As an undergraduate, Scott Waugh spent a year studying at UCLA and enjoyed his time here so much he ended up transferring permanently from Princeton.
Decades later Waugh is still here, and after having been a student, professor and administrator, he is temporarily taking on the position of executive vice chancellor and provost.
Waugh is replacing Daniel Neuman, who left UCLA to lead the New Center for Arts and Culture in Boston.
A history professor who specializes in medieval social, political and legal history, Waugh has served UCLA as chairman of the history department and dean of social sciences, and has been honored with UCLA’s most prestigious teaching award.
He will now serve as executive vice chancellor and provost until Chancellor-elect Gene Block takes office and chooses someone to permanently fill the position.
Waugh said until then he will “move full-steam ahead.”
He described undergraduate students as “primary forces” at UCLA, and emphasized his commitment to working with students, improving access to UCLA, and tackling diversity issues.
“I see myself as a representative for a large and complex organization,” he said. “UCLA is a great university and has such energy. … I am looking forward to this.”
Though he has no concrete plans, Waugh said his broad goals include maintaining the quality of education and helping students and faculty achieve their best work.
“I want to make sure UCLA will continue to move ahead,” he said. “My agenda is to support the chancellor.”
Edward Alpers, chairman of the history department and a longtime colleague of Waugh, said he knows Waugh will do an exceptional job in his new post.
“I think he’s going to be a terrific, first-rate executive vice chancellor and provost,” Alpers said. “He has the experience, temperament, broader knowledge of higher education and faculty support to do very well.”
Waugh said that though he is taking some time off as a professor, when a permanent executive vice chancellor and provost is found he will return to the history department.
Despite his leave from teaching, Waugh said he has kept up with his research.
“Research, unlike teaching, is easy to accomplish at odd hours and times,” he said.
“But if I tried to explain … exactly what I was doing I would bore you,” he added, laughing.
Waugh is described by colleagues as an engaging and attentive person.
“He has a great sense of humor … and is really engaging as a conversationalist and a speaker,” Alpers said. “He is a great colleague”
As an administrator, Waugh helped lead UCLA through a budgetary crisis, which Alpers said has reinforced his trust in his colleague’s ability to lead UCLA.
“(Waugh) has really been effective in raising funds for the university, and understands how funding impacts the continued success of UCLA,” Alpers said.
Gary Hansen, chairman of the economics department, described Waugh as an open and supportive leader.
“I always appreciated his candor. Sometimes with administrators you get “˜dean speak’ … and with him I always got a very candid and honest response,” Hansen said.
Hansen also described Waugh as a man who “works tirelessly for UCLA.”
“When he was dean, he met with potential donors, which went beyond the minimal requirement for a dean,” he said. “He’s also been extremely good at getting people to work cooperatively instead of competitively to improve a situation. As a dean, you manage a lot of departments, and he was able to create an environment where there was a sense of cooperation.”
Hansen and Alpers said Waugh was a very supportive dean, and ensured that faculty had any necessary resources.
“He was really supportive of the departments and really put his resources where his mouth was,” Alpers said.