Karen McClain ’85

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Karen McClain ’85 knows well the old adage, “If you do what you love, you’ll love what you do.” Her role within UCLA Alumni Affairs is less a job and more of a passion project. Being a sports fan and a proud season ticket holder for UCLA Football, Women’s and Men’s Basketball for many years, Karen was asked to take on a role that helps bridge two major areas on campus: UCLA Alumni Affairs, which advocates for the community of more than 418,000 living alumni, and UCLA Athletics.

What is your main responsibility with UCLA Alumni Affairs?
Engaging alumni like myself through Athletics pre-game activities at both home and away games. For many alumni who live outside of Los Angeles, this is a great opportunity to get together before the game and meet fellow Bruins who traveled from out of town. Even Bruins who are not big sports fans enjoy this opportunity to mingle.

What are some of your goals for this year?
We are working to increase the number of alumni who come out to support our teams and to bring events to places that we have not previously been. This year will be unique as we’re expanding Bruin Bash, adding a new Alumni Tent at the Rose Bowl, as well as identifying opportunities for alumni to participate in pre-game events for non-revenue sports including tennis, softball and gymnastics.

How does your work relate to the goals of Alumni Affairs?
One of the areas I oversee is UCLA Alumni Events, which we use to track alumni engagement. It is critical that we offer a variety of opportunities for alumni to participate with UCLA. There are a variety of options for collaborations within different areas at UCLA, including sporting events. We seek events to engage our diverse young alumni. Our goal is to give people opportunities to connect. That connection leads to further engagement, which leads to people being more invested in the university and giving back to UCLA with their time, talent or treasure.

What are your other responsibilities?
In addition to UCLA Alumni Events, I work with the James West Alumni Center management team and the UCLA Alumni Travel program. I will also advise the UCLA Homecoming student committee now that it will be overseen by UCLA Alumni Affairs. The homecoming game this year is on Nov. 1 against the Arizona Wildcats. We are excited to offer activities for alumni throughout the week leading up to the game, including the Alumni Tent at the Rose Bowl which will offer alumni a place to connect before the game.

Karen McClain can be reached at 310-825-4853 or kmcclain@support.ucla.edu.