Michael Foraker, assistant vice chancellor of housing and
hospitality, sits at his desk in the Housing Administration
Building. On the wall hangs a poster of Sam the Eagle, the mascot
for the 1984 Olympics.
This year marks Foraker’s 25th at UCLA. Just three years
into his tenure, the university played host to the athletes of the
1984 Summer Olympics. The campus housed the Olympic athletes in the
same residence halls and suites students lived in and also hosted
the gymnastics and tennis competitions.
“It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Foraker
said. “It’s also a pride thing. People I know at UCLA
have blue in their veins.”
Foraker said UCLA seemed like an enticing place to work because
of its location and academic reputation.
Before coming to UCLA, Foraker also served as the associate
housing director at the University of Texas at Austin, and for
three years worked in the housing department at UC Riverside.
Over the years, Foraker has been responsible for the
administration of residential life, which includes the on-campus
residential buildings and off-campus apartments, the dining and
catering programs, the summer conference programs, vending and the
management of the community housing offices at the Lake Arrowhead
Conference Center.
Suzanne Seplow, director of the Office of Residential Life, has
known Foraker for 11 years and said she believes he has made
significant contributions to the housing program.
“I think (the changes in housing are) a direct result of
his supervision and leadership,” she said. “He balances
being an extremely bright business-minded individual with a very
conscientious and authentic value for the people.”
Foraker said in his time at UCLA Housing Services, he has
watched the organization adapt to evolving student needs and
demands.
The university’s transition from a commuter school to a
more residential campus in the 1980s and 1990s has greatly changed
the look and feel of the housing infrastructure, he said.
Foraker also highlighted the impact new technologies have had on
housing services.
He said he remembered when students had to physically attend a
housing fair in order to sign up for a room in a residence hall.
Today, that process has moved online.
“What used to take two to three hours in terms of the
housing application now takes two to five minutes,” he
said.
But housing has also had to deal with an evolving student
culture.
Foraker said the recent addition of several new plaza buildings
is meant to accommodate students’ preferences and needs by
providing private bathrooms and other amenities, such as air
conditioning.
“When you look at the way UCLA students are raised before
they come here, most students have come from a place where they are
used to having a private bedroom, with color TV, a computer with a
printer, some kind of stereo system and connection to high-speed
Internet,” he said.
Foraker said dining services has similarly adapted to student
needs, including introducing more organic, natural and sustainable
food.
But Foraker said students should expect to see housing services
evolve further in the future.
For the past several years, housing has been in short supply, as
more students applied for on-campus housing and buildings were shut
down for renovation.
“Clearly we need to find a way to continue to build and
provide additional housing,” he said. “We believe we
need up to another 2,500 residence hall bed spaces to eventually
guarantee housing for four years to new freshmen and two years to
transfer students.”
He added that Housing is looking into finding new plots of land
to expand.
Angela Marciano, associate director of Housing and Hospitality
Services, said Housing hopes to continue to accommodate and improve
residential life by working directly with the students.
“(Foraker is) very visible to the students here. He eats
at the dining halls on a regular basis and even knows some of the
students by name,” she said. “It’s up to Mike to
ensure that we’re providing and doing so in an outstanding
manner.”
And that’s where Sam the Eagle comes in. For Foraker, the
Olympics, and the university’s role in hosting the
competition and athletes, were more than just a series of games.
They were a representation of what housing services has always
strived toward.
“The fact that UCLA played such a critical role for the
Olympics still remains a matter of pride,” he said.
“In international eyes, UCLA had its act
together.”