Emerson College Los Angeles moving forward

In a letter to the Emerson community, President Lee Pelton and Board of Trustees Chair Jeffrey Greenhawt announced that the College is moving forward with the construction of the Emerson College Los Angeles (ECLA) academic center. The College anticipates breaking ground in early 2012 and, if all goes as planned, opening the center in 2014.

The ECLA Center will enrich academic programming and opportunities for undergraduates, graduate and professional studies students as well as create spaces that integrate living and learning. “It represents a bold, visual statement of Emerson’s presence in Los Angeles,” wrote Pelton and Greenhawt, “which includes several thousand alumni/ae active in the media and entertainment industries.”

The Emerson L.A. facility will include classrooms, faculty offices, an auditorium, a residence hall, and underground parking.

Pelton told the Berkeley Beacon that Emerson is currently weighing which types of programs will be available at the new facility, including television, production, screenwriting, and entertainment communication courses.

“Our plan is to work with the faculty and with the board of trustees over the course of the current academic year in order to develop with more precision the programs that we envision would be at ECLA,” said Pelton.

World-renowned architect Thom Mayne of Morphosis Architects designed the new center, which will be built at the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Gordon Street in Hollywood. The facility includes classrooms, faculty offices, an auditorium, a residence hall, and underground parking. The Los Angeles Center will not only be home to the LA internship program, but will also serve the thousands of Emerson alumni and parents who live and work in the region.

“This is an historic moment for our College,” said Pelton. “ECLA will figure prominently in Emerson’s future.”