'Citrus league' provides higher education with a distinctive Southern California slant.

`Citrus League' provides higher education with a distinctive Southern California slant

The crumbling, venerable buildings clustered around Harvard Square have their own mystique. And certainly, they have the ivy which seems to grow in symbiotic relationship with East Coast schools. But increasingly the national and the world look West for their supply of the brightest minds and the best skills. And a veritable powerhouse of higher education - a brain trust the equal of any - has quietly made the entertainment capital of the world its home.

Welcome to the Citrus League: higher education with a Los Angeles style all its own.

The more than 40 colleges and universities in the Los Angeles area represent one of the highest concentrations of students in the world. The institutions and students themselves are a force that permeates every facet of our society; our industries, our arts and our regional well-being. The economic impact of quality education on Southern California is so enormous that Jack Kyser, economist for the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, calls our schools "one of the vital components of our economy."

It may be that fewer of our local college lecture halls are named after revolutionary war heroes. Indeed may of them were named for, or where built by, successful American entrepreneurs of the 20th century. And entrepreneurial spirit, coupled with old-fashioned know-how and work ethic, are the driving forces that have made Southern California's better colleges world renowned. They have become the destination for the best minds of all nations in their search for knowledge.

The global outreach of our universities is not to be underestimated in the awareness it creates of the importance of our region. Consider the young child who sells you a rice cake when you visit the Great Wall of China. He may be wearing a t-shirt with that famous capitalist symbol: UCLA. And in ten years, he may be inking a contract with you.

University of California, Los

Angeles (UCLA)

Ranked among the top half dozen research institutes in the country, UCLA is often mentioned in the same breath with Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Berkeley and MIT. The university boasts one of the widest curriculum offerings anywhere in the world: there are 37 departments in the College of Letters and Science alone. And students can choose among 60 languages to study.

The 419-acre westwood campus, established in 1929, is world renowned for its research and graduate student programs. And one of the unique aspects of UCLA is that its top flight medical school and life science buildings are just across the road from each other. This allows research scientists and medical professionals to be constantly in touch with each other. The result is the instant exchange of cutting edge knowledge.

UCLA is involved in nearly every level of national or international endeavor, whether in medicine, politics, or business, the sciences or the humanities. Students represent all 50 states and arrive here from more than 100 countries.

The school is a social and ethnic model for the rest of the schools of Southern California in terms of its students and faculty. It's the most ethnically diverse research university in the country and, as such, is a near perfect mirror of the city of Los Angeles itself.

In terms of name recognition, the four letter UCLA logo ranks with those of IBM and Coca Cola. Global awareness of the school's eminence ensures that its graduates form a network of decision makers who will guide the events of the world in every field. And the caliber of its students is reflected in the roughly 3.9 GPA of its arriving freshman classes.

UCLA is a university that offers the best in graduate and undergraduate studies. Because of its academic excellence, the price at which it's offered, and the setting in which it's conducted, it's difficult to imagine a better education than that provided by UCLA.

University of Southern California 

(USC)

What began as a miniature campus with 53 students and 10 instructors in 1880 has developed into one of the leading academic institutions in the United States. As one of the oldest independent research universities in the West, The University of Southern California (USC) now boasts enrollment figures in excess of 30,000. Degrees are offered in 201 areas of study through 17 professional schools.

Innovative programs and an emphasis on research have always been USC's hallmark. In 1924, the nation's first school of international relations opened on its campus, followed in 1929 by the first program in cinematography. Today cutting edge initiatives such as the program in Neural, Informational and Behavioral Science continue the tradition.

In the past decade, under the presidency of James H. Zumberge, the USC Health Science campus - located seven miles northeast of the main campus - has nearly tripled in size. It has become internationally known for its clinical medical excellence as well as its basic research.

USC's academic performance was recognized in the 1960s when the university was elected to the Association of American Universities. Only 56 public and private U.S. institutions belong to that organization.

While rising to academic stardom for more than a century, USC has never neglected athletic performance. It has sent more athletes - nearly 250 - to the Olympic Games than any other university. And at least one Trojan has walked away with a medal from every Summer Olympiad since 1912.

The Claremont Colleges

They have often been called "The California Oxford." And indeed the Claremont Colleges resemble the prestigious English university in physical layout and approach to learning.

Grouped together at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains are the Graduate School and five undergraduate colleges: Scripps, McKenna, Harvey Mudd, Pitzer and Pomona.

Pomona is the oldest of these colleges and was founded in 1887. The Graduate School followed in 1925, and the last college to open was Pitzer in 1963. But unlike other universities founded a century ago, the Claremont Colleges have not grown proportionately to the size of Los Angeles.

Even today, each college enrolls only between 500 and 1,300 students with the total students population being around 5,000. Classes are small and the interchange between students and faculty and among students themselves is frequent and personal.

Professors often involve their undergraduate student in their research. Pitzer students, for instance, have gone on archeological trips to Africa while Pomona students have helped plan conferences on international relations.

All colleges combine their resources, facilities, and services to offer the same level of quality and convenience as universities.

The focus of each college varies. McKenna emphasizes economics and government. Harvey Mudd strives to train skilled engineers, scientists and mathematicians. Pitzer concentrates on psychology, sociology and anthropology while Pomona focuses on the humanities, social and natural sciences. Scripps' unique feature is that it's a woman's college specializing in the humanities.

California Institute of Technology 

(Caltech)

Caltech, the lovely little campus in Pasadena, does not try to be all things to all people. They are selective about what they do and they strive to do it very, very well.

Though it's actually possible to get an English degree there, most students follow the illustrious faculty into the scientific fields. Of all universities in the country, Caltech has the highest percentage of faculty elected to the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering.

Elegant experimentation and research programs of global significance are the norm at Caltech. A current program known as Computation and Neural Systems (CNS) is under way to allow computers to function less like machines and far more like the human brain. The network of astronomical observatories Caltech maintains (including the 200 inch Hale telescope at Palomar) will soon be enhanced by the world's largest optical telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii.

And with the U.S. Geological Survey they maintain the Southern California Seismic Array: when there's an earthquake, Caltech spokesmen are instantly on television. And Richter, of course, was on the faculty.

In a clear case of the tail wagging the dog. Caltech operates the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA. With JPL, whose estimated budget for 1989 is $965 million, Caltech is busy readying various flights to Jupiter, Venus, Mars and the sun.

The 1,800 students of Caltech are assured of working with the finest scientific minds in the country. And they are given every opportunity and push to redefine the boundaries of knowledge and the universe.

Loyola Marymount University

(LMU)

LMU's Board of Trustees recently brought together 239 distinguished people from every field of endeavor in Los Angeles. This "Commission on the Future" conducted a year-long study to determine the university's needs and direction for the future. Their comprehensive recommendations may in part account for the school's efforts to reach out internationally. As of this writing, 28 Soviet executives are involved in an LMU program at the campus to give them hands on experience with capitalism.

Undergraduate students at LMU generally have a better opportunity - because of favorable faculty/student ratios - to participate in advanced research programs. A current program sponsored with the Getty Conservation Institute has students utilizing infrared microspectroscopy to learn the origins and authenticity of ancient works of art.

Loyola University and Marymount Colleges merged in 1973 to form the present LMU. The union maintained the century-old tradition of Catholic higher education in Los Angeles. Since that time, LMU has devoted its energies to becoming a top research university with expanded undergraduate programs in all fields and a national reputation for its graduate studies. In a 1989 study by U.S. News and World Report, LMU emerged among the top five regional colleges of the Western states.

LMU is currently undergoing an environmental impact study to be able to expand the campus. It's their hope to provide more on-campus housing for their students which will allow them to identify more closely with their school. But if you watched any NCAA tournament basketball this past year, you'll know that Loyola doesn't have much of a problem with loyalty.

PHOTO : Hallowed halls: UCLA ranks among the top half dozen research institutes