Clarence Addison Dykstra ( ; February 25, 1883 – May 6, 1950) was a U.S. government

administrator Administrator or admin may refer to: Job roles Computing and internet * Database administrator, a person who is responsible for the environmental aspects of a database * Forum administrator, one who oversees discussions on an Internet forum * N ...

. He served as city manager in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

, after teaching government at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

. He then became president of the University of Wisconsin (1937–1945) as well as the 1st Director of the

Selective Service System The Selective Service System (SSS) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the United States government that maintains a database of registered male U.S. Citizenship of the United States, citizens and o ...

between 1940 and 1941. He then became

provost Provost may refer to: Officials Ecclesiastic * Provost (religion), a high-ranking church official * Prince-provost, a high-ranking church official Government * Provost (civil), an officer of local government, including the equivalent ...

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

from 1945 to 1950. He also served as the efficiency director of the city's

Department of Water and Power The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) is the largest municipal utility in the United States with 8,100 megawatts of electric generating capacity (2021–2022) and delivering an average of 435 million gallons of water per day (487, ...

for

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

before

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He argued that the city needed to be further decentralized by expanding highways and creating suburban communities. Dykstra was appointed by President Roosevelt to chair the 11-member

National Defense Mediation Board The National Defense Mediation Board (NDMB) was a United States federal agency established by Executive Order 8716 on March 19, 1941, that settled disputes between labor and management during the prewar defense period.Atleson, 1998: 30 The exec ...

, an effort to settle wartime disputes. He served from March 19 to July 1, 1941. Because Dykstra had already served as a university president before coming to UCLA, he "was incensed at what he considered demeaning treatment of the provost by UC’s universitywide administration". During his five years at UCLA, he was popular and loved by the UCLA community. His "death on the job was a galvanizing event at UCLA and among the southern regents" which fueled political momentum towards decentralization of the university bureaucracy. Dykstra was also the first to advocate for and bring about the construction of student housing at UCLA. Dykstra Hall, which opened in 1959, was the first structure in UCLA's current undergraduate residential community. It was also the first

co-ed Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

residence hall in the country.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dykstra, Clarence Addison 1883 births 1950 deaths Conscription in the United States Leaders of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Leaders of the University of California, Los Angeles American people of Frisian descent Franklin D. Roosevelt administration personnel