Bruin Spotlights

Read about some of our most noteworthy alumni and be inspired to recommend a Bruin for a UCLA story. Together, we won’t only share stories, we’ll live them.

William Russell (Russ) Ellis Jr. '59, M.A. '65, Ph.D. '69

For someone who has achieved so much in his life, it is surprising that, for much of it, Russ Ellis was continuously haunted by one failure – one minute of time in 1956 that did not go as he had hoped. His description of what he long considered a defining moment of his life, the […]

Katya Daniel '08

Over the course of her career, Katya has had the opportunity to build high-performing teams and lead successful programs across nearly every aspect of global talent acquisition and people operations. Her approach is data-driven, relentlessly curious, and focused on building strong stakeholder relationships to ensure talent strategy supports business strategy. As a leader, she believes […]

Alexander Woodman '11

“Reflexivity is a hallmark of excellent research that entails the ability and willingness of researchers to acknowledge and take account of many ways they influence science,” says Dr. Alexander Woodman ’11. As an accomplished researcher with over ten years of experience in clinical research, Woodman often pauses the fast pace of his career to reflect […]

Alexander Woodman '11

Russ Ellis '59, M.A. '65, Ph.D. '69, and Rafer Johnson '59

The following was written by William Russell (Russ) Ellis Jr. '59, M.A. '65, Ph.D. '69, who starred on the UCLA Track and Field team, which, led by Rafer Johnson '59, would win the NCAA Championship in 1956. Read about Ellis' fascinating life in his Bruin Story. It was 1954 – in the summer, I think. […]

Katya Daniel '08

George Villafuerte

The profiles we publish as UCLA Alumni Class Notes or Bruin Stories are, almost exclusively, reserved for alumni of the University. But there are some notable exceptions - those whose devotion to UCLA is so exceptional that we consider them “honorary” Bruins and, therefore, eligible to be celebrated in this space. One such honoree is […]

Ralph Hernandez, M.S.W. '74

Rafael (Ralph) Hernandez, M.S.W. ’74, was not only the first person in his family to receive a university degree, he was the first to attend school past the eighth grade. One of seven children in a Mexican-American family, his father a cement worker, his mother a janitor, he was told at his high school, Loma […]

Robert ’64, J.D. ’67, and Nancy ’64, M.A. ’66, Weeks

On a bench outside the County Government Center in San Jose, Calif., reads Gandhi’s profound teaching: “Be the change you want to see in the world.” The bench was donated by Robert ’64, J.D. ’67, and Nancy ’64, M.A. ’66, Weeks, who live by that powerful credo. For the last 20 years, the UCLA Alumni […]

Judge Karen L. Robinson ’85, J.D. ’89

As an African American woman and Superior Court judge, double-Bruin Judge Karen L. Robinson '86, J.D. ’89, set her sights high at a young age, and kept striving to achieve her goals. At UCLA, she competed on the same team with some of the fastest runners ever to grace Drake Stadium and became the University’s […]

Doug Chiang

Doug Chiang, Vice President and Executive Creative Director at Lucasfilm, is featured in an interview on StarWars.com, in which he discusses his experience at UCLA as a film major and how the diversity on campus was a revelation. Chiang was born in Taiwan but grew up in Michigan, where he recognized he was not the […]