How do I feel even after @UCLA '14, @peoplescollolaw, & passing the @StateBarCA June '15 #FYLSX? [img: Wakaba*Girl] pic.twitter.com/T4U8FI1027
— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) August 17, 2015
Showing posts with label UCLA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UCLA. Show all posts
Friday, September 04, 2015
How do I feel even after UCLA '14, Peoples College of Law, and passing the CalBar June '15 FYLSX?
Friday, August 21, 2015
Peoples College of Law Representing at UCLA Pre-Law Society’s Twenty-Third Annual Law Forum
UCLA Pre-Law Society’s Twenty-Third Annual Law Forum
I will be one of the representatives from Peoples College of Law (PCL) at The UCLA Pre-Law Society’s Twenty-Third Annual...
Posted by Robert D. Skeels on Friday, August 21, 2015
Peoples College of Law: Is Social Justice Law School for you?
"The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress."—Frederick Douglass
If you’re a social justice minded person in Los Angeles, with at least two years of college credit, consider Peoples College of Law (PCL). PCL offers a four-year evening Juris Doctor program to accommodate working students. Successful completion of the Juris Doctor (J.D.) program provides qualification to sit for the California State Bar exam. From their site:
Our recruitment and admissions policies are strongly directed toward socio-politically conscious Native American, Asian Pacific Islander, African-American/Black and Latina/o students. Our goal is to have a student body that is at least half women and two/thirds Third World People. Peoples College of Law affirmatively recruits LGBT applicants.
Friday, July 10, 2015
Jan Resseger's critique of the privatization of the G.E.D. makes excellent use of Professor Mike Rose's work
.@JanResseger's critique of the privatization of the G.E.D. makes excellent use of Professor @MikeRose7971's work. https://t.co/ZGlCJYIcaE
— RD Skeels LAUSD 2013 (@RDSkeels4LAUSD) July 10, 2015The New GED: Making A Second Chance So Much Harder
Saturday, May 02, 2015
Friday, April 03, 2015
Like college sports, but am far more interested in our UCLA Powell Library #13 Ranking!
Like college sports, but am far more interested in our @UCLA_Powell #13 ranking! https://t.co/BAQo3PdXGa @UCLA_Alumni pic.twitter.com/54muCbyAuL
— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) March 25, 2015Monday, June 30, 2014
This UCLA Alumni just stopped by Peoples College of Law for readings preparing for fall semester. Kinda sorry I asked.
This @UCLA_Alumni just stopped by @peoplescollolaw for readings preparing for fall semester. Kinda sorry I asked #PCL pic.twitter.com/BeOxGSStTR
— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) July 1, 2014Thursday, June 26, 2014
So this 10th grade drop out who just graduated UCLA just got the news that they're a Peoples College of Law student!
So this 10th grade drop out who just graduated #UCLA 2014 just got the news they're a @peoplescollolaw law student! pic.twitter.com/IJuHqsP7eR
— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene)June 27, 2014
I'm excited beyond words. I got the call that I was accepted around 8:00PM. This time last year I had no degree, and was anxious about returning to UCLA to finish up what I had started eighteen years earlier. Turned out that I'm still on top of my game academically. Now with a UCLA B.A. in Classical Civilization in hand, I'm getting ready to start at the same law school that one of my closest mentors graduated from in 1974. Peoples College of Law is a very special place, and an integral part of my community. I'm ready for this next step that will allow me to apply both my Freireian praxis and my social justice principles on a whole new level.
Monday, June 16, 2014
Three very special UCLA Professors I had the good fortune of studying under
Spring of 1991 I was a 26 year old transfer student. My first class was Classics 41—Survey of Latin Literature in Translation—with Professor Robert Gurval who was in his first year at UCLA. Currently the Chair of the UCLA Department, Professor Gurval was gracious enough to provide me guidance and encouragement upon my return to the university. I’m forever indebted to him for both his scholarship and friendship.
I had more courses with Professor Sarah Morris than any other professor during my academic career. Like Professor Gurval, she was one of my instructors during the early nineteen-nineties. The difference was that I also had one her courses (Classics 152A Ancient City: Greek World) in my final quarter of my return nineteen years later. Needing 'A' letter grades in both of my last two classes to pull my GPA up, I averaged four hours a sleep a night that last quarter. The studying paid off, I got an A+ in her class and an A in Professor Mellor’s History of the Roman Empire course.
Both Professor Mario Telò and the quality of my fellow students in the Fall 2013 Classics 191 Capstone Seminar (Greek Novel) were absolutely amazing. It was my first course upon returning to the university after eighteen years, and it was very challenging. Talk about reigniting my passion for academia. Reading and discussing Longus, Heliodorus, and Achilles Tatius was something very special. So was having UCSB’s Professor Helen Morales as a guest facilitator for one of our sessions.
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Finally graduated UCLA after being denied a diploma by Quintero in 1995
Submitted to the The Glendale News-Press on June 10, 2014
This Saturday I will be among the UCLA class of 2014 participating in our departmental commencement ceremonies at Royce Hall. In 1995 I was a senior at UCLA, and serving my seventh year as the Glendale Chamber of Commerce's Art Director. A part time student my entire tenure at the Chamber, they had always been very supportive of their employee's pursuing their education. I had been Alpha Gamma Sigma at Glendale Community College with a perfect 4.0 GPA, transfered to UCLA as an Honors Student, and was recruited by the Golden Key National Honors Society. My academic career looked bright, and my goal was to become a professor.
In 1995 incoming Chamber President Frank Quintero presented me a choice to resign my position or stop attending school. With no other means of financial support, I was left with no alternative but to drop out. I thought it would be temporary, and I'd find a way to return soon. I was baffled by Quintero's ultimatum since at the time he ran a 501C3 for Veterans called Alliance for Education. I was a U.S. Navy Veteran.
Eighteen years later I found myself with both daytime availability and the financial wherewithal to return to UCLA. On March 21, 2014 I was awarded a B.A. in Classical Civilization at the age of forty eight. I'm sure the trajectory of my life would have been quite different had I not been denied that opportunity earlier, but ultimately I was able to go back and finish. I was just featured in the graduation edition of the Daily Bruin, and I am currently in enrollment process at Peoples College of Law.
Monday, June 09, 2014
Robert D. Skeels featured in the UCLA Daily Bruin 2014 Graduation Issue and Radio
Stories of older students enrich UCLA’s Class of 2014
By Kathleen McGovernTwo of the oldest undergraduate students in UCLA’s Class of 2014 share their stories:
- Robert Skeels, 48, is one of the oldest returning undergraduate students to graduate this year. Despite the challenges of being a returning student, he chose to come back to UCLA and finish the degree in classical civilization that he began almost 20 years ago.
TRANSCRIPT:
SKEELS: I’m excited beyond words. I didn’t realize when I was 20-some-odd years old that I was lucky to get in here.
MCGOVERN: Robert Skeels transferred to UCLA in 1991. He is one of the oldest returning undergraduate students graduating this year.
SKEELS: You know, I felt kind of entitled at that age. Now at my age, I realize like just how fortunate I was to attend this university.
MCGOVERN: During his unfinished final year in 199[5], his job at the Glendale Chamber of Commerce changed its work policy. They told him he could no longer attend UCLA and keep his job. During his years away from school, he worked at an electronics firm and spent his free time serving his community by doing social justice activism. Last year, after running for a representative position on the board for L.A. Unified School District, his wife encouraged him to finish the three remaining classes he had been waiting on to get his degree.
SKEELS: She said, “If you lose, you have to go back and finish,” and I came back and I finished.
MCGOVERN: But starting school as a commuting student with a career and financial responsibilities wasn’t easy.
SKEELS: You have to be disciplined. It meant, you know, up till two, three in the morning and getting up «alarm» at six to study almost every day.
MCGOVERN: Now that Skeels is graduating as part of the class of 2014 with a bachelor’s in classical civilization, he plans on continuing his studies at People’s College of Law. It’s a small, four-year law school in his neighborhood for social justice activists. He also dreams of going to grad school to get a master’s or Ph.D. in art history. His return to school has allowed him to cherish his experience at UCLA this past year.
SKEELS: When I was younger, I was more wrapped up on just going through the motions and doing it. Coming backing, of course, I had an entirely different perspective. I love all the older buildings here. It’s nice to know that there’s things older than me.
MCGOVERN: He took pictures of everything to document his return. The opportunity to return and work on his degree is an accomplishment that, at the age of 48, he appreciates all the more.
SKEELS: I really savored, every moment that I was on campus. I don’t have the the words to describe how excited I am. I was kind of denied that opportunity when I was younger and to now come back and kind of achieve that – a lot of really joyous memories of being at UCLA, and who knows, maybe someday I’ll be back here for graduate school.
MCGOVERN: We Bruins truly belong to a diverse family with stories that go beyond our campus. Congratulations to the class of 2014. Forever Bruins.
For Daily Bruin Radio, I’m Kathleen McGovern.
Saturday, June 07, 2014
A little love letter to all my haters from the profitable #edreform sector who mocked me about my education
A little love letter to all my haters from the profitable #edreform sector who mocked me about my education #LAUSD pic.twitter.com/wN88aVyXps
— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) June 7, 2014Now can we talk about your funders Gates, Zuckerberg, and Dell being college dropouts, or is that just something neoliberal corporate education reformers tar working class people with?
Thursday, April 24, 2014
Big decision. Should I attend PCL? I could help families fight neoliberalism with a J.D.
Big decision. Should I attend PCL? I could help families fight neoliberalism with a J.D. http://t.co/rFkN6Uo4wP pic.twitter.com/4wBF2hYKWJ
— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) April 24, 2014Now that I've officially graduated from UCLA, I have a big decision to make. Do I pursue my first love, academia? At 48 years old, the window for that is pretty narrow. If I attend PCL and become a social justice attorney, I could help my community fight neoliberalism. Already an expert on education, I could use law to combat the forces of neoliberalism, privatization, and the nonprofit industrial complex that is currently destroying the remains of our public commons.
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
NPIC Poverty Pimps and Privatization Pushers unhappy I finished school and have time to expose them again
The #NPIC Poverty Pimps and Privatization Pushers unhappy I finished school and have time to expose them again #LAUSD pic.twitter.com/xJ0g8qQbNZ
— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) April 15, 2014Thursday, April 03, 2014
Wrapping up a lot of hard work at UCLA, looking towards next steps
Returning to #UCLA after 2 decades to graduate and raise my GPA by two points took petitions and perfection #UCLA2014 pic.twitter.com/9sgocKK5Vy
— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) April 3, 2014Thank goodness I only had to do this for two quarters. At my age working full time, attending a top ranked R1 university, and getting two-to-three hours of sleep a night in order to earn those grades was beginning to take a serious toll on me physically. Spending every waking moment on the weekends studying didn't do much for my normal household duties either.
A 3.315* is not good enough to get into any UCLA humanities graduate programs, but would be considered excellent for candidacy at the CSU. Still trying to figure out next steps, but Peoples College of Law just might be my next destination.
* In fairness, my Glendale Community College GPA was 4.0, and there were some serious extenuating circumstance that led to me dropping out of honors program status at UCLA. Such is life for commuting, working, non-traditional students. The UC doesn't not average community college transfer units into their GPA, so my UCLA GPA is just for courses there.
Thursday, March 06, 2014
I’m UCLA Class of 2014, ending my 19 year odyssey
I’m a tenth grade drop out who grew up in poverty. Passed the GED in 1984 while serving the empire’s Navy. Started community college in 1988 and transfered to UCLA in 1991. Was forced to drop out because of dire economic reasons in 1994.
Returned to UCLA in the Fall 2013 and earned an “A” in my Capstone Seminar (Classics 191). Declared for W14, and am enrolled in my final two courses now. I’m UCLA Class of 2014, and I couldn’t be more happy or proud.
Many thanks to my wife, who pushed me to return and finish.
Friday, February 28, 2014
On February 28, 1994 I became a member of a fellowship that would transform my life...
On February 28, 1994 I became a member of a fellowship that would transform my life… #UCLA http://t.co/3pi5WfcFKv pic.twitter.com/8dqswlKICu
— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) February 28, 2014Everything comes full circle
On February 28, 1994 I became a member of a fellowship that would, one day at a time, transform my life via a spiritual plan of action. Everything good in my life today is a direct result of my involvement with that community. Ironically, I was introduced to that fellowship’s basic text at a meeting held at Ackerman Union at UCLA earlier that winter. I returned to UCLA in Fall Quarter 2013 (eighteen-some-odd years later). I am graduating this quarter, making this the 20th anniversary of when I joined the fellowship, and the 19th of when I was ignominiously forced out of school by the job I held at the time.
Commemorating twenty years in the fellowship, and finishing my degree after a nineteen year hiatus is quite exciting. As a Classical Civilization major I like to joke that I timed both events to correspond with 2014 — the year marking the anniversary of the death of Divus Augustus — in order to impress UCLA’s Professor Mellor.
While today is certainly cause for celebration, that must wait since there are more pressing things at hand. May Athene Amboulia guide me through my Classics 152A paper this weekend, and assist my efforts in this — my final quarter at UCLA.
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
The Impact of Proposition 209 and Our Duty to Our Students
I'm so glad my university is finally taking a stand on the racist Proposition 209, and is thinking of ways to encourage diversity!
| Office of the Chancellor |
To the Campus Community:
Nearly two decades have passed since Californians voted to end affirmative action in admission to public colleges and universities. Today it is clear that we have suffered for it.
With each passing year, campuses all across our state — and, increasingly, as copycat laws are passed, the nation — fail to accurately reflect the growing diversity in our communities. Too often, many of our students of color feel isolated, as strangers in their own house. Others feel targeted, mocked or marginalized, rather than recognized and valued.
At UCLA, our students are bold, confident and among the sharpest anywhere. We are proud when they convey their thoughts, experiences and feelings — as they have done recently in several now-viral videos and by organizing town halls and rallies.
Anyone still unconvinced by the true impact of Proposition 209 need only listen to our students’ powerful first-hand accounts. Their words, of course, are much bigger than UCLA — and it’s not surprising that they have found a national audience. We need only to look at the remarkable and numerous accomplishments of alumni from now-underrepresented groups who attended UCLA before Proposition 209 to fully recognize the disservice we do to California and our nation when other talented and deserving students are absent from our Bruin family.
Working within the letter of the law, we have tried to address the issues caused by Proposition 209. In recent years, UCLA has begun evaluating the full range of each applicant’s academic and personal achievements, within the context of opportunities and challenges each has faced. And yet we continue to fall far short of the diversity California’s public colleges and universities enjoyed before voters approved Proposition 209 in 1996.
While it’s important to understand that Proposition 209 is the underlying cause of many of these issues — and a cause that some leaders in our state are now looking to reverse — simply hoping that things will get easier is unacceptable. We must and will continue to search for new and innovative ways to achieve diversity within the confines of the law, but as Californians we must also rethink a flawed policy and find a way to better serve our students.
We must do more. We have a responsibility to do better.
Today I call upon my UCLA faculty colleagues to re-examine the creation of an undergraduate general education requirement focused on diversity. Ours is the only UC campus that does not have one. We have no excuses. Let’s make this happen in 2014. While it will not impact the diversity of our campus to the extent we would like, a diversity requirement would enrich all of our students’ experiences here and better prepare them to live and work in a complex global environment. We owe it to our students to effect curricular changes that add to the understanding and appreciation of our nation’s diversity.
I also want to assure you that our previously promised efforts to strengthen campus diversity and equity are well underway. The Moreno Report Implementation Committee, chaired by Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Scott Waugh, is fully engaged in its work and will give me a full update at the end of this academic year. With the help of the committee, we also are finalizing a job description for the new position of vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion, and we expect to announce the search by the end of next quarter.
In addition, we will soon post positions for two diversity officers who will report to the new vice chancellor and investigate any reported allegations of racial and ethnic bias or discrimination among our faculty as well as providing education and training.
Try as we might to overcome racism, bigotry, isolation and anger, we know we’re going to confront them again, on our campus and in the world beyond. The offensive flyer sent to our Asian American Studies Center recently was another horrifying reminder. What matters is how we respond. We must support each other. We must listen to one another.
Make no mistake: Conversations about race can be very difficult. They are inevitably emotional. They can make people defensive. They sometimes lead to accusations. But we cannot be afraid to have these conversations, because they are so critically important to our university and to society. And if we cannot have productive discussions about race here, on a campus with the world’s thought leaders and with students committed to knowledge and inquiry, then where can we?
While we may have different ideas on strategy, we all want a campus that embraces and elevates each of us. And that’s why we must continue talking, debating and looking for solutions.
Most important of all, we must learn to trust one another. I also appreciate that trust is earned, and we must and will work harder to earn it, even among our critics.
Sincerely,
Gene D. Block
Chancellor
Chancellor
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Going into Week 8 of my final quarter at UCLA. A lot of work to do, but it's getting very close.
Going into Week 8 of my final quarter. A lot of work to do, but it's getting very close. #UCLA #classof2014 pic.twitter.com/Zv2UFubCSN
— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) February 21, 2014First Albright, now Clinton. Sad my university hosts two mass murderers of near eastern peoples in two months.
First Albright, now Clinton. Sad my university hosts two mass murderers of near eastern peoples in two months. #UCLA pic.twitter.com/UGByIqbvPo
— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) February 19, 2014Caution! We're 'those people' that President Barack Obama warned you about
Caution! We're "those people" that President @BarackObama warned you about. #UCLA #humanities http://t.co/MiSK4g8MZg pic.twitter.com/lpmP8gxO5A
— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) February 19, 2014
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