Week 5
Monday October 26
Accessibility in Action Workshop: Use Built-In Tools to Help Make Your Course Content Accessible
Mon 10/26 • 12:30PM - 1PM PDT
This interactive workshop provides the opportunity for Instructors and TAs to share their current Bruin Learn accessibility remediation tasks and learn how to use the UCLA-provided tools at their disposal to help remediate course content. We will review key features that support accessibility compliance and improve the usability of course content. By the end of the session, participants will have learned how to use the current accessibility tools in the Bruin Learn ecosystem to remediate issues relevant to their courses. Audience: Faculty, TAs, Staff
Learning Community (LC) Information Session
Mon 10/26 • 2PM - 2:45PM PDT RSVP
Interested in connecting with colleagues, sharing ideas, and growing your teaching practice? Join the TLC for an information session to learn about two Learning Community (LC) opportunities: 1. GenAI Faculty Learning Community 2. New Instructor Learning Community Learn more about each community, what participation involves, and how you can get involved. We look forward to sharing more about these opportunities and answering your questions! Please register to receive the Zoom meeting information, and contact instructorsupport@teaching.ucla.edu if you have any questions.
The Paradox of Pointless Suffering
Mon 10/26 • 4PM PDT RSVP
Royce Hall, Room 306
Why do we suffer? Why do people die young? Is there any point to our excessive pain, physical or emotional? This talk explores the ways that we have tried to minimize or eliminate suffering, and examines people’s attempts to find ways to live with pointless suffering. Ultimately, to be fully human—and to have healthy culture—means to acknowledge a mysterious paradox: we must simultaneously accept suffering and oppose it. Scott Samuelson studied philosophy at Grinnell College (BA, 1995, valedictorian) and Emory University (PhD, 2001). He is currently a Professor of Practice in the Departments of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Iowa State University. In 2014, he was named Distinguished Humanities Educator by the Community College Humanities Association. Inspired by his students, he wrote his first book The Deepest Human Life: An Introduction to Philosophy for Everyone (University of Chicago Press, 2014), which has been well received not just by prominent reviewers but by numerous non-philosophers who found their philosophical voice with its help. The book has been translated into Chinese and Portuguese. Samuelson has published articles in the Wall Street Journal, the Huffington Post, the Chronicle of Higher Education, The Philosopher’s Magazine, and Christian Century. His article “Why I Teach Plato to Plumbers” in The Atlantic has been widely circulated. He’s been interviewed on NPR and given various public lectures and talks, including a TEDx talk “How Philosophy Can Save Your Life.” Scott Samuelson was the recipient of the 2015 Hiett Prize in the Humanities. Co-sponsored by the UCLA Center for Buddhist Studies.
The Paradox of Pointless Suffering
Mon 10/26 • 4PM - 5:15PM PDT RSVP
Royce Hall, Room 306
Why do we suffer? Why do people die young? Is there any point to our excessive pain, physical or emotional? This talk explores the ways that we have tried to minimize or eliminate suffering, and examines people’s attempts to find ways to live with pointless suffering. Ultimately, to be fully human—and to have healthy culture—means to acknowledge a mysterious paradox: we must simultaneously accept suffering and oppose it. Scott Samuelson studied philosophy at Grinnell College (BA, 1995, valedictorian) and Emory University (PhD, 2001). He is currently a Professor of Practice in the Departments of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Iowa State University. In 2014, he was named Distinguished Humanities Educator by the Community College Humanities Association. Inspired by his students, he wrote his first book The Deepest Human Life: An Introduction to Philosophy for Everyone (University of Chicago Press, 2014), which has been well received not just by prominent reviewers but by numerous non-philosophers who found their philosophical voice with its help. The book has been translated into Chinese and Portuguese. Samuelson has published articles in the Wall Street Journal, the Huffington Post, the Chronicle of Higher Education, The Philosopher’s Magazine, and Christian Century. His article “Why I Teach Plato to Plumbers” in The Atlantic has been widely circulated. He’s been interviewed on NPR and given various public lectures and talks, including a TEDx talk “How Philosophy Can Save Your Life.” Scott Samuelson was the recipient of the 2015 Hiett Prize in the Humanities. Co-sponsored by the UCLA Center for Buddhist Studies.
Tuesday October 27
10 + 10 Pop-Up Series: Five Factors That Accelerate Active Learning
Tue 10/27 • 10AM - 10:20AM PDT RSVP
While the benefits of active learning are clear, sustainably implementing it may still seem elusive. In this session, participants will reflect on current active learning practices, analyze five factors that accelerate active learning, and consider ways to integrate (or amplify) these factors in their classrooms. Presenter: Kem Saichaie, Executive Director at the Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) Keywords: student-centered, engagement, practice made visible, active learning Each academic quarter, the educational designers and developers of the UCLA Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) offer via Zoom a weekly series of seven pop-up sessions - each just 10 minutes in length - on focused, specific topics related to course design, teaching, learning, and learning assessment. The additional “+10” in the series title refers to an optional 10 minutes that follow each presentation for Q&A and discussion. These 10 + 10 sessions will take place at 10am (PT) every Tuesday in the quarter, from Week 2 through Week 8. These sessions are open to all UCLA instructors—including faculty, lecturers, instructors of record, graduate student instructors, and postdoctoral scholars. Please direct any inquiries to instructorsupport@teaching.ucla.edu.
Inaugural Richard Yarborough Lecture in Black Literature
Tue 10/27 • 6PM - 8PM PDT
Kerckhoff Grand Salon
The UCLA Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies presents the inaugural Richard Yarborough Lecture in Black Literature, featuring a conversation between Dr. Richard Yarborough, Professor of English and African American Studies Emeritus at UCLA, and Dr. Valerie Smith, President of Swarthmore College, moderated by Dr. Robin D. G. Kelley, Distinguished Professor and Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History at UCLA. Established as part of the Bunche Center Director Lecture Series, this inaugural program honors Dr. Yarborough’s distinguished contributions to Black literary scholarship, African American Studies, and the UCLA community. Reception: 6 PM. Program: 7 PM.
Wednesday October 28
Cookbook of Cultures Submissions (International Education Week 2026)
Wed 10/28 RSVP
Do you have a favorite dish from home? Do you want to share it with your fellow Bruins? The Dashew Center is now accepting submissions for the second edition of our learning and cultural exchange opportunity, A Cookbook of Cultures, filled with recipes from Bruins from all around the world! Submissions will be collected through our online form and will be published in this year's digital Cookbook of Cultures, coinciding with International Education Week from November 16 - 20. There is a limit of 2 recipes per person, and full details can be found on the form.
Website Makers Meetup
Wed 10/28 • 11AM - 12PM PDT
These meetups are for people who make websites. Join us every other week, on Wednesday at 11am, to ask any questions you may have about making websites at UCLA.
Managing Your Scholarly Identity
Wed 10/28 • 1PM - 2PM PDT RSVP
Scholarly identity is about more than the articles you publish or the projects you share online with your research communities. Scholarly identity includes the many parts of your history and engagement as a researcher, including your education, employment, awards, collaborators and more – and it exists whether you are the one curating it or not. Taking control of your scholarly identity supports your visibility, credibility and transparency as a researcher and plays a crucial role in open scholarly communication. This workshop will cover the importance and impact of creating and managing your scholarly identity with tools like ORCID and Google Scholar, as well as how these tools connect with other network and profile platform. You will also also learn how to select repositories for hosting your scholarly outputs, such as research articles, datasets, working papers and more. Instructors: Hannah Sutherland, Open Science Librarian, and Stephen Gabrielson, Research Impact Librarian
Dawn Norfleet: Beyond Being Alice Coltrane and Betty Davis
Wed 10/28 • 1PM - 3PM PDT
UCLA Nazir Ali Jairazhboy Colloquium Dawn Norfleet: Beyond Being Alice Coltrane and Betty Davis As the centennial celebrations of John Coltrane and Miles Davis reach sunset, we will shine light on the unique artistry of two exceptional musicians, Alice McLeod Coltrane and Betty Gray Mabry Davis. These women played significant roles in the lives and music of jazz luminaries John and Miles during their brief marriages; even more importantly, they were impactful music and culture creators whose full recognition may have been overshadowed by their iconic husbands until recent years. Beyond being John’s collaborator, Alice Coltrane was a music visionary fusing improvisation, jazz, gospel, and Indian traditions in her compositions and recordings. Her Hindu devotees honored her as and Hindu spiritual leader, Swamini A.C. Turiyasangitananda. Beyond being “Miles’ muse”, Betty Gray Mabry was a trailblazing Black female rocker, songwriter, and bandleader at the height of the Soul Era. Her raspy voice and raunchy lyrics expressed an overt sexuality and aggressive performativity that was presumed the domain of white male rock artists, while also being considered too provocative for many Black listeners influenced by aesthetics of gospel and Motown. We will not only discuss the strong impact Alice and Betty had on the musical direction of John and Miles, but also, how these women were cultural catalysts on the merits of their own artistry.
Streamlining Courses Resources: Utilizing Free Library Reserves with Leganto
Wed 10/28 • 2PM - 3PM PDT
This training session will show you how to efficiently use Leganto (the "Course Reading List" tool) in Bruin Learn to request course reserves from UCLA Library. Please join us to learn how the Library can support your class by providing free access to required and recommended course texts to your students. Audience: Faculty, TAs
CARE Fall Quarter Certificate Training
Wed 10/28 • 6PM - 8PM PDT RSVP
CAPS Large Conference Room
Each quarter, CARE offers a 3-session certificate training where all students are invited to engage in learning and conversation about sexual violence prevention, gaining knowledge in 3-parts of prevention: stopping harm before it happens, being responsive to survivors who have experienced harm, and promoting long-term healing. The Fall Certificate Training will be held Wednesday evenings Wk 5-7 from 6-8pm in the CAPS LCR. Interested individuals can RSVP by 10/23 to participate.
#Undergraduate #GraduateProfessional #Leadership #SocialActivism
Faculty Artist Series: Theoreticals
Wed 10/28 • 8PM - 10PM PDT
Join the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music for an evening performance in Schoenberg Hall spearheaded by Professor Dante De Silva featuring UCLA Faculty.
Thursday October 29
Accessibility Workshop 4 - Making Slide Presentations Accessible
Thu 10/29 • 12:30PM - 1:30PM PDT RSVP
This workshop is only open to instructors. This workshop will highlight the requirements and best practices for creating accessible slide presentations in Google Slides and Microsoft PowerPoint. Participants will learn techniques for building accessibility into slides from the start, as well as how to use accessibility checkers.
Intro to Searching for Patents
Thu 10/29 • 1PM - 2PM PDT RSVP
Ever been curious about what patents are? Or how to find them? In this workshop you'll gain an introductory overview to patents, as well as guidance on how to locate them. Instructor: Shelby Hallman, Research Initiatives and Technical Information Librarian
Career Advising Drop-In
Thu 10/29 • 1:30PM - 3:30PM PDT
Transfer Student Center (Kerckhoff Hall 128)
These are your golden 15-minute slots to get personalized, one-on-one career advice from the UCLA Career Center that caters specifically to your unique journey as a transfer student.
Writing a Literature Review
Thu 10/29 • 4PM - 5PM PDT
Co-sponsored by UCLA Library, the Kwame J. Granderson Undergraduate Writing Center and the Undergraduate Research Center – Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. Learn how to organize your research into a coherent and compelling literature review. All fall quarter Cornerstone workshops will be held on Zoom.
Sacramento Network: UCLA Alumni Recent Grad Mixer
Thu 10/29 • 5PM - 7PM PDT
Urban Roots Brewery & Smokehouse • Sacramento CA
@ Whether you moved to Sacramento for grad school, for work, or came back home after UCLA, building a life in a city is a lot easier with a few Bruins around. This is a relaxed evening to meet other recent grads, trade the “wait, where’d you live on the Hill?” stories, and start turning a new city into a familiar one. Come meet folks to catch a UCLA game with this fall, explore a new spot with next month, or trade career notes with down the line. For a lot of us, this is one of our first times gathering as alumni rather than students — and that’s the whole point. Urban Roots Brewery & Smokehouse, Midtown Sacramento \[Oct 29th, 5-7pm\] Free — just RSVP so we have a rough headcount! Hosted by Fei \[2017\] and Sam \[2018\] ### [Sacramento Network](https://alumni.ucla.edu/organizer/sacramento-network/) [View Organizer Website](https://alumni.ucla.edu/network/sacramento-network/) Add to calendar * Google Calendar * iCalendar * Outlook 365 * Outlook Live
Writing the Personal Statement
Thu 10/29 • 5:30PM - 6:30PM PDT RSVP
This workshop will cover strategies for writing personal statements for fellowship applications, residencies, and PhD programs. Among other topics, we will discuss organization, introductions and conclusions, and use of examples. Students from all schools and departments are welcome to attend. If you are currently working on a personal statement, we encourage you to bring your draft to the workshop.
Arizona: UCLA Alumni Networking Mixer
Thu 10/29 • 6PM PDT
BJ’s Restuarant & Brewhouse – Peoria, AZ • Peoria Arizona
@ Join the UCLA Alumni Arizona Network at our quarterly networking event! Mix and mingle with local Bruins, create new professional connections and reconnect with old friends. Get to know the Arizona Bruin community! ### [Arizona Network](https://alumni.ucla.edu/organizer/arizona-network/) [View Organizer Website](https://alumni.ucla.edu/network/arizona-network/) Add to calendar * Google Calendar * iCalendar * Outlook 365 * Outlook Live
David L. Abell Piano Master Series – Elizabeth Schumann
Thu 10/29 • 7PM - 9PM PDT
Join the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music as we welcome pianist Elizabeth Schumann for the Fall installment of our 2026/27 David L. Abell Piano Master Series, a concert series which features renowned artists visiting UCLA to perform and work with our piano students. About Elizabeth Schumann: Dr. Elizabeth Schumann is a concert pianist, educator, and interdisciplinary artist whose work spans leading concert halls, public art initiatives, and research at the intersection of the arts, technology, and human performance. Described by The Washington Post as “deft, relentless, and devastatingly good—the sort of performance you experience not so much with your ears as your solar plexus,” she approaches the concert stage as a place where artistry and inquiry meet, offering audiences experiences that link music with the broader human story. As a recitalist, chamber musician, and concerto soloist, she has performed at the Kennedy Center, Vienna’s Bösendorfer Saal, Weill at Carnegie Hall, Montreal’s Place des Arts, San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall, Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Musical Instruments Museum in Phoenix, Ravinia’s Rising Stars Series, Australia’s Huntington Festival, the Cannes Film Festival, and the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival. Her performances have been featured on NPR’s Performance Today, PBS, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Honors include the Gilmore Young Artist Award, first prizes at the Bösendorfer and Pacific International Piano Competitions, and awards at the Cleveland, Hilton Head, Montreal, and World International Piano Competitions. Her portfolio extends beyond traditional concert work to collaborative projects that place music in fresh contexts. She has developed touring productions that integrate performance with narrative and visual design, large-scale public installations that transform city spaces into concert venues, and educational programs for children and underserved communities that pair music with literature and live storytelling. These include Piano Carnival, which grew from a 15-city tour into a book, CD, and interactive applications reaching more than 20,000 students and teachers; Son et Lumière, premiered at Boston’s Illuminus Festival and later commissioned for the Pike & Rose Audio Visual Arts Festival, attracting audiences of over 8,000; and Pianimal, a concert and video series presented across the United States and distributed to children’s hospitals through partnerships with leading arts organizations. Across these projects, her aim is to allow audiences to meet music on their own terms and to experience its power without barriers of price or pretense. Her work has also reached international audiences through U.S. Embassy cultural diplomacy programs, building connections and mutual understanding through performance. Carrying on the pedagogical tradition of her teacher, Sergei Babayan, Dr. Schumann has taught at Winter and Summer Performing Arts at The Juilliard School, Itzhak Perlman’s Perlman Music Program, the Crowden Chamber Music Workshop, and the Vancouver Piano Sessions. She is the Billie Bennett Director of Keyboard Studies and Assistant Professor of Music at Stanford University, where she combines conservatory-level training with insights from neuroscience, psychology, and biomechanics to help pianists achieve expressive freedom while minimizing injury risk. At Stanford, her research examines how physiology, pedagogy, and instrument design shape performance, with applications that extend beyond the arts to fields such as medicine, rehabilitation, and human performance science. Through collaborations that unite artists, scientists, and community leaders, Dr. Schumann expands how people encounter and engage with music. Her work demonstrates how these connections can open new possibilities, deepen understanding, and inspire contributions that reach beyond the concert hall.
UCLA Philharmonia: The "Don Quixote" Experience
Thu 10/29 • 8PM - 10PM PDT
Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams — this may be madness. Too much sanity may be madness — and maddest of all: to see life as it is, and not as it should be! – Don Quixote Immerse yourself in the fantastical world of Don Quixote, where comic misadventures, tender moments and heroic dreams come vividly to life in Richard Strauss’s dazzling tone poem. As the Don, UCLA Philharmonia welcomes our new Professor of Cello Ben Hong in his Philharmonic debut, alongside his trusty sidekick Sancho Panza (aka UCLA Professor of Viola Che-Yen Chen). Before intermission, we’ll do a deep dive into the novel and the tone poem with Prof. Hong, UCLA Distinguished Professor Barbara Fuchs (one of the world’s leading Cervantes scholars) and our Philharmonia musicians. All hail the Knight Errant!
Friday October 30
Mindful Writing Session (Oct 30)
Fri 10/30 • 10AM - 12:30PM PDT RSVP
The mindful writing sessions integrate simple techniques from mindfulness to support the writing process and cultivate an approach to writing that fosters balance, self-care, and well-being. Please bring a current writing project because most of the session time will be allocated for writing. All sessions will be conducted remotely via Zoom.
UCLA Wind Ensemble
Fri 10/30 • 8PM - 9:30PM PDT
Join the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music for the first Wind Ensemble concert of the 2026-2027 season.
Saturday October 31
Chicago Network: UCLA Football Game Watch Party | vs. Nevada
Sat 10/31 • 12PM PDT
Dog Haus Biergarten – Lincoln Park • Chicago IL
@ Join the Chicago Network as we cheer on UCLA football! _Dog Haus is close to the Fullerton L Stop, and can be accessed by multiple bus routes. There is also street parking available. We often have drink and food specials. Go Bruins!_ Open Event ### [Chicago Network](https://alumni.ucla.edu/organizer/chicago-network/) Add to calendar * Google Calendar * iCalendar * Outlook 365 * Outlook Live
New York Tri-State Network: UCLA Football Game Watch Party | vs Nevada
Sat 10/31 • 12PM PDT
J. Kennedy’s NYC • New York New York
@ Join us as we cheer on UCLA Football! The bar has agreed to the following specials: 1. $6 Draft Beer 2. $30 Bucket of Beers (5 bottles in a bucket) 3. $10 Pizza & $15 Wings ### [New York Tri-State Network](https://alumni.ucla.edu/organizer/new-york-tri-state-network/) [View Organizer Website](https://alumni.ucla.edu/network/new-york-tri-state-network/) Add to calendar * Google Calendar * iCalendar * Outlook 365 * Outlook Live
Men's Rugby vs Southern Nazarene University
Sat 10/31 • 1PM PDT
Wallis Annenberg Stadium
NCR XVs Premier League
La Llorona / Pulse
Sat 10/31 • 7:30PM PDT
Billy Wilder Theater
Part of: The Trouble With Ghosts In person: UCLA Cinema and Media Studies Professor Kriss Ravetto-Biagioli and Université Paris Cité Visual Studies Professor Martine Beugnet The history of photography, film and television is so populated by ghosts that we can forget what is uniquely strange about them. The ghost is a troubling figure that points to the limit of thought — to death and nothingness. Yet, phantoms need an audience and a medium to make their appearance in the form of the sound of knocking, audiovisual noise, an eerie feeling, a white sheet with two cut out holes for eyes. What is a ghost without its sheet, or medium through which it speaks? In the process of taking new forms, they test the boundaries between the human, the machine and the non-human, stirring up new anxieties. Even if said to be non-beings, ghosts are granted supernatural sight (a maniacal gaze) and power (to possess bodies and to touch the living). At the same time, they interrupt communications, and images of the dead continue to be circulated as exploitable brands. While endlessly occupying the archive of contemporary digital media, certain ghostly images, memories and dreams are privileged over others. For lack of political will, or even just lack of images, witnesses and sound recordings, some ghosts do not and will not see the light of day. The Trouble With Ghosts explores what is so conceptually and figuratively unsettling about the ghost and the media that host it. The series is an attempt to understand the politics of ghosting in an age that is so preoccupied with specters (past, present and future). Series programmed by UCLA Cinema and Media Studies Professor Kriss Ravetto-Biagioli, Université Paris Cité Visual Studies Professor Martine Beugnet and Archive Research and Public Access Coordinator Nicole Ucedo. Notes written by Kriss Ravetto-Biagioli and Martine Beugnet.