We have heard it said far too often recently, 2020 was probably the worst year that any of us have experienced. It must be largely true, because so many of us seem to have this collective reference. This prompted me to attempt to catalogue the events that have transpired over the past year. Here is a reflective digest. 

In January, Provost Frykberg and Associate Dean Zegarra completed the WSCUC (WASC) Assessment Leadership Academy (ALA) as part of cohort X. The ALA is a ten-month program that is designed to train institutional leadership in best practices of assessment and student learning. The classes are provided by our accrediting body, WASC and it serves to instill in the participants one of the most essential skills of the pedagogy of teaching, assessment standards, evaluation and reflective responsiveness to the feedback provided. 

In February, UWLA began a ten-month process of introspection and intra-reflection for the purpose of deliberating and either affirming its existing mission statement or developing a new mission statement. The beginning of that process was February’s survey of all internal UWLA stakeholders through a SWOT survey that resulted in over one thousand responses. We attempted to distill from those responses meaningful elements to incapsulate in our new mission statement as we embarked on the path to lifting the university institutionally to new and higher levels of academic proficiency and standards.    

March was a turning point and incredibly busy time for UWLA. We not only transitioned from on-site instruction to distance learning within a two-week period, We also physically moved from our SFV campus to its new larger home at 19900 Plummer St, Chatsworth, CA 91311. Our new SFV campus contains more classrooms; more quiet study areas; additional parking, and an improved commercial grade Wi-Fi capacity for students. UWLA historically, for the last fifty-four years taught exclusively in an on-site format. This transition was necessitated to ensure both the health of all of our stakeholders and continuity of education for our students in light of the then emerging threat of COVID-19.

Sadly, in March the SFVBA Mock Trial Competition scheduled for April was canceled due to COVID-19 and our team was unable to compete. However, two of our law students Natalie Hairabedian and Edgar Portillo led by Professor Glassman, placed second in the 2020 Traynor California Appellate Advocacy Moot Court Competition, (First place for a Respondent's Brief). The competition, which was open to all law schools of California, originally consisted of written briefs and oral arguments. However, due to the ongoing health and safety crisis caused by COVID-19, this year’s oral arguments were cancelled and the competition was based solely on written briefs submitted by ten law schools throughout California. UC Berkeley Law was awarded first place. 

In April, UWLA offered a free four session Masterclass facilitated by Professor Cynthia Ruiz on how to become the CEO of your life. The course was designed to help our community transition in uncertain times in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and to contend with its effects as they rippled throughout our world. Professor Ruiz’s class consisted of multiple sessions teaching adaptation skills like Removing Life’s obstacles and creating a Mission and Vision for your life. 

In May, UWLA, as the culmination of a seven-year odyssey, received eligibility by the Department of Education to award Federal Financial Aid for the 2019-2020 academic year. This cleared a major hurdle for UWLA for the benefit of its students. The financial burden of attending UWLA was now lessened by the ability of our students to apply for and receive federal financial aid. This truly ushered in the new era for UWLA and will now enable it to become an elite institution without being “elitist”. But with the benefit of federal financial aid comes great responsibility for how we achieve our “opportunity” mission. The impact of additional student debt on our students requires all to be vigilant and committed to strong accountability for all concerned. Our professors and staff have always adhered to the highest standards of academic training. They must now also be conscious not to allow students who do not perform up to our standards not to languish and incur additional debt for which they might not ultimately be able to repay. Students must be highly committed to their studies at UWLA and make the achievement of their academic goals their foremost priority.  Our ability to host our “opportunity mission” is a very fragile and precious entitlement. We must do everything within our power to institutionally preserve it for the future of our institution and the students who will someday benefit from the achievement of their goals with the fruits of our education and resources.

In June in the aftermath of George Floyd’s untimely death, UWLA hosted a panel discussion to address the issue of “we Can’t Breathe…The Fierce Urgency of Now!” featuring local law enforcement, academics, activists and attorneys addressing topics of: Do Black Lives matter?, Does the Rule of Law Matter? And what have we not learned from the past: 1965 Watts Riots, the 1968 MLK Riots, the 1992 LA riots to our current 2020 LA Riots. 

Later in June UWLA held a panel discussion on Conversations with Women Leaders in Los Angeles and their Leadership Lessons. The four panelists came from the public and private sector and collectively hold direct oversight of a combined budget of over seventeen billion dollars and manage thousands of people within their fields. They presented on their vision of women’s elevated and enhanced role in leadership, past, present, and future .

In July, UWLA continued to sponsor the now 8th Annual Cultural Competency in Family law by the Iranian American Lawyers’ Association. This year the conference focused on Culture & Lockdown, Intimate Partner Violence in a Time of Isolation and Quarantine. This event is always heavily attended by the majority of family law judges in our region. This year was no exception. Professor Steve Zand is responsible for making certain that the conference is held at UWLA and it makes a dramatic impact on the attorneys and judges that annually attend. 

In August UWLA’s School of Business launched its “Weekend intensive” section of its existing Master of Science in Organizational Leadership and Business Innovation degree program. This program is designed to assist students to pursue their business education while also attending to their career responsibilities. It is a very novel program, and we have high expectations for it in the future. 

In September UWLA published its first edition of its “Law & Business” Newsletter. In which it announced: Dean Frykberg’s appointment to UWLA’s first provost; Professor Zegarra’s elevation to Associate Dean;  Professor Martin’s appointment as UWLA’s Director of Faculty Development; Professor Glassman’s appointment as UWLA’s first Coordinator of Legal Skills and Advocacy Instruction, and the addition of Ryan Fullmer to the UWLA family as its new CFO. 

In October during the assault on Artsakh by Azerbaijan, UWLA hosted a panel chat on the conflict that was not being reported broadly by the news media and “We Can’t Remain Silent… The Fierce Urgency of Now!” consisting of panelists from Armenia’s Religious and Legal community. The panel addressed Armenian history and the Political, Economic, Social and Technological dimensions of the ongoing conflict and why the public needed to know what was happening and not being widely reported on. This program was one of our most highly attended events and featured our own Professor Suzy Marjanian as moderator and Professor Samuel Ekizian, as a panelist. World renown attorney, Mark Gerigos also was one of our panelists.   Additionally, October was when the “July” California Bar was finally administered in a first ever online format for examinees.  

In November, UWLA Law Students Devin Cutting and Patricia Snyder led by esteemed Professor Glassman competed in the 32nd Annual University of San Diego National Criminal Procedure moot court competition and maintained UWLA's long tradition of success in legal advocacy competitions. The National Criminal Procedure Moot Court, hosted by the University of San Diego, featured teams from 30 law schools across the country this year. This year marks the third time in the last four years that a UWLA team has advanced to the "playoff" rounds in the national Criminal Procedure Moot Court. Professor Glassman has been training our law students to excel in the moot court competition for many years and annually it brings honor and recognition to our student participants and UWLA. 

In December UWLA submitted its self-study for its upcoming March 2021 virtual site visit and adopted its new Mission, Values, and Vision statements which are listed below:

Mission Statement

University of West Los Angeles is a family.

Our culture of diversity creates a unique equitable educational empowerment environment. We provide opportunities for resilient learners to become servant leaders to their communities.

Values:

FEEL Definition - FEEL an experience (an emotion or sensation).

Family

Equity

Educational Empowerment

Leadership

Family – 

Our Family value of interpersonal relationships requires that we care for and treat all *members of our community in a constructive but honest and respectful manner. 

*members of our community are all who share our values.

Equity – 

Our value of Equity encompasses diversity and inclusion, it requires that we support each member based upon their unique needs for support and gives them fair access to educational empowerment. UWLA affirms its position as an antiracist institution.

Educational Empowerment – 

Educational Empowerment adds to and refines the members of our communities’ existing capacity and knowledge with the creation of opportunities for professional development and social mobility. 

Leadership – 

Irrespective of titles or names, the value of Leadership is the ability to bring about transformative change from vision to completion, while at the same time remaining a humble lifelong learner.

Vision Statement: 

Liberation through educational empowerment.

I would like each of you to take a moment to review our mission, values and vision statements. Our mission statement reflects our overarching purpose. Our values are what we cherish and hold as principles to guide our course and our actions as we pursue our mission, and our vision is what our mission yields if we are successful. Our board, administration and faculty came together to attempt to synthesize the essence of UWLA through this platform. We are in gratitude for their time, patience and contributions toward making this endeavor a prideful statement of what UWLA holds dear. 

As we transition into 2021, UWLA leaves 2020 with the highest student population it has had in over five years and with nine months of developed best practices in distance learning. We will hold two site visits in 2021: 1) In March we will host a virtual site visit by WSCUC (WASC) and 2) In April our School of Law will host a site visit by the Committee of Bar Examiners. Both of these site visits were planned before the COVID-19 pandemic and are part of our normal accreditation site visit process. Our team has prepared assiduously to present UWLA in the best possible light and to enable us to be successful during the course of this scheduled periodic review. We have worked hard to maintain the highest amount of trust and integrity with our accrediting bodies, WASC and the California State Bar. We have strived to earn and sustain that trust and we feel confident that our efforts will be equally recognized by these esteemed bodies, when they review us in March and April. 

UWLA has also created new positions within our organization to better fulfill its newly refined mission, values, and vision. Those positions are: Chief Strategic Officer, Chief Equity Officer, Senior Vice President and the Director of Admissions, Recruitment & Marketing, and Vice President of Global Partnerships. You will learn more of these positions and how they will assist UWLA in transitioning from its mission to its vision in 2021. Most importantly I would like to acknowledge the efforts of our administrative team, that worked so hard during the course of the year to negotiate and overcome all of the formidable challenges posed by the events of 2020. Professor Jesse Aldava, helped us make a very smooth transition to remote learning when the health risk posed by Covid became apparent and we knew that onsite learning would potentially put our professors, students and staff at peril. Associate Dean Eric Zegarra, helped by becoming a stabilizing presence for our faculty and students. Dean Talon Brown remained a bulwark at the helm of the School of business guiding our students and faculty through the development and implementation of new educational practices and implementing new programs. Vice-President of recruitment, Troy Brown, was ever persistent in making certain that UWLA’s name was forefront in the minds of new prospective students and markets. He has developed partnerships for UWLA with at least ten new corporate or municipal partners to develop a steady flow of students for the university. Also, through his efforts, we now have articulation agreements with every community college in the Los Angeles community college district and Santa Monica community college.  Most importantly, I would be remiss not to mention our most valuable player, Provost and Dean Jay Frykberg. Dean Frykberg has been the spirit behind almost every initiative within UWLA this entire year. In addition to everything else that he does, Dean Frykberg personally supervised the moving of furniture and equipment to our new location in the San Fernando valley directly in the face of the oncoming pandemic in March. He also oversaw the set-up of the new campus. This message would go on for another ten pages if I mentioned the contributions of every contributor to the success of UWLA in 2020. Please accept my thanks and gratitude. 

Lastly, in 2021 UWLA will seek approval to add nine additional programs to its existing three programs (JD, MS, BS). I will be at liberty to discuss these new proposed programs in 2021 after they have been submitted to our accreditors for approval.  

To quote Frank Sinatra “The Best is Yet to Come” and I am so happy to have the professionalism of each of you. It is because of you that we will be successful and prosperous as a family. Happy New Year and please continue to stay safe. Thanks to all of you for being members of the UWLA family. I remain…

Your humble president, 

Robert Brown