July 16, 1999

UCLA Retains 5 English Professors by Thwarting Outside Offers; Head of U. of Rochester's Art Department Takes 2-Year Job at Art Institute in Mass.

By SCOTT HELLER

Department chairs usually are lauded for luring professors from elsewhere to build up their own universities. Give a round of applause to Thomas Wortham, of the University of California at Los Angeles -- not for adding faculty members, but for keeping his English department intact by swatting away outside offers to five leading professors.

"It was a good year," says Mr. Wortham, who's been chairman since 1997.