BY CYNTHIA LEE and DENNIS LIM
UCLA Today

It’s a faculty honor you won’t likely see among the listings of published papers and memberships in prestigious academies that typically fill a professor’s curriculum vitae.

But among those in the know on campus, winning a coveted spot as a summer guest lecturer at a first-rate lakeside mountain resort in a San Bernardino forest of pines, oaks and dogwoods has a cachet all its own.

Welcome to UCLA’s Bruin Woods Family Resort, where 10 lucky faculty members are invited each summer to guest-lecture and to bring their families along for the fun. This summer, they’re joining 760 paying guest families at Lake Arrowhead from June 22 to Aug. 31 to celebrate their shared Bruin connection and indulge in a kick-back lifestyle living in two-story guest condolets and dining on fine food in the main lodge, within steps of a swimming pool, a cabana and Jacuzzis, giant tree house, tennis courts and a putting green.

And the best part: All this takes place while the kids are liberated from summer boredom by UCLA student camp counselors with dawn-to-dusk activities that range from rope climbing, fishing trips and campfire singing to musical shows, moonlight cruises, and arts and crafts.

“It’s an incredibly fun experience and at just the right price,” said Margaret Stuber, a professor-in-residence in psychiatry and biobehavioral science who is returning to Bruin Woods with her family this summer. “Seriously, though, it’s such a nice break from the hustle and bustle of university life. For parents, it’s a true vacation because they have activities for people of all ages.”

Bruin Woods organizers have figured out that while the body unwinds, the mind doesn’t necessarily have to go flabby. So for each of the weeklong summer sessions, run by the UCLA Alumni Association, two faculty members lecture on topics guests want to hear about — whether it’s the latest thinking on attention deficit disorder, insights on Wall Street or the inside scoop on Enron.

“UCLA has incredible access to some of the most brilliant minds in the country. We want to offer our alumni guests access to that,” said Jim Turner, director of UCLA Conference Center/Bruin Woods Alumni Family Resort.

In return, faculty hear the views, concerns and firsthand experiences of alumni who have spent years in the work world dealing with these issues, Turner said.

While Bruin Woods has activities such as archery and swimming for Stuber’s two youngsters, ages 6 and 10, it also offers plenty to keep adults entertained with everything from water skiing to pickup softball games, casino night and salsa and merengue lessons.
The program’s appeal has sparked many repeat visits by faculty like Eric Sussman, a lecturer from The Anderson School.

“It’s great because of all the organized activities for the kids. As a parent, you have some freedom, while the kids love the activities,” said Sussman who, as a child, spent family vacations at summer camps at UC Santa Barbara and UC San Diego. “Everything is taken care of — what to eat, where to go, what to do.”

Sussman learned firsthand that adult vacationers yearn to learn. During the heady days of rocketing stock prices, this Bruin Woods expert on Wall Street lectured to standing-room only crowds on the topic of online trading.

“I tell them that anyone who’s on vacation and voluntarily comes to a lecture deserves extra credit,” he quipped.

While Stuber, Sussman and other faculty members choose illuminating lecture topics from their own fields, Jim Bruno, a professor of urban education in the Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, ventures further afield. An expert in the perception of time and social-justice issues, he lectures on the history of the violin, his favorite instrument. In fact, Bruno is an artisan who makes violins from scratch.

He and his family have discovered a special harmony during these interludes at Lake Arrowhead. “Most family vacations really aren’t much of a vacation for parents,” Bruno said. “On most family vacations we take, we have to come to an agreement on what to eat, what activities to do. And then you have to break up fights between the kids. Parents never get a chance to relax.”

But it’s different, he said, at this resort. “As a parent, it’s rare to be free of that worry of where your kids are and what they’re doing,” Bruno said. “But there I felt completely comfortable with the staff and the surroundings to let them go.”

In fact, some faculty members, like Stuber and Sussman, enjoy their lecture vacations so much they return with their families as paying customers, an option available to all faculty and staff who join the UCLA Alumni Association.

To attend Bruin Woods, at least one member of the family must be a UCLA degree holder or a full-time UCLA faculty/staff member as well as an association member.

But booking space is not easy; 92% of all guest families sign up for return visits. The program has been running at capacity since 1986. Those fortunate enough to get in can reserve a slot for the following year.

“It’s incredibly popular,” Turner said. “We have pioneer families who started coming here 18 years ago with the first camp. Their children grew up here.”

To give newcomers and those on a waiting list a chance (there are currently more than 400 families on the list), a lottery is held each year for the remaining unreserved spots. “If you miss a year, you go back in the lottery,” Turner explained, although the chances of winning are enhanced for families who have been there before.

Each year, faculty lecturers are selected based on their area of expertise, reputation as scintillating lecturers and topics that are currently hot with guests. “We ask our student staff to recommend outstanding professors they’ve had,” said Turner, who is always on the lookout for interesting lecture topics.

The only problem occurs when faculty are not invited back after repeat visits. David Feinberg, medical director of managed care in psychiatry and biobehavioral science, has been a Bruin Woods regular for five years. After lecturing on managed care, adolescent substance abuse and other medical topics, he’s now searching for fresh lecture material to win a coveted return engagement, he said, laughing.

“It’s phenomenal. It’s such a wonderful program,” Feinberg said. “It’s really fun to give a lecture in such a relaxed setting. These people are there because they want to be — instead of going fishing.”

Feinberg said faculty and their families become part of the entire camp of Bruins. “My family just loves it. In fact, if someone cancels, tell Jim we can be up there in an hour.”

WHERE THE GOOD TIMES ROLL

It was once a yacht club and later a grammar school for area children.

Since the early 1920s, when the main lodge and nine guest cottages were built at Lake Arrowhead, the facilities that now make up the UCLA Alumni Association’s Family Resort during the summer and the UCLA Conference Center during the rest of the year have catered to diverse clientele.

Originally, the 40-acre property owned by the Los Angeles Turf Club, operators of the Santa Anita racetrack, was the site of the North Shore Tavern, an exclusive resort for 125 guests that was only open during the summer. It was so exclusive there were only two ways guests could reach it: by boat from the village, located on the opposite shore, or by horseback.
For a few summers in the 1950s, the resort served as the Yacht Club of Lake Arrowhead. One of the buildings, the Cedar Guest Lodge, was even used as the area’s grammar school.

In 1957, the turf club, which owned the lake and surrounding land, decided to sell some of its lakeside holdings. But it chose to donate the Tavern complex to an educational institution. The first university it approached, USC, declined the offer, leaving the way open for the University of California to accept. It did so with some trepidation — there was a stipulation that the property had to be self-supporting, with no reliance on university or state funds.

In 1958, the first conferences and classes were held at the facility, called the University of California Conference Center, administered by UCLA’s University Extension. Later, Systemwide Extension took it over, followed by UC Riverside Extension.

In 1981, the UC regents pondered selling the property. That’s when it caught the eye of UCLA Alumni Association leaders.

Seeing its potential, the Alumni Association, under the direction of former Chancellor Charles E. Young, purchased the property from UC Riverside. In addition to remodeling and refurbishing the existing buildings, the new owner added 10 new structures.

The same year the $7-million renovation project was completed, 1985, the alumni association launched Bruin Woods with 385 families. Since 1986, the ever-popular program has been running at capacity. A week of camp fun costs $855 per adult and can range from $75 to $730 per child, depending on age.

Today, combined projected revenues for this year for the family resort and the UCLA Conference Center are running at approximately $7.25 million, said Jim Turner, director of the UCLA Conference Center/Bruin Woods Alumni Family Resort.