BY MARINA DUNDJERSKI
UCLA Today Staff

After a decade at the helm of the College of Letters and Science, Provost Brian Copenhaver announced Sept. 29 — to the surprise of many — that he would step down from his post at the end of the 2002-03 academic year.

The approach of his 60th birthday in December and the end of his second five-year term as provost brought him to a “natural decision point,” Copenhaver said, not to seek a third term, and to focus more heavily on teaching and learning.

“I decided that even though I love this sort of work, it feeds only the side of me that thrives on the fascinating life of university organization, politics and academic communication,” Copenhaver explained. “But another side of me is more contemplative. It requires sitting by oneself or in small groups and thinking things through deliberately and carefully. This latter side of me is less well-fed than the other.”

Copenhaver — who as professor of history and philosophy continued to teach both undergraduate and graduate courses over the years — has contributed much to improve undergraduate education, recruit top-notch faculty and improve the College’s standing, administrators said.

“Brian Copenhaver has ensured that the College of Letters and Science forms a firm foundation for UCLA,” Chancellor Albert Carnesale said. “Under his leadership, the College has made impressive strides in a number of arenas, including the enhancement of undergraduate education through curricular innovation and a new approach to general education.”

During Copenhaver’s tenure as provost, the College revamped its GE curriculum; implemented a stronger writing requirement; created the September 11 Seminars, and subsequently the Fiat Lux Seminars; and made the Internet and Web technology an integral part of life for students and faculty.

Copenhaver, who came to UCLA in 1993 from UC Riverside, has also been instrumental in the College’s fund-raising campaign, especially by involving the College’s deans and vice provosts in the effort. By the end of this year, the College will have raised more than $200 million — five times more than the amount raised in the previous capital campaign. The next step, Copenhaver said, will be getting faculty and students involved because “at the end of the day, the people who are most impressive to our donors aren’t administrators like me. The really important people are faculty and students.”

During the upcoming year, Copenhaver will be contending with the current budget crisis and continuing to work on projects aimed at improving undergraduate education.

He also outlined three major areas that he believes are critical to the College’s future over the next decade: adequate funding of graduate education; the quality of the library; and the quantity and quality of space for faculty.

He noted, for example, that the Life Sciences Building was completed in 1954, just one year after James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the double helix structure of DNA. “So some of our labs in that building would make nice exhibits in the Smithsonian, but they don’t function very well as research labs,” he said.

“The job that I will be leaving is a big and very demanding one, even consuming,” Copenhaver wrote in a letter to the UCLA community. “But it has also been immensely rewarding.”