covid-19-updates

Dear Anderson Community,

By now, many of you will have seen Executive Vice Chancellor Emily Carter’s email about fall quarter planning. The percentage of in-person classes mentioned in her email relates to undergraduate courses. Anderson is still waiting for direction from UCLA for our fall quarter.

We are hoping to offer a significant percentage of the content of both core and elective courses in person for all of our programs. All courses will also be fully available in a remote modality for students who require that option. We will share additional information with you as soon as it is available.

As always, we appreciate your patience during this planning process. Please know that we are making all decisions with counsel from the CDC and other health authorities, taking into consideration the ongoing need for physical distancing and other safety precautions. While we are anxious for our community to be back together on campus, your health and safety remain our top priority.

Best,

Dean Antonio Bernardo
Dean and John E. Anderson Chair in Management

Dear Anderson Community,

In normal times, many of us would be getting a jump start on a nice, long Memorial Day weekend. While circumstances are certainly different this year, I hope you will each be able to take a break from the many stresses of the past months to simply enjoy yourself.

To help, here are three Anderson sources of entertainment and information that you might want to check out this weekend:

First, a reminder of our new 1 Anderson Channel on YouTube, created by students primarily for students, though our entire community is welcome to enjoy it. On this channel, you’ll find content ranging from great brownie recipes to explorations of the night sky. And you might even take this weekend to create and upload a new segment on whatever personal interest or expertise you want to share.

Second, I’m happy to announce the launch of our new Anderson podcast channel, featuring four podcast series:

“How the World Works with Warren Olney”

• “Leadership (or the Lack Thereof) in This Global Crisis,” a conversation with Professor Sebastian Edwards

• “The Global Economic . . . Recession?,” a conversation with Professor Ed Leamer

• “Happiness in COVID Times,” a conversation with Professor Cassie Mogilner-Holmes

• “The Difference Between Thinking You’ll Do Something and Doing It,” a conversation with Professor Hal Hershfield

“Why MBA”

• “Incorporating Passion,” featuring a conversation with Darren Pleasance (’95), SVP of global strategy at Cisco

• “Chasing Your Dream Job,” featuring a conversation with Rosie O’Neill (’05), co-founder of Sugarfina

• “MBAs and Startups,” featuring a conversation with John Tabis (’06), co-founder and CEO of The Bouqs

• “The Business School Experience”

“DriveTime” with Dylan Stafford

• A conversation with Brian Thomas ('14), co-founder of Clutter, on the impact of Anderson on entrepreneurial success

• A conversation with Nasim Afsar ('17), chief quality officer of UCLA Health, on the impact of an MBA in medicine

• A conversation with Diego Benitez ('19), founder of Progress Brewing, on the business and science of microbrewing

• A conversation with Sai Chundi ('16), portfolio planner at Microsoft, on developing yourself as a leader at Anderson

“The Riordan Recorder”

• “Love Streams,” a conversation with Riordan MBA Fellows Alum Class of 2000 on dealing with life’s challenges

• A conversation with Dr. Portia Jackson (Riordan Scholar '98) on why challenges in life are essential for growth

• A conversation with Brian Henry (MBA Fellow '09) on living out your passion

• A conversation with Willie Alford II (MBA Fellow '03) on the art of asking for help

Third, we can all share pride in our very well-respected UCLA Anderson Review, which features our faculty research. Here is a brief sample of some great Review articles that are trending now

“Vacation Mindset: How Weekends Can Be More Refreshing,” research by Professors Cassie Mogilner-Holmes and Sanford Devoe

“Do Corporate Wellness Programs Boost Worker Productivity?,” research by Professor Ian Larkin

“Through the Minimum Wage Looking Glass: Economic Consensus Unrealized,”  research by Professor Ed Leamer

“The Malleability of Who Falls for Conspiracy Theories,”  research by Professor Jennifer Whitson

“Save-Save-Save, but Then What? Financial Structure and Spending in Retirement,"  research by Professors Shlomo Benartzi, Hal Hershfield, Suzanne Shu and Robert Zeithammer

“Diversity: Measuring How and Why Groups See It Differently,” research by Professor Miguel Unzueta

“Being Biased Against Friends to Appear Unbiased,” research by Professor Eugene Caruso

"Monthly Quiz: Test Your Business Knowledge" by UCLA Anderson Review Editor-in-Chief Jeff Bailey

However you choose to spend your time this weekend, I hope you will be able to take a deep breath and relax. We are in the home stretch now, nearing commencement and summer break. This next month will need us all back in top form, but for the next few days, enjoy.

Last, I want to take a moment to thank all of our Anderson active military and veterans for their service to our country and their many contributions to our Anderson community.

And, as always, please take good care of yourselves of each other.

Best,

Dean Antonio Bernardo
Dean and John E. Anderson Chair in Management

Dear UCLA Anderson Community,

Monday, the vice chancellor announced that UCLA will continue remote learning through Summer Session C (August 3 – September 21). A decision about the format for teaching in the fall quarter, which begins on September 28, will be made sometime in June.

As we’ve shared with you over the past several weeks, UCLA Anderson is fully prepared for remote learning to continue throughout the summer and fall. Once we are permitted to return to the physical classroom, our faculty will be ready to offer course material in an appropriate mode (in person, remotely or both), based on any physical-distancing restrictions and the capabilities of our facilities.

The strong feedback loop that has evolved between our students and faculty this spring quarter has been particularly informative, as it’s allowed us to identify and apply best practices for remote learning in near real time across all of our programs. This community partnership with our students, faculty and staff will continue to be our most important strategy to drive innovation and add value to the remote learning experience as we move forward.

While the administration of each of the Anderson MBA programs will be providing more detailed information in the coming weeks, I want to give you an overview of our plans for each program this summer.

• The full-time MBA program: The official start date for incoming students will be fall quarter. To prepare students for the program, an innovative online introduction focusing on career services and skill building will be provided during Summer Session C.

• The FEMBA program: All normally scheduled summer electives will be offered, but in a remote format.

• The Executive MBA program: All electives normally scheduled in the August block will be offered during Summer Session C, but in a remote format. The program’s International Business Residential (IBR), typically held in September, will be postponed to 2021.

• The UCLA-NUS EMBA program: UCLA and NUS are developing options for both current and incoming students for the August segment and beyond. The program will be sending further information about those options later this week to all UCLA-NUS EMBA students.

Our academic contingency planning committee, chaired by Professor Carla Hayn, is continuing to fine-tune curriculum strategies for both Summer Session C and the fall quarter.

In addition, we’ve established an administrative planning committee to detail operational strategies such as facility occupancy and sanitation, safety procedures and ongoing communications.

UCLA will be providing additional information in the coming weeks about when and how students, faculty and staff can return to campus. We will share this information with you as soon as it is announced.

In closing, there is no doubt that the months ahead will have their own challenges. However, we have sound reason to be confident and optimistic. Our Anderson community has already proven its resilience and compassion. We will get through this crisis together. Our cultural pillars — share success, think fearlessly and drive change — have never been more relevant or in greater evidence than they are now. I thank each of you for all you are doing to support Anderson and to keep our community strong.

Please continue to take good care of yourselves and each other.

Best,

Dean Antonio Bernardo
Dean and John E. Anderson Chair in Management

Dear UCLA Anderson Community,

Commencement is our most important celebration of the year, and even though we must stay physically apart this June, we will recognize this major milestone for the MBA and Ph.D. Classes of 2020 with great pride and traditional fanfare. In fact, we’re going to mark the Class of 2020 commencement not once, but twice — virtually on June 12 and, when possible, with a live celebration.

Today, I want to share an exciting update regarding the June 12 virtual commencement.

I’m delighted to announce that our commencement speaker will be Mike Hopkins (’01), senior vice president of Prime Video and Amazon Studios. In this role, Mike leads Amazon’s video entertainment operations and reports directly to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

Mike’s appointment to this role in February has been described by entertainment industry analysts and reporters as a “massive hire” and a “home run addition” for Amazon.

Mike has a 20-year track record of innovative leadership in the entertainment industry. Prior to joining Amazon, he served for two and half years as chairman of Sony Pictures Television, which followed four years as CEO of Hulu. He also was a longtime executive at Fox Networks, most recently serving as president of distribution.

While working full time in sales at Fox, Mike earned his MBA through our FEMBA program.

As an active alumnus, he has given back to the school in multiple ways, long serving Anderson as a member of our Board of Advisors.

Mike also has served on the Paley Center for Media’s Los Angeles Board of Governors and the boards for Hulu, Fox, the National Geographic Channel and the Big Ten Network.

Mike’s commencement address will precede the awarding of degrees to the Class of 2020. Each graduate will be recognized by name, as is our tradition.

We are currently working with student leadership to shape and personalize the rest of the program. We’ll share further details, including the names of student speakers, in the coming weeks.

Please mark your calendars now for this important celebration, just five weeks from today:

Friday, June 12
4:00 p.m.

Further updates will be shared here.

The Class of 2020 has shown extraordinary leadership and resilience through the coronavirus pandemic. I hope our entire community will join in this celebration of their exceptional accomplishments.

Best,

Dean Antonio Bernardo
Dean and John E. Anderson Chair in Management

Dear Anderson Community:

Coach John Wooden once said, “Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.”

I think he would be very proud of the Anderson community today. Through the past many weeks of uncertainty and upheaval, you did not focus on what was lost, but instead pulled together to create and adapt new ways to stay connected with each other, to work and to learn. I believe he would call that “success.”

While the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to create uncertainty and disruption in the months ahead, with the positive momentum you have created, we can begin to turn our attention from immediate challenges to focus on what’s next.

Today, I want to update you on the work of two planning committees that are focused on our forward path.

First, the contingency planning committee, led by Professor Carla Hayn, has been exploring the various scenarios possible for summer session C and the fall and winter quarters, taking into consideration the possibilities of continued safety and distancing requirements.

Earlier this week, that committee presented a draft plan to the Faculty Executive Committee, which voted to support it. We are now moving forward with a multimodal learning strategy that will enable us to reopen our classrooms for live instruction as soon as it is safe to do so, while also providing remote learning options for students who may not immediately be able to join their classmates on campus. This flexibility will be especially important in serving our international students.

We expect UCLA to announce whether campus will reopen for summer session C in the next week or two. In early June, the university will share its plans for fall quarter. Please rest assured that we are prepared for all eventualities and that we will share specifics once we know them.

Meanwhile, we are also planning for our future beyond the challenges posed by COVID-19, with the formation of our strategic planning committee. This committee is co-chaired by Ian Larkin, professor of strategy, and Jim Moffatt (’87), former Global CEO of Deloitte Consulting, and a long-time member of our Board of Advisors. Fredrik Leuhusen, our recently appointed assistant dean of strategic initiatives, will provide essential support to the committee.

This committee is already at work to develop our next strategic plan. Their goal is to identify and explore critical priorities for the school’s moving forward in areas such as curriculum, branding and culture. They are currently forming a steering committee of students, faculty, staff and supporters to gather essential input and insights from across our community. We will share ongoing updates on this effort throughout the coming months, and will present the plan in full later this fall.

Without doubt, these past weeks have been some of the most daunting in Anderson’s history. But they have also been among the most innovative and inspiring because our community has risen together to meet our many challenges. I thank you again for your ongoing initiative, leadership and optimism.

Please continue to take good care of yourselves and each other.

Best,

Dean Antonio Bernardo
Dean and John E. Anderson Chair in Management

Dear Anderson Community:

In this update, I want to spotlight our centers, which play such an important role in connecting our faculty thought leaders and students to business and broader communities. To the benefit of us all, they have stepped up with expert knowledge and creativity in response to the COVID-19 crisis and other current societal and business issues. Let me share just a few highlights of the many upcoming thought leadership events that you might want to attend:

The Center for Global Management is hosting the COVID-19 World Today Discussion Series, led by Professor Sebastian Edwards. These sessions are open by invitation from CGM to the Anderson community:

• “COVID-19 and the Corporate Debt Crisis” with Professor Mark Garmaise. Tuesday, April 28, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

• “Lessons from COVID-19: Making Decisions under Entirely New Circumstances” with Distinguished Professor Ed Leamer. Wednesday, May 6, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

• “A Rethink of the Global Supply Chain in the Midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic” with Distinguished Professor Chris Tang. Monday, May 11, 5:00 – 6:00 p.m.

• “Political Economy Aspects of the COVID-19 Pandemic” with Professor Romain Wacziarg. Monday, May 18, 2020, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

• “Helicopter Money and COVID-19” with Distinguished Professor Sebastian Edwards. Wednesday, May 27, 5:00 – 6:30 p.m.

The Easton Technology Management Center is hosting an ongoing series of timely conversations and workshops:

• “Technology and Society: Who Owns the Good and Bad Outcomes?”: A conversation with veteran strategist Eric Loeb, the executive vice president of government affairs at Salesforce. Moderated by Professor Terry Kramer. Wednesday, April 29, 5:00 – 6:00 p.m. Register here.

• “Technology-Based Disruptions: Leadership Imperatives in a Rapidly Changing Environment”: A panel discussion hosted in partnership with the Office of Alumni Relations and moderated by Professor Terry Kramer. Thursday, May 7, 5:00 – 6:00 p.m. Register here.

• “Working across Boundaries for Transformative Outcomes: Results from the First Annual Easton Innovation Challenge and Implications for MBA Education”: Winners of the recent Think in the Next Innovation Challenge — interdisciplinary team CranioView from UCLA Biodesign — will discuss promising areas for innovation, particularly in health care, with Professor Terry Kramer and Dean Tony Bernardo. Tuesday, May 12, 5:00 – 6:30. Register here.

The Fink Center for Finance is hosting the Fink Investing Conference, featuring keynote speaker S. Kenneth Leech, chief investment officer of Western Asset Management Company, in conversation with Dean Tony Bernardo. Thursday, April 30, 10:00 – 11:00 a.m. Register here.

Impact@Anderson is hosting a series of virtual talks on the Future of Impact:

• “The Future of Work,” Part II: Hosted in partnership with the Center for Management of Enterprise in Media, Entertainment & Sports (MEMES), a pre-weekend discussion of the 2020 Academy Award-winning documentary American Factory, with Participant Media’s impact producer Heriseida Beraj-Viotti and faculty chairman and deputy dean of academic affairs, Sanjay Sood. Friday, May 8, 1:30 – 2:30 p.m. Registration information to come.

• “The Future of Housing”: Hosted in partnership with the UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate, a panel discussion moderated by Ziman executive director Tim Kawahara. Date and registration information to come.

The Center for Management of Enterprise in Media, Entertainment & Sports is hosting a series of conversations moderated by MEMES executive director Jay Tucker (’09) with leaders in media, sports and entertainment, including:

• “The Business of Baseball: Maximizing a Player’s Value”: A talk by Arielle Moyal, director of baseball marketing at REP1 Sports. Friday, April 24, 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. Register here.

• “Leading in a Disruptive Time”: A talk by Grant Michaelson (J.D. ’97, ’19), VP of business affairs, Disney Channels Worldwide. Wednesday, April 29, 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. Register here.

• Lisa Brummel (’89), co-owner of the Seattle Storm. Friday, May 8, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Register here.

• S.E. Cupp, host of CNN’s “S.E. Cupp: Unfiltered.” Wednesday, May 13, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Registration information to come.

The Price Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, in partnership with the Entrepreneur Association, is presenting the Knapp Venture Competition. 25 teams will advance to next week’s semi-finals and then to the finals to be held the evening of May 14. Registration to come.

The UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate is hosting a series of webinars with distinguished speakers:

“Affordable Housing Development and Investment Explained, Part 2”: Hosted as part of the UCLA Ziman Center’s Levine Affordable Housing Distinguished Speaker Series with Rob Wasserman (MBA/J.D. ’98), senior vice president of U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corporation. Wednesday, April 29, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Register here. (Watch the video of “Affordable Housing Development and Investment Explained, Part 1” here.)

Bill Dudley, economist and former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Wednesday, May 6, 10:00 – 11:00 a.m. Registration information to come.

“Housing, Equity and Community in the Time of COVID-19”: Hosted as part of the UCLA Luskin Virtual Summit in partnership with the UCLA Lewis Center. Thursday, May 7, 10:00 – 11:00 a.m. Registration information to come.

Please look for more information on these and additional upcoming events on Anderson’s new community calendar.

My thanks go out to each of our centers for their strong leadership, collaboration and innovation in bringing these opportunities to our community. I hope to see many of you at the events I’m moderating, and I look forward to joining you at others.

Please continue to take good care of yourselves and each other.

Best,

Dean Antonio Bernardo
Dean and John E. Anderson Chair in Management

Dear UCLA Anderson Community:

We all took a giant leap of faith when we began this quarter together, dependent on each other to keep our community connected and to create a learning experience of real value. I am so proud of the partnerships across our community that have made our transition to remote learning not only feasible, but as successful as we’d hoped it could be through a willingness to adapt and innovate. My thanks go out again to our faculty, who reinvented delivery of their courses so quickly and admirably; to our students, whose patience, engagement and feedback continue to improve course delivery each week; and to our staff, who are our unsung heroes, supporting all of our efforts. We may not be physically together this quarter, but I believe our community has already grown stronger.

With this update, I am happy to share news of five initiatives that will bring added value to this quarter, and perhaps well beyond. Each of them is the result of collaboration among faculty, students, staff and, in some cases, alumni and supporters as well.

First, in consultation with student leadership, our faculty identified and developed four new 2-unit courses to offer during the last five weeks of this quarter:

• Professor Charles Corbett will teach a course on global supply chains

• Professor Stuart Gabriel will teach a course on COVID-19’s impact on real estate

• Professor Eric Johnson (’91), vice president of global multimedia sales at ESPN, will teach a course on COVID-19’s impact on entertainment and sports

• Professor Ian Larkin will teach two 2-unit versions of his General Management course, which will focus on “the things managers need to know to react in the moment”

These courses are cap-free and open to all students. Registration for them will open next week.

Second, in response to student interest in high-level guest speakers, we are launching a digital Dean’s Distinguished Speaker Series (DDSS). Thanks to strong support from our alumni network and the broader business community, we are pleased to announce a top-tier roster:

• Brian Cornell (B.A. ’81, CERT ’91), Board Chairman and CEO of Target

• David Solomon, CEO of Goldman Sachs

• Johnese Spisso, President of UCLA Health, CEO of UCLA Hospital System and Associate Vice Chancellor, UCLA Health Sciences

• John Stankey (’91), CEO of WarnerMedia and President and COO of AT&T

I plan on focusing the first part of each DDSS conversation on these two core questions:

• How are you managing the current crisis?

• How do you see your industry changing post-COVID-19?

We’ll also be posing questions from the community, which we’ll collect in advance of each session. Look for upcoming email invitations, which will also be sent to our alumni network.

Third, many of our students have also expressed interest in entrepreneurship content and experiences. In response, our UCLA Anderson Venture Accelerator team is opening many of its sessions to student attendance. The Accelerator’s April calendar is posted here and includes a day-long Fundraising Bootcamp that students may attend in full or in part. If you are interested in attending any of these sessions, please contact Will Freas at william.freas@anderson.ucla.edu to register.

Fourth, our community engagement task force, led by Professors Corinne Bendersky and Cassie Mogilner Holmes, has collaborated closely with leadership across the MBA programs and our marcomm team to create a new master calendar of Anderson events. You can view a preview of that calendar here. Now we ask leaders across our degree programs, centers, departments, clubs and organizations to help populate it with key events.

Last, student leadership, supported by our community engagement task force and our marcomm team, is launching a new 1Anderson Channel on YouTube, focused on live content by and for the Anderson community. It will feature ongoing programs such as AnderCooks, AnderFit and AnderTalks, as well as a wide range of additional social events. All students are welcome to share their interests and skills on this channel. Learn more and sign up to host programming via CCLE here. View a calendar of upcoming 1Anderson Channel programs here.

Working together, our community is creating an innovative, eventful and dynamic quarter at Anderson, despite the challenges. Thank you, all. Let’s continue in partnership to make this a quarter we will remember with satisfaction and pride.

Take good care of yourselves and each other.

Best,

Dean Antonio Bernardo
Dean and John E. Anderson Chair in Management

Dear UCLA Anderson Community:

As we near the one-month milestone of remote learning, it is almost inconceivable how much our day-to-day lives have changed in such a short time.

For some of us, those changes are especially challenging. For all of us, the need to take good care of ourselves and each other has become far more pressing and all too real.

Health and well-being are our fundamental priorities at this time and we mustn’t lose sight of that in our pursuit of other goals, however important.

We are incredibly fortunate at UCLA Anderson to have a community and resources that support our individual and collective health and wellness.

In this update, I want to underscore some of our most critical resources and also share a handful of the many community initiatives underway to help you feel more connected, calm, fit and happier through these days that we are apart.

First, here are important resources to support essential needs.

For students:

• If you are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms: Call the Ashe Center Infection Control Line at 310-206-6217. A registered nurse will talk with you about your symptoms, testing and treatment. The Ashe Center is also staffing a support line at 310-825-3894, Monday – Friday from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm for students who are feeling overwhelmed by the COVID-19 crisis and need help managing through it.
• If you are in an emotional crisis, feeling anxious or depressed: Call the UCLA Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) hotline at (310) 825-0768. This is a 24-hour hotline. Counselors can also help if you are seriously concerned about another student’s well-being. You may also schedule an appointment through the CAPS Patient Portal.
• If you are experiencing financial hardship: Please talk with your program administrators if you are facing severe financial challenges. There are many ways we can assist with financial aid. Also, UCLA is offering some special services to help students in need at this time:
• Students with questions about how to work with an off-campus landlord can receive legal assistance from UCLA Student Legal Services. You can request a Zoom appointment by filling out this online form. Answers to frequently asked questions regarding COVID-19 and terminating an apartment lease are available here.
• The UCLA Programs Office (CPO) is operating an Online Food Closet to help students in need with a Basic Needs Gift Card. You can apply here.

For faculty and staff:

• If you are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms: Check the UCLA Health website for up-to-date information on when and how to seek care and testing.
• If you are unable to work: Employees who are unable to work because of issues related to COVID-19 are eligible for 128 hours of administrative leave. Please contact Carlos Ray at carlos.ray@anderson.ucla.edu for details.
• If you need emotional or mental health support: Call the Staff and Faculty Counseling Center at 310-794-0245 for confidential counseling services.

Beyond these essential resources, our community is working together to create a wide range of content and activities to promote our health and happiness. Our own happiness expert, Professor Cassie Mogilner Holmes, offers the following straightforward tips for “staying happy in unhappy times.” To learn more, read her full article here.

1. Get moving
2. Don’t forget to breathe
3. Spend time offline
4. Structure your days
5. Stay connected
6. Notice the good

Our students, staff and faculty are creating many opportunities to help us follow Prof. Mogilner Holmes’ advice. Following is just a brief sample of initiatives currently underway:

Get moving:

• Friday Night Lights: All students are invited to participate in this weekly fitness program, held on Zoom each Friday, 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. This Friday’s session will be taught by CorePower’s Alexandria G. Password: anderfit
• 30-Day Ab Challenge: This challenge starts students out easy, but builds to a daily target of 125 sit-ups, 200 crunches, 65 leg raises and 125 planks! Open to all and promoted daily on Slack.
• 1-minute Plank Challenge: Here’s how it starts; Hold a plank for one minute, then plank-challenge someone else. Keep the challenge going by adding 10 seconds to your plank every day for a month. Make it through 30 days, and you’ll accomplish 4-minute planks. The best part of these challenges is that we can all get stronger together. Check out the video from organizer Julianne Tadeo here.

Don’t forget to breathe:

• Mindfulness Meditation: Sara Tucker conducts a half-hour drop-in session on Zoom each Monday morning at 11:30 a.m. Everyone is invited. The link is here and the password is 138556.
• Guided Meditations: UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center also offers free meditation sessions online or via an app.

Stay connected:

• D46s. Anderson student leaders are organizing this series of virtual dinners for six on Zoom. The entire community is invited. Click on these links to sign up:
  Student Survey
  Faculty & Staff Survey
• Decision Making During Uncertain Times: Listen to this talk by Professor Hal Hershfield, who will explain why it’s so difficult to make decisions now. Friday, April 10, 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Register here.
• Caregiver Support Group: All faculty and staff are welcome at this support group led by Jami Carman for those caring for elderly parents. The group meets every other Friday. Check your email for an invitation and Zoom details from Jami. She also is about to launch a broader support group for faculty and staff seeking a safe space to share their challenges through this current crisis.
• T he Future of Work: Listen to this panel exploring tech’s impact on the evolving nature of work with Professor Terry Kramer moderating. Monday, April 20, 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm. Register here.

Notice the good:

• Resilience & Emotional Well-Being: Join this inspirational webinar led by Tia Graham, Founder of Arrive at Happy, a Los Angeles company with a mission of transformation through the science of happiness. Thursday, April 9, 1:30 – 2:30 p.m. Register here.

Next week, we will share many more activities via the launch of Anderson’s new community calendar on our website and our new “1 Anderson” YouTube channel.

In the meantime, please continue to take good care of yourselves and of each other.

Best,

Dean Antonio Bernardo
Dean and John E. Anderson Chair in Management

Dear Anderson Community,

Thanks to our community’s extraordinary resilience and creativity, there is a lot of good news to share as we begin this unprecedented Spring quarter together.

Last week, hundreds of us connected in town hall meetings to discuss the challenges and opportunities ahead. Our conversations were candid and the feelings expressed were real – disappointment and compassion, frustration and understanding, fear and optimism. Students, faculty and staff all voiced concerns, posed questions, suggested ideas and shared examples of activities already underway to ease this crisis.

Those conversations generated many important take-aways, but the most significant for me was simply this: Anderson is not defined by a place, but by our community. We may not be physically together this quarter, but we remain “one Anderson.” We are connected by our shared goals, values and experiences, all of which are magnified rather than diminished by our current situation.

Because maintaining and supporting our already strong community will be crucial as we navigate this challenging time, Professors Corinne Bendersky and Cassie Mogilner Holmes have stepped up to lead a new task force to support and enhance community engagement. By helping to coordinate social and intellectual extra-curricular activities and events across our programs, centers and areas, this initiative will enhance the connectedness of the whole Anderson community. As a first step, they are working closely with students and staff to build a central community calendar on our website.

Also as part of that initiative, MBA students are working together across all programs to create a wide range of activities and content for Anderson students by Anderson students. The core concept is to establish a channel, most likely on YouTube, that will feature topics such as health & wellness, cooking, live entertainment and service projects. It also will include interviews and discussions on timely topics from Anderson and industry thought leaders.

Other student initiatives are underway to create academic and career opportunities to connect with each other, our alumni and recruiters. One stand-out idea already in the works is to connect our graduating classes to alumni from 2008-2010, who also had to navigate an unexpectedly challenging job market. There will be much more to come on these efforts in the weeks ahead.

Meanwhile, our community is also organizing to support the critical challenges posed by COVID-19 in the wider community. Here is a sample of the many activities underway:

• Judy Choe (FEMBA ’22) and three classmates led a drive this weekend to collect personal protective equipment (PPEs) to donate to local hospitals. They gathered approximately 2000 N95 masks, 50 boxes of surgical masks, 50 boxes of gloves and 150 reusable shields and goggles. Check @PPEDrivesSaveLives for further collection announcements.

• The Anderson Board of Advisors launched a fundraising initiative to help low-income UCLA undergraduates get the technology resources they will need to continue their studies remotely.

• Our alumni relations, development and Price Center leadership and staff are spearheading an effort to reach out to alumni and their companies to obtain much-needed PPE supplies for UCLA Health.

• Center executive directors Tim Kawahara and Elaine Hagan, and Anderson Venture Accelerator director Trish Halamandaris are helping make essential supply and manufacturing connections for a team from UCLA Health and UCLA Samueli School of Engineering who are designing, prototyping, testing and manufacturing protective gear that purifies contaminated environment air for hospital settings.

• Professor Auyon Siddiq is working with a colleague from the University of Wisconsin (UW) on an optimization model that connects hospitals in urgent need of face shields with a growing network of mostly small manufacturers that are producing them using a new UW-created design.

• The UCLA Anderson Forecast is working with the California State Government, the University of California System and other state governmental agencies to better understand the implications of the current pandemic-induced recession.

• Professor Chris Tang is consulting with the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research as they develop models and precedents for how to prioritize and distribute a Covid-19 vaccine when it becomes available.

• The Social Impact Consulting Corps will launch 11 student teams next week to work with LA-based nonprofits this quarter.

I have never been more proud of this community than I am today. Your energy and willingness encourage me, and the forward progress we are already making gives me hope for the future. While it’s true that our campus life cannot be the same this quarter, it’s also true that we are already creating something new and extraordinary together.

Please continue to take good care of yourselves and of each other.

Dean Antonio Bernardo
Dean and John E. Anderson Chair in Management

Dear UCLA Anderson Community,

As we move forward in the challenging months ahead, three powerful themes should guide us: community, excellence and partnership.

Community is paramount. While isolation and social distancing are the precautions we must all take to protect against COVID-19, the underlying motivation is not separateness, but unity. Our concern is to protect not only ourselves, but each other.

For the first time in most of our lives, we share a common challenge across all the categories that often divide us: geography, economic status, age, race, gender, political affiliation, religion, etc. “One Anderson” takes on a much deeper meaning in this new context. It serves as both comfort and a call to action.

As a community, we take real comfort in knowing we are there for each other, in ways large and small. In the past weeks, I have been inspired by the many ways faculty, students, staff and alumni have been supporting one another, going well above and beyond our normal care and collegiality. The last two weeks have made clear that our strong sense of belonging is not about physical proximity, but our genuine concern for one another and our shared values.

At Anderson, we have always been committed to excellence in research, education and public service, and this crisis has not changed that commitment. While remote learning and staffing pose obvious challenges, we are more than up to the task. Our faculty is already working on some of the most pressing issues posed by our current environment, and they are creatively and effectively adapting and innovating coursework for remote modalities. We are determined to deliver an excellent learning experience for our students.

Moreover, we believe our collective creativity, intellect, problem-solving and compassion can have a profound impact on the wider community. Let me share just a few examples of efforts that are already underway:

• Four of our Decisions, Operations and Technology Management faculty members formed a COVID-19 taskforce to work with UCLA Health to address the critical operational, logistics and supply chain challenges it is facing.

• Other faculty are creating real-time content to inform and teach our students and the wider community about the issues this crisis has raised in finance, management and health.

• A group of Anderson staff members is collecting donations for the UCLA Food Closet at a time when others are hoarding supplies.

• Our staff and alumni are working together to gather personal protective equipment (PPE) for severely undersupplied local health services.

• Students are organizing to deliver essential supplies to elderly and vulnerable neighbors, to provide tutoring to homeless students and to collect PPE for area hospitals.

The months ahead will not be easy, but they can be more rewarding through ongoing partnership across our community. More than ever, we must rely on each other for ideas, feedback and innovation. While we are operating under new and challenging circumstances, we can still accomplish much if we work together.

This week, we are holding virtual town halls with each of our campus communities to encourage the honest and open exchange of questions, concerns and ideas. We will share a summary of those forums on Friday and continue to update you with new information as it becomes available. These measures are just the beginning of a series of forums we will be holding to engage a free flow of ideas and to empower action.

I remain so very grateful for the support, resiliency and generous spirit of the Anderson community through this challenge. Together, we will not just weather the current storm, but emerge from it stronger and better.

Please take care of yourselves and one another,

Dean Antonio Bernardo
Dean and John E. Anderson Chair in Management

To the UCLA Anderson Community:

Let me begin this update by thanking all of you for the incredible patience, understanding and resiliency you’ve demonstrated over the past week. Our lives have all been upended by the COVID-19 crisis, yet I have been so encouraged by the way this community has pulled together. We have made a rapid transition to remote learning, and will soon complete Winter quarter under this new approach. The change has not been easy or without problems, but we are working through it creatively as a community, with the widespread support and collaboration of students, faculty and staff working together. Moving forward, we will need that same generous spirit to support each other through the changes and challenges yet ahead.

The Chancellor has just announced that the Class of 2020 Commencement will now be held remotely. This was a wrenching decision to make, and I sincerely wish that the Class of 2020 could experience their last few weeks and celebrate their graduation together in person. But it is simply not possible to do this while protecting the health and safety of our community, which is paramount. We will work with student leaders to organize in-person celebrations at a later date, as imperfect a substitute as this will inevitably be.

I truly believe that the way we will get through these challenging times is by relying on and reinforcing our connections as a community, and the bonds we share as an Anderson family. As a first step towards reinforcing those bonds, we are opening new channels of communication. Next week, we will hold a series of town halls with students, staff and faculty, where you can share your questions, concerns and ideas. You will be receiving an invitation shortly.

Beginning next week, we also will be initiating regular communications about important developments each week. I will send community updates each Tuesday and more often as needed. Degree programs will send program-specific updates each Wednesday, and, again, more often as needed. Centers and administrative departments will establish and share their own communication schedules with their teams and communities.

Many of you have already shared questions that we don’t want to wait until next week to address. The attached two documents answer, to the best of our ability at this time, the questions most frequently asked by students and staff respectively. Please understand, however, that things are evolving rapidly, and we may not be able to answer everything with complete certainty.

While COVID-19 is demanding increasing sacrifices from all of us, it is also bringing us opportunities to adapt, innovate and serve others. I believe that our Anderson family will rise to the occasion by finding ways to help across our community.

I am grateful every day for this community. Working together, I am confident that we will meet the present challenges, and emerge, in meaningful ways, even better and stronger.

Best,

Dean Antonio Bernardo
Dean and John E. Anderson Chair in Management

To the UCLA Anderson Community:

UCLA has just announced that it has extended the transition from in-classroom to remote learning alternatives through the end of Spring quarter. This decision was made with one goal in mind – to protect the health and safety of our students, faculty and staff.

While I know that this will be troubling news for many of you, I also have absolute confidence in the ability of this community to adapt and excel.

Throughout this past week, I have been continually impressed by the care, collaboration and resilience I’ve seen demonstrated all around me. Many of you went above and beyond to help each other through this challenging transition and time. I am personally grateful for your efforts and know that my appreciation is widely shared.

Over the next days and weeks, I will be consulting closely with faculty, students and staff across the school to quickly develop and adopt best practices for all Anderson operations throughout the coming quarter. There are many important considerations that must be made to ensure an excellent experience for our students, in particular.

I will be updating you regularly as we firm plans. I also welcome your ideas, comments and questions. Together, I know we can meet this challenge and serve as a positive role model for other schools and organizations.

The weeks and months ahead will continue to be challenging as COVID-19 runs its course. First and foremost, I wish both you and your loved ones well throughout this crisis. We have a strong and caring community and we will get through this together.

Best,

Dean Antonio Bernardo
Dean and John E. Anderson Chair in Management

To the Anderson Community:

With concern and uncertainty about COVID-19 remaining high, the Chancellor just announced that UCLA has made the decision to suspend in-person classes wherever possible and transition to remote alternatives beginning tomorrow. Currently, the plan is to continue remote instruction through at least the first two weeks of Spring quarter.

This decision was made in the spirit of caution. There are currently no confirmed cases of COVID-19 at UCLA. But as a preventative safeguard, the university is taking steps to limit crowd size to under 100 people. At Anderson, we are taking an even more cautious approach by encouraging you to further limit the size of the event if it includes guests from outside of our community.

Our faculty is working with ACIS now to set up remote learning and testing alternatives through Zoom, Mediasite on CCLE and Examity. As those alternatives are established, faculty will reach out to each class with details.

Similarly, administrative areas are currently working through staffing plans to support all of the school’s critical operational functions while offering telecommute work options, where possible. Staff should check in with your supervisors for details.

To be clear, the campus is not closing. But the health and safety of our students, faculty and staff is our top priority. Thus, we want to take all well-advised precautions.

By now, I’m confident that each of you is well aware of the steps you can take individually to protect yourself. Nevertheless, I am going to repeat them since they are so critical to preventing the spread of COVID-19:

• Wash your hands frequently and thoroughly
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands
• Avoid close contact with people who are sick
• Contain coughs into a tissue or sleeve
• Stay home if you are sick, especially if you have a respiratory illness or fever
• If you develop flu-like symptoms – fever, cough and difficulty breathing – and you believe you may have been exposed to COVID-19, seek medical attention by first calling your health provider:
  • Students should call the Ashe Center Infection Control Line at 310-206-6217
  • Faculty and staff should call their health care providers
• Cancel non-essential travel, especially to countries categorized with Level 3 Travel Notices, currently including China, South Korea, Italy and Iran. Also, please note, that travel restrictions may be subject to rapid change.

We encourage any community member with health vulnerabilities or family responsibilities complicated by COVID-19 precautions, to please put your health and family first. We will work with you to enable remote solutions, as needed.

Know that we will continue to keep you informed of any significant COVID-19 updates. In the meantime, the university’s COVID-19 information page is an excellent source for additional and timely information.

These are stressful days for all. Thank you for your care, cooperation and support as we work together to safeguard our community. Please feel free to reach out to me directly with questions, comments or additional concerns.

Best,

Dean Antonio Bernardo
Dean and John E. Anderson Chair in Management

To the Anderson Community:

As concern continues to rise about COVID-19, I want to reassure you that the health and safety of the Anderson community is our top priority. There are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 at UCLA at this time. But, we are working in close collaboration with the university to inform, safeguard and care for our community throughout this period of heightened concern and uncertainty.

As part of that effort, we encourage some practical precautionary steps to help prevent the spread of COVID-19:

• Wash your hands frequently and thoroughly
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands
• Avoid close contact with people who are sick
• Contain coughs into a tissue or sleeve
• Stay home if you are sick, especially if you have a respiratory illness or fever
• If you develop flu-like symptoms – fever, cough and difficulty breathing – and you believe you may have been exposed to COVID-19, seek medical attention by first calling your health provider:
  • Students should call the Ashe Center Infection Control Line at 310-206-6217
  • Faculty and staff should call their health care providers
• Cancel non-essential travel, especially to countries categorized with Level 3 Travel Notices, currently including China, South Korea, Italy and Iran. Also, please note, that travel restrictions may be subject to rapid change.

Currently, there is no need to cancel classes or on-campus events. Should that need arise, please know that we have contingency plans in place to keep the school operating, and most specifically, to keep students on track with coursework and recruiting.

In the spirit of caution, we have made the decision to cancel upcoming Global Immersion in-country weeks in Brazil and Israel later this month. We are exploring the option of converting those course offerings into two-unit courses for interested students.

We will continue to very closely monitor any further outbreak of COVID-19 and will keep you informed of any updates. In the meantime, the university has established a COVID-19 information page in the UCLA Newsroom to share insights and further resources.

At stressful times like these, I am reminded how fortunate we are to have a well-informed, strong and caring community. Please feel free to reach out to me directly with questions, comments or additional concerns.

Best,

Dean Antonio Bernardo
John E. Anderson Chair in Management