Regents on tour hear from employee, faculty
BY ANNE BURKE
UCLA Today Staff
When nine members of the UC Board of Regents came to UCLA Feb.
4-5, they touched base with a variety of campus constituencies to
learn about different activities that make the campus a bustling
hub of research and learning. There were presentations illuminating
the work of the Center for Society, the Individual and Genetics,
the David Geffen School of Medicine, the Graduate School of Education
& Information Studies, the School of the Arts and Architecture
and Bruin athletics.
The regents also heard from one very enthusiastic UCLA employee.
“When somebody asks me what I do ... what I say is, ‘I
work at UCLA!’ ” Rosemary Chavoya told the regents Feb.
5 at the James West Alumni Center in a presentation highlighting
“The Value of UCLA as an Employer.”
Chavoya, the executive officer for the Psychology Department and
a former president of UCLA Staff Assembly, told the visitors —
including Chairman John J. Moores — that although she is sure
she could trade her job at UCLA for a better-paying position elsewhere,
the 23-year staff veteran can’t think of why she would want
to.
The environment in which she works is both supportive and stimulating,
she said, and offers excellent benefits and opportunities for advancement.
She also noted that the university has numerous cultural and educational
attractions readily within reach of staff and faculty. During her
lunch hours, Chavoya said, she enjoys popping over to the Fowler
Museum or dropping in on a lecture.
Chavoya, who holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees
from UCLA, was still a student when she started working at UCLA
as a cashier in the Pediatric Clinic. She said she owes her career
to free training and mentoring programs, such as the Management
Seminar Series offered by Campus Human Resources in partnership
with the Anderson School of Management.
Chavoya believes this rich menu of non-monetary offerings helps
explain why the university isn’t seeing an exodus of employees
seeking fatter salaries and annual pay raises elsewhere.
“We’re really involved in something bigger than ourselves,”
Chavoya said.
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