UCLA Anderson School of Management Blog

UCLA Anderson Receives $25 Million Gift from John E. and Marion Anderson

LOS ANGELES -- The UCLA Anderson School of Management today announced a $25 million gift - the largest in the school's history - from longtime supporters John E. and Marion Anderson.

This gift extends the Andersons' legacy of philanthropy to the school. In recognition of their first gift, the school was named the John E. Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA in 1987. The current gift brings to nearly $42 million the amount the Andersons have donated to the school.

"We are immensely grateful for this tremendously generous gift from John and Marion Anderson," said UCLA Chancellor Gene Block. "John received the highest honor bestowed by UCLA, the UCLA Medal, in 1995 for his extraordinary contributions to his profession and our society. It is clear that for John and Marion, this was only the beginning. Their lifelong philanthropy will have an indelible impact on our campus - and the opportunities we provide for our outstanding faculty and students - for generations to come."

The Anderson family history bears many connections to UCLA. John received his bachelor's degree in business administration from UCLA in 1940. John and Marion's sons, William and John Jr., completed their J.D. and M.B.A. degrees, respectively, at UCLA, and their daughter, Judy Munzig, serves on the board of the Harold and Pauline Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at UCLA Anderson.

"Our legacy, built over 75 years, owes a lot to John and Marion Anderson's leadership and longtime support," said UCLA Anderson dean Judy Olian. "They share with us a bold vision for the future of UCLA Anderson as one of the most innovative and recognized schools of management in the world. This remarkable gift will enable us to chart that future by investing in a broad range of strategic initiatives, including research that advances management thinking and practice, curriculum initiatives that prepare our students to become global leaders, and student support that attracts the most talented candidates from around the world. I cannot express the depth of my gratitude to John and Marion - the gift demonstrates their confidence in our bright future, which both inspires and challenges us."

"I was very lucky to come to UCLA on a scholarship, and I've never forgotten that," John Anderson said. "The lessons and values I learned while attending UCLA shaped my thinking throughout my business and community life and helped build my business reputation. Giving back to the school is my way of enabling future generations to have the kind of opportunities that UCLA offered me. It is simply doing the right thing."

Added Marion Anderson: "This gift gives us tremendous pleasure. John and I have derived great satisfaction from following the achievements of the school and its alumni over the years and the breadth of impact they have had on businesses and communities, not just in California and the U.S. but also around the world. The school has meant so much to both of us, and it is particularly gratifying to be able to provide this support during these times of special need for public higher education."

In addition to the current gift and the naming gift to the business school, the Andersons' philanthropy has supported the dean's John E. Anderson Chair in Management, as well as the Marion Anderson Chair in Management and the Marion Anderson Courtyard.

The Unemployment Dilemma

UCLA Anderson Associate Professor Margaret Shih studies stigmas and stereotypes. In an Anderson podcast, she discussed how stereotyping might even enhance worker performance.  In her new working paper, co-authored with Anderson PhD student Geoffrey Ho (PhD '13) and Anderson MBA student Daniel Walters ('11), Shih examined the stigmas and stereotypes associated with those who are unemployed.

"What we found," Shih said, "is that stigmas override objective data. The unemployed are seen as less competent than those who are employed." In short, regardless of the reason a person is unemployed, future potential employers believe those currently without jobs are less competent than job-seekers who still have a place to go every morning. "There is a tendency to blame people for their misfortunes," Shih said. 

Shih and her colleagues wondered "why some people stayed unemployed, there must be more to it than decaying skills." The working paper looked at two groups, a group of UCLA Anderson students and a general population sample. (There may also be a study of human resource executives in the future.) Ho recently presented the paper at UCLA's Institute for Research on Labor and Employment's "Reconnecting to Work" conference. The paper has also garnered a fair share of media attention (see below).

The survey results relate to the "just world hypothesis." This theory suggests that people believe the world is "just" or "fair" and therefore those who suffer misfortune -- like unemployment -- somehow deserve their fate. "This belief makes people feel better about themselves," Shih said. "It makes it seem as if their world is more controllable."

The study gives credence to the old adage that it is easier to look for work while one still has a job. Shih's advice to the unemployed is to try to avoid being labeled as such. She suggests taking classes or going back to school while between jobs, anything to look active and proactive in the eyes of potential future employers. Shih also cautions employers to be aware of their own biases, as these stigmas could prevent one from hiring the best possible candidates for their job openings.

Shih, Ho and Walter's research findings on the psychological stigma of unemployment were featured in the Daily Bruin, Main Street, Psych Central, Emax Health and on the CBS Evening News.

 

 

 

 

Sarah Gim ('03): Perfecting Food Pornography

The Los Angeles Times has a story written by staffer Rene Lynch about UCLA Anderson alumnae Sarah Gim ('03) and her blog Tastespotting. Writes Lynch:

"Sarah Gim certainly didn't invent food porn. But she's certainly perfected it."

When we first met Sarah, she was working in business development for the UCLA Anderson Forecast, posting on Chowhound and had just started her first food blog The Delicious Life. According to the Times article, Gim started Tastespotting with a partner in 2007 (the pair have since parted ways), with food photos taken by Gim and a group of her friends. Today, the site features food porn ... (ahem) ... food photos submitted by Gim's army of readers and most of Gim's work involves selecting which photos will make it to the site.

Her dog, a Chihuahua named Daisy, scampers about as Gim clicks through a morning's worth of submissions, the equivalent of flipping through 25 cookbooks — or more — each day. "I just don't know. Let me think about it. I'll come back to it," she says of one photo. She does this throughout the morning, repeatedly circling back to images that fall into a gray area — not perfect, but not bad either. "This is really hard. I don't like to say no. My preference is to say yes."

Futurama: Debating The Workplace of Tomorrow ... With The Workers of Tomorrow

David Greenwald of UCLA Magazine wondered what the workplace of the future will look like. So, he turned to the experts -- the faculty at UCLA Anderson -- and those with the most at stake -- the students at the UCLA Lab School and UCLA Community school. 

Greenwald spoke with lecturer Jonathan Greenblatt, UCLA Anderson Forecast Senior Economist Jerry Nickelsburg and Professor Barbara Lawrence. Greenblatt told Greenwald that he doesn't necessarily turn to books or scholars when contemplating the future, rather he consults his seven-year-old son Ilan 'who envisions a future where workers will continue to go to offices, but 'sometimes in meetings people will use holograms to talk to each other.'" Greenblatt also shared his concerns about social networking, wondering if they will "further enmesh people in a loop of constant engagement, 'collapsing the walls that once neatly separated our cubicles from our kitchens, our professional and personal lives. Everything will be in the open, everyone will be 'on' and everywhere will be your 'office.''"

While Greenblatt wondered about collapsing social boundaries, Lawrence (pictured above at left) considered the "boundaryless career." "The basic premise is that more and more people will create their own careers outside of traditional organizational boundaries, taking their skill sets across organizations, occupations and industries," she told Greenwald. "People won't get stuck in organizations in positions where they feel they have no future. Moreover, they become independent of an organization's promotion, hiring and layoff decisions. The ideal boundaryless career allows an individual to decide for him or herself what 'career' means."

Peter V. Ueberroth To Receive 2011 John Wooden Global Leadership Award

Peter V. Ueberroth, managing director of Contrarian Group, an investment and management company and owner and co-chairman of the Pebble Beach Company will receive the 2011 John Wooden Global Leadership Award at a dinner on Monday, May 23 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The event will feature a unique presentation on Coach John Wooden's Pyramid of Success led by prominent community leaders and the award recipient himself.

Ueberroth's successful management career includes the founding of First Travel Corporation in 1962 (by the time he sold the company 18 years later it was the second largest travel company in North America) and a stint as commisioner of Major League Baseball in the 1980s. But his most renowned accomplishment was as president of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, the organization responsible for staging the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games -- the first privately financed Games -- resulting in a surplus of $238 million, that continues to support youth and amateur-related sports programs throughout the United States.

In 2009, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Los Angeles Olympics, Ueberroth told UCLA Magazine: 

"The citizens of Los Angeles came together to accomplish two objectives. [To host] great games for the athletes of the world and to make the country proud. We accomplished that."

From a business standpoint, Ueberroth and the organizing committee (which included UCLA Anderson benefactor and Board of Visitors member Jim Easton) forever changed the way Olympic games were managed.

"We changed the paradigm," Ueberroth told UCLA Magazine. "In Montreal (site of the 1976 Summer Olympics), they had over 150 sponsors. We narrowed it down to about a dozen. We gave them value and protection against their competitors. Coca-Cola was the first lead sponsor that we signed. Prior to that, no sponsor ever committed a million dollars in cash, but I'm guessing their sponsorship was $7–$10 million dollars. It was a huge breakthrough." Corporate sponsorships brought in approximately $126 million, six times more than similar programs had raised at Lake Placid or Montreal.