Policy Bruins matter for me as well.” are not in the mainstream? and Planning Council, after President UCLA’s Office of EDI was created in 2015 When UCLA transitioned to remote Donald Trump called COVID-19 the in response to an independent committee’s learning and students began to leave “Chinese virus” in March, more than investigation into accusations of racial bias at campus, Kang — vice chancellor of 650 incidents of discrimination against UCLA. The report found that UCLA’s policies and UCLA’s Office of Equity, Diversity and Asian Americans were reported in procedures for addressing discrimination among Inclusion (EDI) — knew the news would just one week. In “COVID-19: What’s faculty were inadequate. be better received by well-resourced in a Name?,” Kang wrote about how During his time as vice chancellor, Kang has students, whose parents could quickly calling the virus by anything other than helped make the campus more equitable for move them out or get them on a flight its precise name reflects “intellectual people of color, new immigrants, people of various home. For others — international or laziness and stereotyping” (for which religious, gender and sexual identities and expres- first-generation students, or those he received his share of hate mail). sions, people with both visible and invisible dis- who feel more comfortable being “Unwittingly or not, it’s a form abilities, and other underrepresented populations. away from home — the news would be of ‘name calling’ that increases the Below, we take a look at what the EDI office traumatizing. “I wanted to make sure chances that people of Asian descent and Kang, who steps down from his role in July, we got it right,” Kang says. “We told our will be teased, bullied, harassed have been able to tackle in the first five years. students that we were asking people or just made to feel like they don’t to leave, but I think we did it with a belong,” he writes. “It’s so unnecessary RADICAL CHANGES certain kind of grace and flexibility. And in a moment when we need unity, “In some ways, our entire society’s attitude toward we always reminded them that if they not division; care, not contempt; diversity and inclusion has radically changed since needed to, they could stay.” solicitude, not sarcasm.” 2015,” Kang says. He cites how in fall 2015, after a Indeed, UCLA, like other universities In April, U.S. Surgeon General summer of bloodshed, Black Lives Matter became nationwide, is navigating a new normal Jerome Adams compared the a civil rights movement; in fall 2016, there was an as classes continue virtually and much coronavirus pandemic to two historic unexpected presidential election result; and in fall of the country shelters in place. While tragedies: the attack on Pearl Harbor 2017, the #MeToo movement was in full stride. the medical community works to and 9/11 — events that Kang knows In addition to overseeing the rapid growth discover a treatment for COVID-19, a thing or two about as a published of the Discrimination Prevention Office and the Kang, a distinguished professor of author on both the Japanese American Title IX Office, Kang elevated diversity and law and Asian American studies and internment camps and the war on inclusion work to the next level, establishing new

Olivia Shearin, an expert in implicit or unconscious terrorism in the wake of 9/11. Not systems of investigating faculty, implementing a junior, plans bias, examines the virus through content to merely share his point of bold new sexual harassment policies and exploring to study dentistry the complex lens of diversity and view, he invited UCLA students to an new ways to hold people accountable. and address issues inclusion, from both a campus and a online Fiat Lux seminar to explore and of homophobia global perspective. Here, he shares engage with him on various topics, ALL EYES ON US that exist in that profession. his expertise on the nature of crises, including scapegoating, racial profiling, In the past, especially when it came to sexual

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UC77_EDI_SHIP_rev.indd 46 6/3/20 1:47 PM UC77_EDI_SHIP_rev.indd 47 6/3/20 1:47 PM harassment or racial discrimination, the general “UCLA has given me a practice had been to lock up a settlement with strict confidentiality terms. Kang aggressively better understanding advocated for sharing information more publicly. Investigation statistics and sometimes even details, including penalties, are now published on of my own identity.” EDI’s website under Public Accountability. “This office was created to force people — KAUMRON EIDGAHY to recognize that what used to be good enough won’t be good enough going forward,” Kang says. “Powerful people who might misbehave will see there are consequences that are being shared publicly.”

DATA, NOT GOOD INTENTIONS Another brainchild of Kang’s is BruinX, the data- freedom of speech and the connection despite being about 12% of the nation’s driven, evidence-based research arm of EDI that between words and violence. population. (The CDC acknowledged operates like a campus think tank. It formalizes “At the center of every profiling that race data were missing from 75% protocols that don’t just rely on well-intentioned argument and justification is the of the cases it examined.) Kang says people to make good decisions regarding faculty claim [that it is] accurate, and thus this should not come as a surprise, hires. All search committees now must be trained a rational response,” he said at the because comorbidities associated with using evidence-based information. Also, EDI’s seminar. As hands went up, the class the virus are not evenly distributed implicit bias videos have been viewed more than unpacked hard questions together. throughout the population, due to the 200,000 times and are recommended by more Why was it OK to call the Spanish flu systemic roots of health disparities and than 55 institutions. And BruinX dashboards by that name, but not OK to call this the reality of racial bias in medicine. provide data-driven campus demographics, and a the China flu? Do words incline people Another important way that BruinXperience app captures students’ real-time to physical violence? Are people just racism affects health is through feelings about inclusion. being too sensitive? hypervigilance, according to Chandra “I think it’s important for people Ford, associate professor of community EARS ON THE GROUND to recognize that just because you health sciences at the UCLA Fielding Josh Tran ’17, who identifies as a queer first- have the right to do something doesn’t School of Public Health and director generation Vietnamese American, has been mean it’s the right thing to do,” Kang of the Center for the Study of Racism, part of the EDI Student Advisory Board (SAB) argued. “And in some ways, it’s deep Social Justice & Health. “To remain since it was established in 2016, when he was an immaturity and insufficient humanity on guard against threats of social undergrad. Now a law student, Tran especially to say simply, ‘Because I can, I will.’ We discrimination, rude treatment or appreciated the live chats that Kang held to can do better, and I think once people violence for extended periods of address controversial topics, such as police get reminded, almost everyone does.” time is to keep the body in a state of brutality against African Americans and First It’s a reminder he shares with the chronic stress,” Ford says. Amendment issues. “There needs to be an campus community, which has faced Kang adds, “What COVID-19 has even more intentional channel to make sure challenges with students and faculty done is put a stark punctuation mark marginalized students feel visible, appreciated using names or labels for the virus that on things that many already knew.” and empowered,” he says. “This stuff takes time, stoke anxiety among Asian Americans. He notes that people are seeing for and what VC Kang has done in terms of sowing the first time what others — including the seeds is really important.” many experts at UCLA — have long SAB member Olivia Shearin adds, “There’s THE OBVIOUS BROUGHT been working to address. a lot of unintentional, hurtful rhetoric in the TO LIGHT academic setting.” She says strongly gendered While COVID-19 itself doesn’t language can make nonbinary students feel As a resident discriminate, the pandemic has shed DONNING THE MASK unwelcome. Working with a life sciences assistant, junior light on the boundaries that exist at the Kang wears many hats: administrator, professor, Shearin helped make a lecture Kaumron Eidgahy intersection of health disparities and academic, lawyer and father, just to gender-inclusive. But she and fellow SAB helped students with the transition socioeconomic status, as communities name a few. But when asked how member Kaumron Eidgahy hope to see more to remote learning, of color across this country have been COVID-19–related racism makes him change. “Making the hiring process more while simultaneously disproportionately affected. According feel on a personal level, he answers, equitable has made a difference,” says Eidgahy, rescheduling his to the Centers for Disease Control “It’s heartbreaking.” who identifies as a queer second-generation summer break and and Prevention’s national report on When Kang donned a mask for a Iranian American. “But the vast majority of making sure his family members the coronavirus, Black people account plane ride — a short time before the campus faculty is still white and male, so I know in Iran were OK. for about 30% of COVID-19 cases, CDC recommended wearing face there is more work to do there.”

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UC77_EDI_SHIP_rev.indd 48 6/3/20 1:47 PM UC77_EDI_SHIP_rev.indd 49 6/3/20 1:47 PM A LONG JOURNEY “Equity looks like going into the “I’ve experienced discrimination, prejudice and bigotry my entire life,” says Isaiah Njoku ’19, who dining hall and not feeling like identifies as African American, Nigerian (second generation), straight and cisgender. At UCLA, everyone is staring at you. It Njoku experienced subtler racism, known as microaggressions, such as not being offered a flyer on Bruin Walk or being assumed to be an athlete. means getting into UCLA and As chair of the Afrikan Student Union, he worked with the EDI office to improve the experience of feeling like you belong there.” Black Bruins at the university. The recent opening of the Black Community Center is a step in the —ISAIAH NJOKU ’19 right direction, Njoku says. “However, the journey toward equity is a continual battle.” Because the EDI office was created for the specific mission of holding faculty accountable, much of Kang’s focus has been behind the coverings — he recalls feeling a deep the grace and kindness of strangers. scenes, building policies and procedures. Daily sadness. “A part of my mind could not Think about the first responders and Bruin articles tell the story of students who but recognize that here I go, marking health care providers who are different feel unheard and an office that has worked myself as different,” he says. “And for genders and different races, different hard but is sometimes accused of forgetting a many people, it will be effortless to classes of people who have sacrificed key constituency: the students. As groups such see me as being foreign, and therefore their lives in some ways to make sure as students with disabilities feel overlooked ‘the other.’” He is quick to note that that we are well. The only way to and request funding for more accessibility he in no way wants to compare that respond to this virus is for all of us to projects, he understands their frustrations. experience to what a Muslim wearing recognize a certain kind of common Conversations about anti-Semitism and religious a hijab experienced after 9/11. But fragility in our humanity.” sensitivities, especially in light of difficult debates he also didn’t want to suggest that about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, also just because Asian Americans are demand thoughtful attention. well assimilated, they are somehow UCLA MATTERS “Students who question whether the university liberated from racial hierarchies. Kang believes that in order to under- cares enough about their particular concerns “For Asians, there’s a moment where stand how COVID-19 is affecting us, would have appreciated more direct interaction putting on a mask signals and reminds we need the full richness of smarts with me and my office,” Kang says. “I want to own us how we’re always a little bit marked that a great university like UCLA that it was challenging.” as not belonging to the mainstream.” has across all disciplines. We need “VC Kang has built an office that is unlike to explore not just the science, but anything I’ve ever experienced before,” says also the importance of names and Johnathan Perkins, special assistant to the vice COMMON FRAGILITY their connections to violence, which chancellor for EDI, as well as an attorney and an A crisis exacerbates racism, triggers sociologists, media scholars and expert on diversity issues. The breadth of matters fear and often brings out the worst lawyers are examining now. We need that come through the office is enormous, he in people, says Kang. Yet he remains to think about human behavior and says, but we can always do better. “The problems optimistic, partly because of what he how we respond to the safer-at-home are infinite, and there is an infinite amount sees within the UCLA community. orders. “I like the fact that I’m part of solutions and adjustments to get to a more When Zoom classes were disrupted by of UCLA as we struggle through this equitable place. We need to come at this from a racist remarks, the Office of EDI found global challenge,” he says, circling back place of love and care for one another.” that the perpetrators were random to the students and the questions that The task of leading UCLA’s efforts to get to a outsiders. And though there have been are always on his mind. more equitable place will now be taken up by a cases of individuals using racist or “Most people are wondering new head of EDI, as Kang returns to the UCLA insensitive language, Kang says UCLA what happens in the fall,” Kang says. School of Law faculty full time. That task will be is bound by the First Amendment, “If we have a fork in the road and have given new urgency by the national outcry for racial so not every offensive remark is a genuinely hard decision to make, justice in the wake of the killings of George Floyd, As a student, Isaiah Njoku ’19 investigated or recorded. then I’m constantly asking: Does the Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery. No doubt, advocated on “My general sense is that the choice look different if we privilege Kang will have some good advice for his successor. issues affecting overwhelming majority of Bruins have the perspective of the people who Moving forward, Kang says, trust is the African Americans come together and realized what a are the least well-off? What is the fundamental key. “We need to give each other on campus. He hard time this is,” Kang says. “I think best thing we can do as a university the benefit of the doubt that we all belong now works in the Office of the what we’ll find is that the only way we’ll to promote our basic values of equity, here. We are all trying in good faith to figure

Dean of Students. PHOTOPHOTO BY BY PHOTOG PHOTOG NAME NAME muddle through to the other side is by diversity and inclusion?” things out,” he says.

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With generous and swift donations, the community responds to UCLA — and UCLA responds to the community — during the COVID-19 crisis.

Necessity #1: N95 Masks We took these for granted not so long ago. While health care workers require the official N95 masks, which have been difficult to come by, we are all wearing face coverings now. Generous By Ariel Okamoto donations to COVID-19 funds have helped provide masks Photos by Anaïs Wade for students, staff and health care workers.

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UC77_Covid Philanthropy.indd 52 5/27/20 2:21 PM UC77_Covid Philanthropy.indd 53 5/27/20 2:21 PM Necessity #3: Personal Hygiene Products After the initial panic-buying, basics like toilet paper and THE COVID-19 CRISIS has left no paper towels are starting to show up on store shelves again. community untouched — including UCLA. But it also Generous donations to UCLA’s Economic Crisis Response Fund has brought out the best in Bruins, who have pooled time, talent and treasure to meet the challenge. have helped thousands of vulnerable students — who might still be on campus — make it through.

Philanthropy on the Front Line Within a month of launching COVID-19 appeals, UCLA received more than 1,500 cash gifts and hundreds of offers of personal protective equipment (PPE), food and care items for health care workers. The resources have helped UCLA Health expand capacity and adapt operations to ensure that high- risk cases are tested and treated. Support continues to come in from all across the philanthropic spectrum, from foundations and corporations to local businesses and personal fund- raising campaigns. The efforts of UCLA students, alumni and community members — including children and youth — have supplied health care workers with PPE, groceries and gift cards. As hospitals across the country experienced PPE shortages, a team drawn from UCLA Health, UCLA Library’s Lux Lab, UCLA Samueli School of Engineering and UCLA School of Dentistry developed a reusable face shield that can be produced using 3D printers, which were purchased with the help of generous donors. Donations also enabled UCLA scholars to pivot their research to shared priorities. Faculty and administrators have expedited clinical trials for treatments, and others have been examining risks among specific populations. Engineering, data science, clinical medicine and epidemiology experts have created an app to track virus spread by survey, enhancing care capacity management. And public health faculty have advised local leadership, spoken with media and educated the public. “Based on these early experiences, I believe the way we do research beyond this COVID-19 crisis will profoundly change,” says Kelsey Martin, dean of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. “We’re seeing even more shared social

Necessity #2: Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) PPE includes not just masks, but also gloves and disposable gowns that help keep health care workers and their families safe. As the COVID-19 virus continues to spread globally, so will demand for PPE. But support keeps coming in from the UCLA community, local businesses, foundations and personal fundraising campaigns.

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UC77_Covid Philanthropy.indd 54 5/27/20 2:21 PM UC77_Covid Philanthropy.indd 55 5/27/20 2:21 PM Necessity #4: Access to Technology A new Bruin Tech Fund has helped undergraduates transition to International Students & Scholars. The Food Closet remote learning by supplying them with laptops, tablets and Wi-Fi. has raised about $100,000 in donations and Twelve campus units, including the David Geffen School of Medicine departmental contributions, supplementing a similar and UCLA Anderson School of Management, contributed $745,000. amount in state funding for grocery gift cards. Under constantly changing conditions, it’s more clear than ever that support for students is vital.

Using Everyone’s Gifts for Good responsibility and shared information, and it’s a Surviving — and thriving — in such times takes better way of doing science.” giving of all kinds, including contributions past and present. With everyone on board, UCLA has been able to share its resources with the local, national and global community. Support for Students In one instance, researchers identified greater On the learning front, the pandemic changed the economic risk from COVID-19 in Los Angeles’ Latino educational experience for UCLA students. Classes and Asian American communities, informing future moved to remote platforms, student jobs in residence recovery plans. The report was co-sponsored by the halls and cafeterias were temporarily suspended UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs’ Latino Policy and vulnerable family members were in need of care. and Politics Initiative, which launched during the Philanthropy has filled some of the financial gaps Centennial Campaign. At the UCLA School of Law, created by the COVID-19 crisis. experts have compiled legal resources on COVID-19, In the month following the shift to remote learning while moving mock trial competitions online for in March, 300 donors gave more than $190,000 to students nationwide. UCLA’s Economic Crisis Response Fund — and the Daniel Fessler, director of the UCLA Bedari numbers have continued to grow through supporters’ Kindness Institute, shared his thoughts in an generosity. The fund has covered basic needs — oral essay titled “A Global Lifeboat: Evolution such as food, rent, hygiene products and medical and Kindness in the Time of Coronavirus.” Also care — for thousands of students. At the same time, donor-supported, UCLA’s Center for the Art of students have been maintaining their education Performance captured the vocals of South Africa’s through virtual means. To aid in the transition and the Ladysmith Black Mambazo in Royce Hall for a need for equipment, a new Bruin Tech Fund supplied unique virtual viewing, and the UCLA School of the undergraduates with essential technology, from Arts and Architecture is sharing artistic photos and laptops and tablets to Wi-Fi hot spots. videos to feed spirits worldwide. Patricia Turner, senior dean of the UCLA Closer to home, the UCLA Community School College of Letters and Science and vice provost of in Koreatown is feeding hungry families. Enhanced undergraduate education, initiated the new fund by philanthropy, the site is a go-to resource for using discretionary support received during the local residents — it’s designated as one of 68 recent Centennial Campaign. The Bruin Tech Fund Grab and Go Food Centers for Los Angeles Unified also garnered commitments from across campus, School District students and their families during including the Geffen School of Medicine and UCLA the COVID-19 crisis. Anderson School of Management, which don’t In times like these, everyone is called to even enroll undergraduates. In all, 12 campus contribute. Together, UCLA’s health care providers, “I believe the way we do research beyond this units contributed $745,000. researchers, students, faculty, partners, alumni and “I’m so proud to be part of a community that looks donors continue to answer the call. COVID-19 crisis will profoundly change.” out for everyone,” Turner says. “We hope that these contributions from departments and donors alike Kelsey Martin, dean of the Necessity #5: Food David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA encourage others to support our dedicated students during a tumultuous time.” Grab and Go Food Centers, including the one at UCLA Other efforts, including discretionary funding Community School in Koreatown, are helping to feed hungry from the Office of the Vice Chancellor of Student students and their families. UCLA also distributes food and Affairs, have bolstered student services through the resources funded by donations to its Community Programs Community Programs Office Food Closet, Counseling Office Food Closet and other campus groups. and Psychological Services, and Dashew Center for

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UC77_Covid Philanthropy.indd 56 5/27/20 2:21 PM UC77_Covid Philanthropy.indd 57 5/27/20 2:21 PM HAPPENINGS AT HOME ALUMNI EVENTS As Bruins have followed Los Angeles’ safer-at-home order, UCLA has continued to offer arts and YEAR-ROUND 2020 culture, entertainment and sports — virtually. From interactive online discussions to digital Mindfulness Webinar In partnership with the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research programming, there are plenty of options to keep you engaged from your computer or mobile device. Center, the UCLA Alumni Regional Networks will host an ongoing webinar series about mindfulness. These sessions are livestreamed on Zoom and archived on the UCLA Alumni YouTube (youtube.com/user/alumniucla). ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT SPORTS Info: alumni.ucla.edu/events-calendar

YEAR-ROUND 2020 Hammer Museum at UCLA Bruin Insider Show Podcast Alumni Career Programs SUMMER 2020 In a time of physical distancing and virtual communication, stay Even though the Hammer Museum is temporarily closed, you can Hosted by Bryan Fenley and Nick Koop, this weekly hourlong pod- informed and offer support by connecting with Bruins across still enjoy events and exhibits remotely. The museum has uploaded cast takes an inside look at UCLA Athletics. Since sports have been town or around the globe from the comfort of home. From UCLA New Bruin Send-offs hundreds of videos to its YouTube channel (youtube.com/user/ postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, the podcast aired its ONE to Bruin Career Insights, you can sharpen your professional hammermuseum), including its recent online events. Also, there are last episode of the season on March 18. However, earlier episodes are toolkit with career resources for alumni. Every fall, thousands of new students begin classes at UCLA. But the lunchtime art talks, film screenings and discussions — all online. archived, so you can revisit past sports moments. Info: alumni.ucla.edu/alumni-career-engagement first steps of their lifelong journey as Bruins occur much earlier than In addition, the Hammer has expanded its digital archive, which Info: podcasts.apple.com/om/podcast/ucla-bruins/id913332545 the first day of school. Throughout each summer, alumni networks includes UCLA Artists in the Hammer Museum, a collection of more around the world host New Bruin Send-offs to welcome incoming than 1,000 works by artists who have taught or studied at UCLA. Pac-12 Networks SUMMER 2020 students and families to UCLA. These casual and celebratory events Info: hammer.ucla.edu 2nd Act: Older Is Not Spelled O-V-E-R showcase the reach and strength of the UCLA community, provide Missing Bruins sports action? Catch classic Pac-12 matchups The 2nd Act offers Bruins in their fifth decade of life and beyond a space for students and parents to ask questions, and give alumni UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance and replays from the 2019–20 season on TV or online via Pac-12 opportunities and resources to engage and learn, optimize an opportunity to give back to their alma mater in a fun way, through Networks. You’ll find everything from men’s basketball and football health, volunteer, invest in themselves and approach life speaking about their experience as students. New Bruin Send-offs, Although CAP UCLA has suspended the rest of its 2019–20 season, to women’s beach volleyball and gymnastics. transitions with wit, humor and positivity. This event, which which take place between July and September, range from backyard some of its performances are available online. This includes the Info: pac-12.com/networks will be livestreamed on Zoom, will be dedicated to renewal gatherings to potlucks in community parks. March 16 concert with South African choral group Ladysmith Black and successful aging, which is no longer the loss of possibility Mambazo, which was held just a few days before Los Angeles’ safer- UCLA Gymnastics: The New Era but a new stage of opportunity. “Students and parents were still socializing when they left [the at-home order went into effect. Instead of canceling the show, it was Info: alumni.ucla.edu/2nd-act Send-off],” says Meg Wilson J.D. ’11, president of the Sacramento UCLA Athletics’ behind-the-scenes docuseries looks at the 2020 livestreamed and is archived on YouTube (youtube.com/user/kcrw). Alumni Network. “They were chatting and exchanging social media. UCLA gymnastics team as it enters a new era under first-year There’s also Palermo Palermo, a dance performance that presents … Students stayed huddled together throughout — the parents had to Head Coach Chris Waller ’91, who replaced coaching legend a postwar view of the Italian city. It was scheduled to take place in pull them away to leave!” April, but the Pina Bausch Foundation has made it available online: Valorie Kondos Field. Released every two to three weeks, the episodes follow the gymnasts from their first preseason practice pinabausch.org/en/editions/film/palermo-palermo What began in 2013 as 10 Send-offs in California has grown to more to their challenging meets. Info: cap.ucla.edu than 60 events in all corners of the globe, from Seattle to Shanghai Info: uclabruins.com/sports/2020/3/5/ucla-gymnastics-the-new-era. and Boston to Bangkok. These events are not only regionally aspx — Compiled by Louise Kim UCLA Film & Television Archive based, but they’re also hosted by diversity and affinity alumni networks, including the Lambda Alumni Association for the LGBTQ+ The Archive has launched the Safer at Home Cinema series, which community, the First Gen Alumni Network and the Latino Alumni provides a curated list of films and TV shows that Bruins can stream Association, just to name a few. from their living rooms. The lists are centered on specific themes, such as “desert island films” — three movies you would take with you With a community as large as UCLA’s, it can be intimidating for an if you were a castaway on an island. Plus, the Archive’s website pro - incoming student to find their bearings and acclimate to campus. vides access to an extensive library of footage you can watch online, Being able to make connections with other incoming students including student films and early animation. Also, read about the from their home communities before even setting foot on campus Archive’s recent restoration of 1933 film Mystery of the Wax Museum. can help ease the transition for many students. For parents and Info: cinema.ucla.edu family members, connecting with other parents and families at these events is a great opportunity to share tips and help ease the Works In Progress Podcast anxieties of sending a student off to college.

UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture’s new Works In Progress Note: In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, this year UCLA staff podcast discusses current topics and trends through the lens of art, and alumni volunteers will welcome students and families to architecture and design. Episodes feature Willem Henri Lucas, a UCLA through virtual New Bruin Send-off experiences. : DYLAN COULTER. MINDFULNESS: GETTY IMAGES. BRUIN SEND-OFFS: COURTESY OF UCLA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION. professor in UCLA’s design media arts department, who explores : DYLAN COULTER. MINDFULNESS: GETTY IMAGES. BRUIN SEND-OFFS: COURTESY OF UCLA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION. the meaning of home; and Dana Cuff, a professor in UCLA Arts, For more information about New Bruin Send-offs, visit who discusses how we’re rethinking the home, city and office during the coronavirus pandemic. alumni.ucla.edu/send-offs. Info: podcast.arts.ucla.edu PHOTOS GYMNASTICS PHOTOS GYMNASTICS

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Tribute in Blue

On April 16, Powell Library and Royce Hall were bathed in Bruin blue to show appreciation for health care workers, first responders and all other essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Inspired by the #LightItBlue campaign, the #LightUCLABlue tribute took place every Thursday for weeks, shining a blue light on those UCLA landmarks and Covel Commons. All across the U.S., cities, businesses and institutions have been lit up in blue to honor the heroes who make it ADAM AMENGUAL

ADAM AMENGUAL possible for us to stay safer at home and mitigate the spread of the coronavirus. — Delan Bruce

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