Jun 26, 2007 8:00 AM

The king of classrooms

A walk through campus on a typical school day brings a familiar sight — thousands of students scurrying to class. But have you ever wondered who is responsible for making sure those students have places to learn? Who manages the scheduling of all those classrooms?

Luckily for UCLA, that job falls to Doug Thomson, an administrative analyst in the Registrar's Office. He oversees the scheduling of approximately 3,500 class sections in 200 general assignment classrooms each quarter, ensuring that departments all over campus adhere to specific scheduling guidelines. With the help of programmer analyst Jan Bartholomew, Thomson has trained more than 100 department schedulers in the use of the OASIS system and makes sure they submit their class offerings on time. He then edits their information following a specific format and runs an algorithm to assign classes to the appropriate classrooms.

Things could easily go awry, but thanks to Thomson, the scheduling process runs smoothly. For his efforts, Thomson was named the 2007 winner of Staff Assembly's Excellence in Service Award, which recognizes the performance of staff members who go "above and beyond the call of duty" in helping the university achieve its mission. He received his award on June 19 in the Royce Hall West Lobby, along with a cash prize of $5,000.

"It was a pleasant shock," said Thomson, who has 32 years of service in the Registrar's Office. "I'm humbled, to put it mildly. I can think of an awful lot of people in our office and across campus who would be just as deserving, if not more so."

Tell that to the 18 people who wrote letters in support of Thomson's nomination, including Kathleen Copenhaver, his supervisor. "Doug's patience and ever-ready help are legendary," she wrote. "His good humor goes a long way in calming frayed nerves and resolving conflicts peacefully."

Dean Dacumos, director of student services for the School of Theater, Film and Television, added, "If you ask him a question, he'll answer it. If he doesn't know the answer, he'll make sure to find it for you. Doug makes you feel like your question is the most important question to him. He brightens up your day."

A 1979 UCLA alum with a degree in Slavic languages and literatures, Thomson speaks Russian and "can embarrass" himself in French and German. His proficiency in Russian came in handy in 1978 when, as a student manager for the UCLA men's basketball team, Thomson was asked to interpret a halftime interview between KTLA-5's Mike Walden and Vladimir Tkachenko, the starting center for the visiting Soviet National Team.

His involvement in UCLA sports includes serving as the timer for men's and women's basketball games — you can see him at the officials' table operating the game clock. He's also part of the official statistics crew at home football games at the Rose Bowl.

But Thomson isn't about to let his talent for organization and details — or his Staff Assembly award — go to his head. "A few years ago, I accidentally canceled a class with 400 students enrolled," he said, laughing. "Unfortunately, there's no panic button to push when you cancel a class, so I had to reenroll all the students by hand."

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