Press Releases

UCLA Extension has built its Writers' Program steadily into a place where writers - from the established to the merely curious, and everyone in between - have found a home. Now in its 60th year, the prestigious program counts more than 400 courses ...

At UCLA Extension, certificate graduates are offered career resources that can help them find the right job and take the best possible professional step forward. "It's our goal to help UCLA Extension graduates land the job that is perfect for them and ...

Andrew Kurtz wants people who are struggling with mental health and substance use issues to know it is OK to ask for help. Having worked at UCLA Extension for almost a decade, Kurtz is training the next generation of helpers. "I have always had an ...

At times in Sean Flinn's life the task at hand can seem overwhelming and stressful. For the past four years, he helped steer Netflix's foray into online gaming. It is a prospect that is both an exhilarating challenge and a terrifying professional ...

Melissa Pugash smiles when she thinks about the time she learned to play poker. She had no experience with the game, but she had a curiosity to learn. That day, she found herself at a table surrounded by "poker sharks," but instead of a cutthroat ...

Growing up in picturesque Chile, Gabriel Pacheco found himself drawn to the beauty of the natural landscape around him. While his journey has included detours far afield from his current career, Pacheco eventually found his way back to nature at UCLA ...

Dina LaPolt lives her life with an ethos of doing the right thing and doing right by the people who need her help the most. Her activist streak sprang to life in high school, when the administration unfairly fired a popular guidance counselor, keeping ...

Rebecca Yarros's "Empyrean" book series promises readers they will enter a "brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders." The books include elements regarding war, battle, hand-to-hand combat, perilous situations, blood, intense ...

Marissa Pianko felt restless. She had a good life. She had a loving family and a financially lucrative career. She was happy. But approaching mid-life, she wanted to feel passionate about her contribution to the wider world. One day, she stumbled upon ...

When she was young, Ebony Talley joked she always had her hands full with either books or worms. She was fascinated with how the world worked at the tiniest levels. "I knew very early on that I was a big science nerd," she said. "No one was surprised ...

K Tak knows that there is a certain baggage that comes with tattoo art. It is often confined to the corners of society, covered up when in company, and somewhat opaque to the average person. "But tattoo art has 5,300 years of history," she added. "And ...

Clifford Brooks wears many hats — poet, editor in chief, podcaster, head of a writers collective and UCLA Extension instructor. Through those endeavors he has created a community for himself as a writer, fostering projects across professions and ...

Keith Jefferies has witnessed a lot of change during his 46-year career in computer science at UCLA Extension. From programming in the age before the internet, teaching online classes through chat forums, to learning how to teach software development ...

Krissy Warlich and Cara Sandoval have been best friends since high school. They went to community college together. And they even earned certificates from UCLA Extension just one year apart from one another. This year, they decided to embark on the ...

Sean Van Aacken has always been driven to help others succeed. Since his early days at McDonald's, to his current role as a leading expert at UCLA Extension on education strategy, Van Aacken has placed an emphasis on building relationships and ...

Dozens of UCLA Extension alumni gathered to ring in the holiday season and reflect on a year of professional growth. The Second Annual UCLA Extension Alumni Holiday Mixer took place on Dec. 12 at the UCLA Luskin Conference Center on campus. Alumni ...

Purchased by UCLA in 2023, UCLA Downtown originally housed the Title Insurance and Trust Company, which erected the Art Deco building in 1928. Since then, its uses have fluctuated - at one point a design center, later a garment manufacturing and most ...

Jeff DeLarme watched his father sometimes work 80 hours a week as a Xerox repairman to make a better life for his family. The way his parents thought about money had a lasting impact on a young DeLarme, who grew up wanting to help other families make ...

When fire took her townhome, UCLA Extension instructor Nancy Spiller turned to the one respite she has leaned on throughout her life - putting pen to paper. Spiller is a big believer in the therapeutic nature of creativity in the wake of trauma and ...

NOTE: Scott Edwards will be moderating a special event at the Bruin Collaborative in UCLA Downtown on Thursday, Nov. 20. From Buzz to Binge: How Creative Teams Build Assets that Drive Demand will gather executives from Fox Sports, Tubi Media Group, ...

For the past several weeks, Laurel Busby has not been herself during the lunchtime hour. Instead, she has been a jilted lover, an estate planning daughter and even a nuclear scientist. When she steps through the doors of the Bruin Collaborative at ...

UCLA Extension was founded in Downtown Los Angeles in 1917 and took up residence on the corner of Second and Hill streets. While that building is no more, the Bruin Collaborative at UCLA Downtown on Spring Street recently opened its doors in October, ...

Tracey McCormack runs into her former students almost daily. With more than 30 years of teaching experience at UCLA Extension, the alumni from her classes are everywhere and in prominent positions across the television and entertainment landscape - ...

The annual Tax Controversy Conference hosted by UCLA Extension has a rich tradition of gathering top tax attorneys, accountants and government officials to discuss issues that they all face navigating the complex world of taxes. "This conference ...

A Q&A with UCLA Extension instructor Adrian Mohuczy-Dominiak outlining basic precautions and best practices