FWC Section Chairs, General Meeting #1: the 2018-2019 Celebratory Year

Our April #5 General Meeting 2019 was all about the SECTIONS.
We honored the Section Chairs for their dedication, smart and hard work, as well as for the productive participation in the Centennial Year of the UCLA's Faculty Women's Club.

Helene Des Ruisseaux (French Reading & Conversation), Phyllis Amboss (Co-Chair, Writers), Dianne Homsher (Co-Chair, Cooking), Elisabeth Fuster (Spanish Conversation), Simone King (Tennis, Monday), Marianne Afifi (Co-Chair, Cooking), Marianne Tereszcuk (BRIDGE, all three sections), Doris I. Nelson (Tennis, Friday),
Zorana Ercegovac (VP Sections, and Music in Cultural Contexts), Dagmar Lestrel, for Diane Childs (German), Michaelyn Duboff (Galleries & Sights), Sandy Spolsky (Birthdays),
Rochelle Caballero (Play-reading), Marjorie Friedlander (Co-Chair, Writers).

Zorana Ercegovac, VP Sections presenting roses to Sections Chairs

As Vice President of the UCLA's Faculty Women's Club, 2017-2019, I had been honored and privileged to have worked with wonderful colleagues and friends on several projects throughout this Centennial celebration.

For example, at the April 2018 General Meeting, we presented a young pianist musician Victor Shlyakhtenko, as part of the Music Section participation; we also focused on the history of the UCLA's FWC.

In addition, The Centennial Committee had suggested that sections consider participating in a unique and creative way in the celebration of the Centennial Year.  And they did.

Phyllis Amboss wrote an original one-act play, TIMES HAVE CHANGED
(Phyllis Amboss and Marjori Friedlander Co-Chairs)
Play-readers read (Rochelle Caballero, Chair)

From left: Patti Nagy, Marjorie Friedlander, Noel Carterette, Dianne Homsher, Jo Knopoff, Sandy Spolsky,
narrated by Rochelle Caballero

The play is set in the 1920s when the Faculty Women's Club met at the Vermont campus of the Los Angeles Normal School, precursor to UCLA. Notice hats and gloves.

Playreaders also read two one-act plays by Alice Gerstenberg: OVERTONES, and FOURTEEN.

The Writers produced COLLECTED WORKS, by FWC Writers Workshop, The FWC Centennial Edition (Los Angeles, February 2019).
Copies were available free of charge to the attendees of the April General Meeting.

Lunar New Year was hosted by Shirley Ho at her home, February 13, 2019. She treated us with wonderful luncheon and great hospitality. The event was given by the FWC Birthday Section, and all board members, Centennial committee members, and Scholarship committee members were invited.

Wonderful celebration of the Lunar New Year at the Shirley Ho's home

Our 2018-2019 UCLA Faculty Women's Club Section Chairs Annual Meeting was held on October 3rd 2018 at the Faculty Center. Here is the group photo of this meeting attendees.

From left: Shirley Ho (invited as FWC President-Elect), Elisabeth Furster (Spanish)
Zorana Ercegovac (VP Sections, & Music), Sandy Spolsky (B-days), Marjorie Friedlander (Writers)
Dorothea Frederking (German), Diane Childs (German), Phyllis Amboss (Writers)
Dianne Homsher (Cooking), Simone King (Tennis), Marianne Tereszcuk (Bridge)
Helene desRuisseaux (French), Marianne Afifi (Cooking)
Photo credit: Patti Nagy

Jeanne Pritzker, FWC Woman of Distinction
with Geraldine Walter, FWC President

We started off our General Meeting #1 with the 2018 FWC Woman of Distinction, Jeanne Pritzker, founder and chair of Foster Care Counts (FCC). Jeanne found her non-profit organization that raises awareness and provides financial support to local agencies working to help underserved populations. Our President 2018-2019 Geraldine Walter shares a moment to present the award to Pritzker.

Our sections represent the interests and affinities of FWC members. Each October at our first General Meeting, sections showcase their programs and recruit new members.

We welcomed Helene DesRuisseaux as our new Chair of the FRENCH Reading and Conversation Section.

WRITERS and PLAY READING sections will contribute their own skit at the April 2019 General Meeting.

Marianne Tereszcuk chairs all three BRIDGE sections.

MUSIC IN CULTURAL CONTEXTS section welcomes members outside our own section during many of our regular gatherings.

As a group, we will attend Academy St. Martin in the Fields with Jeremy Denk at the Broad Sage in Santa Monica. 

Rochelle Caballero and Phyllis Amboss

Marianne Tereszcuk chairs all BRIDGE sections

Evan Kleiman was our speaker at the November 2018 General Meeting. She walked into a professional restaurant kitchen and found her home. In 1984 she opened Angeli Caffe serving regional Italian food in a casual welcoming atmosphere.

Evan co-authore Cucina Fresca, still in print, considered a classic. Since 1998 the radio show and podcast Good Food has been the place she could explore various aspects of food and how it intersects with our lives. The show airs on KCRW, and NPR station in Southern California and has a worldwide audience on the web. On how to make homemade pies, and other delicious meals, visit her BLUPRINT.

 Zorana, Vice President for Sections and Chair of Music in Cultural Contexts Section, suggested that the sections be more open to the entire membership rather than to our own section members.

Jaime Bulkacz, presenter on ARGENTINE TANGO
with Zorana Ercegovac, VP Sections

October 17, 2018, our MUSIC SECTION presented a unique opportunity for the participants to learn about the evolution of the Argentine TANGO since the beginnings. It incorporates a variety of cultural traits and performance traditions. Jaime, a native of Buenos Aires, expertly marched through its historical origins of vocal and instrumental genres and ensembles.

One among our attendees observed that while we typically associate the word "tango" with dance, many Argentinians focus on the tango music.

From left: Glorya Dixon, Zorana Ercegovac, Marilyn Slater, and Mary Lou Ward
General Meeting #1: October 16, 2018, UCLA's Faculty Center

Our bulletin UPDATE announces section dates and programs, but traditionally each section has included its own members. This "openness" would be a wonderful opportunity for new members to sample those sections they feel particular affinity for. Examples abound. For example, as we read Julian Barnes' "Flaubert's Parrot" in the book section, French section may offer expertise on the novelist Gustave Flaubert.

Currently, UCLA's Hammer Museum is exhibiting drawings by Victor Hugo's son Charles Hugo (1826-1871). He photographed his father seated on the Jersey rock, Rocher des Prescripts (exiles' rock), around 1853.

Here, Victor Hugo is seen gazing up and beyond the horizon contemplating that the ground and the air we breath is the same for all people regardless of their origins and birthplace. Everywhere, man is at home.

Reading Hugo's novels and watching his son's drawings made strong impression on me, worth exploring further, perhaps in our Book and French Sections.
Now in our third year, Music Section will offer our traditional Holiday SING ALONG in December. We invite members from Book and Play-Reading sections. Shirley Ho, a member of Music Section and B-day Section will be the hostess of a special event in February 2019. Dishes from our International Cooking Section could be another possible candidate to include in this year's experiment.

Debby Kennel who chairs our Book Section presented Jamie Bernstein's Famous Father Girl (HarperCollins 2018), the work which could have been presented both in the Music Section and the Book Section. Here's the group from yesterday's meeting.

From left: Bette, Debby (holding the book), our hostess Barbara, Zorana, Jarka,
Marjorie, Monique (new member), Anne, Amelia, and Norma (new member)
Photo credit: Sara Crandall

Bernstein's firstborn daughter has written a memoir of her family, her "daddy." The photo on the left is from The New Yorker (June 25, 2018), written by David Denby and titled "Music Man." As a group, we dissected numerous issues as presented in the book that was published by HarperCollins in 2018, in the year of Leonard Bernstein's centenary.

Bernstein was the great American composer, conductor, humanitarian, pianist, and the one who negotiated endless boundaries between the concert hall and the Broadway, between secular and sacred musical genres, and much more.

Leonard Bernstein @ 100 was on view at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles from April 26 through September 2, 2018.

He was Harvard educated, handsome, American-Jewish super hero, who enjoyed frequent company of family members, friends, and his colleagues, especially his New York Philharmonic Orchestra. He was well regarded and revered both at home and internationally.

Our discussion was equally divided to LB as a person as well as the artist.

With permission from The Getty Restaurant's
newest creation: PEAR with the
almond base. DELICIOUS!

Finally, Zorana invited all Section Chairs attendees to the screening of Roma King's documentary film, based on her book "Footsteps in the Snow." The film will be showing Sunday on October 21st at the Laemmle Film Center in Santa Monica.
I had coffee with Roma just before her departure for Poland, and chatted about her debut documentary film.
The photo below is of Roma who told me all about what would be happening back in Poland.

Roma with her book, "Footsteps in the snow"
From one's family journey, to the story told in her book, and to the big screen
Congratulations!

Roma with her husband Stephen Kania King at the private reception
September 8th 2018 at the Dwor Wilkowice in Poland 

Roma at the podium speaking 

The Story of The UCLA Faculty Women's Club: Wrapping Up Essential Achievements 1918-2018

by Zorana Ercegovac

Our Fifth General Meeting held on April 17th 2018 was a great success. It was indeed celebratory. A multi-part Centennial Program included a welcome by FWC President (2017-2018) Barbara Lippe along with vote for the 2018-2019 Executive Board officers.

Zorana Ercegovac presented her Multi-Media Album honoring FWC. We heard voices of FWC members since late 1950s, saw dozens of digitized photos of FWC members and traditions, and reminiscent of historical contexts which championed human's rights, women's rights, equality, access to learning and higher education, environmental protection, Child Labor Reform, advances in communication and transportation industries, and so much more. A few pictures are given below.

Zorana Ercegovac speaks at the Fifth General Meeting
UCLA's FWC is 100 years old and one month

Next, FWC's Music Section invited Victor Shlyakhtenko, a young star pianist, who performed pieces by L. van Beethoven, F. Chopin, and his own Piano Suite. Victor generously gave his time in answering questions form the audience.

Victor performing at the Faculty Center, California Room -- every seat was taken

The Event adjourned with a traditional presentation of roses in recognition of talented Section leaders.

Section chairs honored with Bruin-colored roses

Victor was available for QA and photo taking. It was a delightful and educational meeting.

Barbara Lippe with pianist Victor Shlyakhtenko

The UCLA Faculty Women's Club celebrates our 100th year. This special post gives a very condensed timeline of the essential achievements during these hundred years.
Our story begins with California State Normal School in San francisco in 1862. The School moved to San Jose and later became known as San Jose Normal School. In 1881 Southern branch was announced of California SNS with 61 students including 13 young men. The School was renamed Los Angeles State Normal School (LASNS) in 1887 with Dr. Ernest Carroll Moore of the SJNS as Director of the newly established School.

The California State Normal School at 5th Street and Grand Ave in Los Angeles

Dr. Moore wished to transform a 2-year college into a 4-year higher education institution that was part of University of California. He had been superintendent of Schools in LA, 1906-1910. He met with Mr. Edward A. Dickson, Los Angeles Express editor and the only Regent of UC from Southern California. These preliminary discussions were put in place for the founding of today's UCLA. Among the strongest advocates in this seminal transformational process was the LASNS Faculty Women's Club (FWC), founded in 1918. The LASNS faculty women supported the need for higher education in addition to teachers' training in Southern California. Miss Mary Burney Porter asked:

"Will you not give all an equal chance by helping to transform the Los Angeles Normal School into a higher education institution?"

Dr. Moore, Miss Porter, and Miss Chilton endorsed the Women's Legislative Council of California, representing more than 80,000 women voters "interested in welfare of women and children."

A broader societal context of the late 19th c. and early 20th c.
WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE Movement

Miss Porter and about 45 faculty members created the FWC of the LASNS on the Vermont campus on March 15, 1918 overnight in order to pass a measure before the WLCC. Dr. Moore joined the meeting that day to give the Club his blessing, prophesying growth.

This Spring 2018, we celebrate our 100th birthday
HAPPY BIRTHDAY FWC

In 1919 Gov. William D. Stephenson of California signed State Assembly Bill 626 establishing the Southern Branch of UC with Dr. Moore at the helm (1919-1936), with 250 undergraduates, and 1,125 students in the Teachers Training Program.

SHOULD THE FWC CONTINUE?

The newly created Southern Branch had no scholarship programs, nor a facility for social life and networking to support the faculty. FWC saw this need and filled this gap. There were 63 women faculty, 35 male faculty, and 1,375 students to support in various ways. The FWC voted to offer membership not only to women faculty, but also to faculty wives. Venues moved from the FWC Clubhouse on the Vermont campus to UCLA's Women's Gym, to Kerckhoff Hall, and later to the Faculty Center in Westwood Village (February 1959). As one of the founding groups, FWC has a representative on the Faculty Center Board of Governors.

Fundraising galas were held for the Faculty Center in Westwood:
"Put your hearts in Your Faculty Club Building"

The raised fund for the Faculty Center building had a total of $29,525 of which UCLA FWC contributed $4,303 (with UCLA Faculty Women $2,075, and faculty administration and staff $23,147).

Our Fifth General Meeting on April 17, 2018 celebrates our Centennial Program that is detailed in the UPDATE April 2018 issue.
Details for the April General Meeting are here.
The Music Program to be performed by the young start Victor Shlyakhtenko is here.

HONORING FWC PAST will be presented on April 17, 2018 at the UCLA Faculty Center
by Zorana Ercegovac
Victor Shlyakhtenko, piano, will be playing Chopin, Liszt, and his own composition

ENTRANCE is FREE

A THREE-PRONG FWC MISSION: Facts and Figures

SPECIAL INTEREST SECTIONS (currently there are 18) -- Book Review Section was founded in 1927. Early Sections reflected interests and affinities of FWC members. See our UPDATE for current sections. Details are at SECTIONS 

The FWC Section Chairs met October 4, 2017 at the Faculty Center Library/Billiard Room
Sections represented by (from left): Rochelle Caballero (Play-reading), Sandy Spolsky (B-days),
Dianne Homsher (International Cooking),
Zorana Ercegovac (Vice-President, Sections and Music in Cultural Contexts)
Diane Childs (German), Marianne Tereszcuk (all bridge), Dorothea Frederking (German),
Phyllis Amboss (Writers), Elaine Wise (French), Mary Lou Ward (Galleries and Sites), Debby Kennel (Books)

Zorana at the piano accompanied our vocalists performing
some popular holiday carols from various origins

December 20th 2017 was our Music Section "Sing-Along" FEST: We invited, besides all music section members, those participating in Book and Play-reading sections, as well as the FWC Board along with husbands. It was a successful celebration We started off socializing over delicious potluck gathering, then we sang, even danced. The hosts were Jarka and Tom Wilcox.

Jarka Wilcox, our hostess, Zorana Ercegovac, Chair of Music Section
with Joy Frank, our Scholarship Chair

Shirley Ho, our Music Section soprano, started the music program with two Christmas carols, followed by the "Sing-Along" part of the program. Shirley will be the hostess for our February 2018 music section gathering, to be held at her home. 

SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMS started off in 1936 with a seed contribution of $25.00 to the Scholarship Foundation. The Scholarship endowment is currently over $401,000 and growing. It has supported 201 UCLA students from 2001 to 2018 with a total of $364,600. We celebrate FWC recipients annually at the FWC Scholarship dinner award events. 

The Centennial 2018 Scholarship Dinner was a successful event, thanks to a team of hardworking FWC members: Joy Frank, Marjorie Friedlander, Shirley Ho, Barbara Lippe, Mary Cerrito, and Jaroslava Wilcox. 

A special thanks go to The Ho Family who generously contributed to the Scholarship Fund in memory of Shou-Nan Hsing Chang, Shirley's mother who passed away in 2017. 

The FWC Scholarship recipients included 2 at a graduate level and 10 undergraduates (photographed below). Each student gave a brief introduction about their work. It was a festive celebration of the FWC Scholarship Program and a great start of the Centennial Year.

The FWC Scholarship recipients at The Centennial Scholarship Dinner, February 2018

Our Third General Meeting, the FWC Scholarship Dinner on February 6, 2018, was well attended. The speaker was Dr. Kelsey C. Martin, the first woman dean of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. 

Dr. Barbara Crandall, FWC Board member, chats with Dean Martin during a pre-dinner social

Dr. Martin's career path was demonstrated in her presentation "Lessons in Leadership: Peace Corps, Memory Research, and Medical Education."

She started off majoring in English and American language and literature at Harvard University. After having served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Zaire to set up a public health program, she experience an AHA moment, which led her to the MD/PHD program at Yale University and postdoc training in neurobiology with Nobel Laureate Eric Kandel at Columbia University. She joined the UCLA faculty in 1999. 

We now turn a few years back when we welcomed Dr. Verna Porter, once our own Scholarship recipient!

Prof. Verna Porter was one of FWC's Scholarship recipients, photographed
with her mother and grandmother, all FWC members

UCLA students, 12 awarded recipients of the FWC Scholarship Programs

For details, please visit us at SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMS

GENERAL PROGRAMS represent one of the three essential prongs of the UCLA Faculty Women's Club activities. Since 1934 we have had 473 general meetings. In 2000 Phyllis Amboss wrote dates, names of speakers, and program titles for each general meeting as published in UPDATE. In 2016, Pat Hardwick and Charlotte Brown produced "General Meeting Summaries 1920-2015," and "Historic Timelines 1918-2008."

For the FWC Centennial Year, Zorana Ercegovac has created condensed timelines: "FWC on One Sheet: Wrapping Up Essential Achievements Since 1918," and "The Story of the UCLA Faculty Women's Club: A Condensed Timeline." This serves as a reminder of our collective memory, HONORING OUR PAST. It is also a Table of Content for the April 2018 General Meeting when Zorana will expand this Timeline in her Multimedia Album Honoring FWC Through 100 Voices, Stories, and Images.

LAPD Sergeant Emada Tingirides was our October 2017 speaker 

We started off our Centennial Year with a presentation by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Sergeant Emada Tingirides and her husband Capt. Phil Tingirides. Sgt. Emada Tingirides is the recipient of The FWC 2017 Woman of Distinction Award. Phil (operating the projector, in the photo above) gave us historical overview of their many initiatives that are iconic in LAPD and in other nation-wide multi-agency districts.

The October 2017 General Meeting, held at the Faculty Center, was attended by Section Chairs who showcased our programs and recruited new members. 
Do you see yourself in the photo above?


Visit us often for more photos and stories. Share our story with your friends and encourage them to "follow" us on the FWC BLOG as the Centennial FWC members.

WITH A COMMITMENT TO THE FUTURE 

ALWAYS IN DIALOG WITH THE PAST

Celebrating FWC 100th Year

Our 2018-2019 UCLA's Faculty Women's Club Section Chairs Annual Meeting was held on October 3rd at the Faculty Center. Here is the group photo of this meeting attendees.

From left: Shirley Ho (invited as President-elect), Elisabeth Furster (Spanish)
Zorana Ercegovac (VP Sections), Sandy Spolsky (B-days), Marjorie Friedlander (Writers)
Dorothea Federking (German), Diane Childs (German), Phyllis Amboss (Writers)
Dianne Homsher (Cooking), Simone King (Tennis), Marianne Tereszcuk (Bridge)
Helene DesRuisseaux (French), Marianne Afifi (Cooking)
Photo credit: Patti Nagy

The meeting included a lively discussion on a variety of issues. Zorana, Vice President of Sections, suggested that the sections be more open to the entire membership rather than to our own section members; this would be a wonderful opportunity to our new members. Examples could include Writers' contributions to be performed by Play-Readers; another could be discussions among Book sections (e.g., "Flaubert's Parrot" by Julian Barnes in the Book Section with French Reading and Conversation); yet another is Music Section annual Holiday SING ALONG which invites members from Book Section and Play-Readers. Possibilities abound.

We invited all attendees to watch Roma King's film which will be showing October 21st in Santa Monica.

Roma holding her book "Footsteps in the Snow" which provides the basis
for the documentary film to be showing at the Laemmle Film Center in Santa Monica
Photo credit: Zorana Ercegovac

International Cooking would be another Section of special interest to all :-)

With fifteen existing Sections, Faculty Women's Club has started off our new season. Section Chairs met to introduce and discuss their events and plans for the 2017-2018 year. Our kickoff meeting was in the Faculty Center Library/Billiard Room on October 4th.

From left: Rochelle Caballero (Play-reading), Sandy Spolsky (B-days), Dianne Homsher (cooking),
Zorana Ercegovac, Vice President, Sections (music), Diane Childs (German Co-chair)
Marianne Tereszcuk (all 3 Bridge sections), Dorothea Frederking (German Co-chair)
Phyllis Amboss (Writers Co-chair), Elaine Wise (French)
Mary Lou Ward (Galleries & Sights), Debby Kennel (books)
Photo credit: Zorana Ercegovac

For full overview of all FWC Sections and their programs, please read our UPDATE.

IMPORTANT: All FWC members are encouraged to visit any of our section meetings to see what we do. We publish contact information for individual events and meetings, so call section chairs ahead of time to reserve your "best seat in the audience."

For MUSIC SECTION, our informal October 1st get together was at the Royce Hall for the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) 50th birthday. We always find our members and meet new ones, like in the photo below.

Jo Knopoff with Zorana Ercegovac, and our new member June Bulkacz

New photos and stories will be added here from forthcoming events and programs.
Our October General meeting will take place in the California Room, Faculty Center, on October 17th at 1:30 PM. Prior to the meeting, all Sections will be there to meet, greet, and showcase their respective programs. Bring your friend(s) with you, calendars, and enthusiasm for the Centennial Celebration. On our part, we will have membership and scholarship forms, friendly FWC members, and our featured speaker, Lieutenant Emada E. Tingirides.

Meanwhile, FWC has been one of the important advocates and financial supporters and donors in the process of founding the UCLA's Faculty Center. The Center opened its doors on February 16, 1959. To revitalize its original place as an intellectual and social hub for the UCLA faculty, the Faculty Center is catering the Reception for "WEAVING GENERATIONS TOGETHER: Evolving creativity in the Maya of Chiapas." The opening reception is on October 5th 2017 in the UCLA Powell Library Main and East Rotundas.

I took a few photos prior to this afternoon reception. Take a look.

Professor of Developmental Psychology at UCLA Dr. Patricia Marks Greenfield
curated the exhibit "Weaving Generations Together"

Professor Greenfield, who is at the helm of the UCLA's Faculty Center, wanted to learn how weaving affects the way girls think, and how weaving could answer questions about the psychological effects of social and economic change -- moreover, what is the role of mothers teaching children cultural traditions, the transformation from community creativity to individual creativity.

FWC Annual Spring Luncheon 2017

Just a step before our historic Centennial Celebratory year 2017-2018, we honored Pat Hardwick as the FWC Outstanding member at the Annual Spring Luncheon 2017. She has been with FWC for almost 60 years, and has actively participated in a variety of significant and enduring programs, projects, and activities. Details are published in our UPDATE by Jo Knopoff, who nominated Pat for this Award.

Pat Hardwick (with yellow rose and the FWC Outstanding Member Award 2017)
with Charlotte Brown and Jo Knopoff (from left) and Penny Hutchinson

Pat Hardwick (center) receiving her Outstanding FWC Member Award
Carol Betti (left) President and Zorana Ercegovac, Past Presidents Panel Co-chair

Penny Hutchinson about to blow out her birthday candle
and wish her wish with Jo Knopoff (center) and Yda Ziment,
our new member, at the FWC Annual Spring Luncheon 2017

Jeffrey Ho, cellist, playing J.S. Bach's Allemande and prelude in G major

Sarah Worden, violinist, performing Adagio and Fugue in g minor

Dr. Lorraine Flint, with the U.S. Geological Survey, speaking at the Spring Luncheon
about her research on climate change

Barbara Lippe, FWC President Elect, exhibiting her art pieces at the Annual Art Show 

Finally, past presidents are traditionally honored with a yellow rose