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Michael Foraker, assistant vice chancellor of housing and hospitality, is celebrating his 25th an

Michael Foraker, assistant vice chancellor of housing and hospitality, sits at his desk in the Housing Administration Building. On the wall hangs a poster of Sam the Eagle, the mascot for the 1984 Olympics.

This year marks Foraker’s 25th at UCLA. Just three years into his tenure, the university played host to the athletes of the 1984 Summer Olympics. The campus housed the Olympic athletes in the same residence halls and suites students lived in and also hosted the gymnastics and tennis competitions.

“It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Foraker said. “It’s also a pride thing. People I know at UCLA have blue in their veins.”

Foraker said UCLA seemed like an enticing place to work because of its location and academic reputation.

Before coming to UCLA, Foraker also served as the associate housing director at the University of Texas at Austin, and for three years worked in the housing department at UC Riverside.

Over the years, Foraker has been responsible for the administration of residential life, which includes the on-campus residential buildings and off-campus apartments, the dining and catering programs, the summer conference programs, vending and the management of the community housing offices at the Lake Arrowhead Conference Center.

Suzanne Seplow, director of the Office of Residential Life, has known Foraker for 11 years and said she believes he has made significant contributions to the housing program.

“I think (the changes in housing are) a direct result of his supervision and leadership,” she said. “He balances being an extremely bright business-minded individual with a very conscientious and authentic value for the people.”

Foraker said in his time at UCLA Housing Services, he has watched the organization adapt to evolving student needs and demands.

The university’s transition from a commuter school to a more residential campus in the 1980s and 1990s has greatly changed the look and feel of the housing infrastructure, he said.

Foraker also highlighted the impact new technologies have had on housing services.

He said he remembered when students had to physically attend a housing fair in order to sign up for a room in a residence hall. Today, that process has moved online.

“What used to take two to three hours in terms of the housing application now takes two to five minutes,” he said.

But housing has also had to deal with an evolving student culture.

Foraker said the recent addition of several new plaza buildings is meant to accommodate students’ preferences and needs by providing private bathrooms and other amenities, such as air conditioning.

“When you look at the way UCLA students are raised before they come here, most students have come from a place where they are used to having a private bedroom, with color TV, a computer with a printer, some kind of stereo system and connection to high-speed Internet,” he said.

Foraker said dining services has similarly adapted to student needs, including introducing more organic, natural and sustainable food.

But Foraker said students should expect to see housing services evolve further in the future.

For the past several years, housing has been in short supply, as more students applied for on-campus housing and buildings were shut down for renovation.

“Clearly we need to find a way to continue to build and provide additional housing,” he said. “We believe we need up to another 2,500 residence hall bed spaces to eventually guarantee housing for four years to new freshmen and two years to transfer students.”

He added that Housing is looking into finding new plots of land to expand.

Angela Marciano, associate director of Housing and Hospitality Services, said Housing hopes to continue to accommodate and improve residential life by working directly with the students.

“(Foraker is) very visible to the students here. He eats at the dining halls on a regular basis and even knows some of the students by name,” she said. “It’s up to Mike to ensure that we’re providing and doing so in an outstanding manner.”

And that’s where Sam the Eagle comes in. For Foraker, the Olympics, and the university’s role in hosting the competition and athletes, were more than just a series of games. They were a representation of what housing services has always strived toward.

“The fact that UCLA played such a critical role for the Olympics still remains a matter of pride,” he said.

“In international eyes, UCLA had its act together.”