Friday, October 16, 1998
Fund will be used to establish program on American culture,
offer fellowships, speaker series
FUND RAISING: Famous artist gives UCLA $1 million
By Ashley Harre
Daily Bruin Contributor
The UCLA Department of Sociology received $1 million in order to
fund programs to study American society and promote innovative
teaching and research. The gift came from Leroy Neiman, a world
famous artist, on Oct. 9.
The donation is the largest award ever granted to the department
by a single individual, according Steve Sherwood, a graduate
student of sociology.
The money will go toward funding an organization called the
LeRoy Neiman Center, which will research American society, help
improve lectures through technology and host a lecture series for
the public.
The center is designed to study many areas of American culture,
such as painting, sculpture, dance, film, literature, architecture
and music.
Neiman chose to establish the center at UCLA because he liked
the social environment.
‘What I liked most about the faculty and students at UCLA is
their willingness to speak out. They like to be challenged and
challenge others,’ Neiman said in a press release.
‘At UCLA, the curiosity, the enthusiasm and the openness to
explore sociological issues is very strong,’ he said.
The center will try to track trends in society within the two
largest American cities, Los Angeles and New York. It will work in
conjunction with an institution in New York.
The collaboration will allow researchers to conduct their
research looking at the country’s trends in a new way. These
research patterns will then be used to predict future trends across
the country and prevent problems with those movements.
‘American society is shaped by the social evolution in New York
and Los Angeles  as cultural centers, as economic
powerhouses, and metropolitan areas with large and changing
immigrant populations,’ said David Halle, a professor of sociology
who is in charge of the Neiman Center.
In addition, the center will offer an Artist-in-Residence
program, and fellowships to graduate students specializing in
American culture and society.
The center will hold a speaker series, public conferences, book
and paper publications, among other services.
A speaker series, beginning in May, will detail the scholarly
relationship between Los Angeles and New York into the next
century.
Sherwood said a $10,000-a-year dissertation fellowship had been
established within the Neiman fund.
‘(Neiman Center) will have a trickle-down effect that will
benefit graduate and undergraduate students. Neiman keeps his
legacy alive in a certain way by endowing this research,’ Sherwood
said.
Alina Chau, a second-year graduate student in animation, agreed
that the center will improve UCLA.
‘All those arts  film, music, etc  are part of
society, sociology. The world is shifting to information,’ she
said.
‘Art and painting are kinds of communication  it carries a
message. The arts are a reflection of society, how people interpret
society,’ she said.
UCLA also offers programs in music and art within its School of
the Arts and Architecture.
Jenifer Brown, a first-year undeclared student, also said she
believes the new center will enrich campus by studying American
society in a new way because of its collaborative approach.
‘If they combine everything then you’ll have knowledge of all
different aspects, not just your own,’ Brown said.
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