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Photo by Derek Liu

Jason Gaulton, who studied philosophy, graduated from UCLA in 2005. After working for a small promotions company in Sacramento, Gaulton returned to UCLA to work in the marketing department of the James West Alumni Center.

UCLA graduate Peter Hayashida was a campus tour guide, an orientation counselor and an ASK Peer Counselor. It is this involvement as an undergraduate that led him to his current position as the UCLA assistant vice chancellor for external affairs, which he has held for seven years.

Hayashida, who graduated from UCLA in 1988, is one of many UCLA graduates who have decided to work at the university.

Before working in external affairs, Hayashida spent 10 years working at the UCLA Alumni Association and in College Academic Counseling.

Jason Gaulton, an alumnus from the Class of 2005, is a more recent graduate who has returned to work at UCLA, and has been working for the Alumni Association for the past six months.

Both Gaulton and Hayashida said they enjoy working at UCLA because employees are motivated by a desire to improve the university.

“What I love about coming here and working with so many UCLA graduates is we have this inherent passion, and to see people doing what they want to do, for whom they want to do it, is just refreshing,” Gaulton said.

During his time as a student, Gaulton was active on the Campus Events staff and was elected Campus Events commissioner for his third year and again for his fourth year.

Gaulton started the Welcome Week Bruin Bash concert during his tenure as commissioner and brought popular bands such as Bad Religion, Yellowcard and the Roots to campus.

He said he had initially planned on attending law school after graduation but decided to pursue concert promotions at a small firm in Sacramento because of his experience on the Campus Events staff.

He decided to return to UCLA, in part because he still has ideas for improving entertainment on campus.

“We’re UCLA, we’re in the middle of Los Angeles, we should be the forefront of college entertainment. ... I don’t think we’ve reached our apex, and I’d like to see us get there,” he said.

Hayashida returned to the university because of a strong bond he has with it.

“Even today I still feel like the most formative events in my life, that the events that made me the person I am today, I can trace back to (UCLA),” he said.

He added that promoting higher education is meaningful to him because his undergraduate experience at UCLA had such a strong effect on his life.

“If I think about the causes that matter to me, higher education is absolutely near the top, because in my opinion, it is the leverage point that transforms people’s lives in ways that very few other experiences can parallel,” he said.

Yana Ardaryan, who will be graduating this year with a degree in psychology, said she also feels a strong connection to the university, and would definitely work at UCLA if the opportunity presented itself.

“I’d want to be a part of the school for as long as I can. I’m sad I’m graduating,” she said.

Gaulton said he feels working for a university – especially one as large as UCLA – is meaningful because of the number of people affected.

“You make a contribution here and it’s unbelievably significant. We’re one of the premiere institutions in the world, and I’d love to leave my mark just as it left its mark on me,” he said.

Hayashida said counseling his peers as an ASK Peer Counselor and orientation counselor made him consider his own career goals in a new light. He said he realized many of his classmates were choosing careers based on what others expected, not necessarily out of an intrinsic motivation.

As an undergraduate, Gaulton majored in philosophy. His class work influenced his development as a person more than his career did, he said.

“My outlook on life changed drastically through my studies, and I feel that’s had a very positive impact on the way I carry myself in the workplace,” Gaulton said.

“My thought process has completely changed,” he added.

Hayashida does not believe studying communications as an undergraduate directly affected his career path.

“I loved my major, but I didn’t pick my major with a career in mind – and in some respects, it’s part of what made my career so rich because I never limited myself,” he said.

He admits that his life has been “fairly unplanned.”

After graduating, Hayashida took a job in real estate investment. But he said he was unsatisfied with the position because he did not feel like he was making a meaningful contribution to society.

In his current position in external affairs, Hayashida said he has more interpersonal interaction than in his first job because he helps manage the UCLA Foundation, which invests money donated to the university and provides support for his department and the campus.

The experience of being an employee at UCLA reflects that of a student because of the strong sense of belonging, Hayashida said.

“There are 36,000 students here, there are about 25,000 staff members – it’s easy to come here and feel lost, to feel like you’re a cog in a big bureaucracy, but if you scratch a little beneath the surface, you find this remarkable community,” he said.

“At the end of the day, when I leave, it feels like an enormous privilege to be part of this community.”