Ask the Chancellor

  Albert Carnesale Carnesale has served as
chancellor of UCLA since 1997.

Earlier this quarter, students were invited to ask
Chancellor Carnesale a question. Here are his responses. If you
have your own questions for the chancellor or want to follow up on
his responses, e-mail: [email protected].

Q: I am concerned about professors who don’t lecture very
well and seem disinterested in student learning. How do professors
get tenure?

Saurabh Kikani Fourth-year Political science and public
policy

A: Teaching is an important factor in the process by which
faculty members achieve advancement, not only to tenure but to the
higher professorial ranks. Candidates for tenure are evaluated with
respect to four criteria: research, teaching, community and
university service, and professional activity. All of these are
important, but “superior intellectual attainment as evidenced
both in teaching and research” is paramount among them. A
proposal for tenure begins in the candidate’s department and
is reviewed by the Dean’s office, a specially appointed
faculty committee, and the Academic Senate’s Council on
Academic Personnel. The final decision is made at the Chancellorial
level. A required part of the process is systematic assessment of
the candidate’s teaching through student evaluations and
faculty peer reviews. Tenure reviews typically occur in a faculty
member’s seventh year, but during the fourth year, an
appraisal is conducted to give the faculty member some feedback on
how well she or he is doing. Candidates who are not doing well in
their teaching are counseled on how to improve. Weakness in
teaching or in research is a serious barrier to achieving tenure at
UCLA. Q: I’ve heard the administration say outreach programs
have been effective, yet we still see the continuing decline of
African Americans on campus. Only 25 non-athlete black men entered
UCLA this past fall. What is your administration going to do to
address this issue?

Ryan Smith Second-year Undeclared

A: The total number of African American students at UCLA has
indeed declined in each of the past four years. Since Fall 1997,
however, the number of new African American undergraduates has
remained stable, with a slight increase in freshmen and a slight
decrease in transfers. In other words, thus far we have managed to
avoid a downward spiral in new enrollments following the passage of
SP-1 and Proposition 209. Our hope and expectation is to increase
these numbers in the future. The low enrollment numbers for African
American men represent a special problem that is by no means unique
to UCLA. Across the nation, universities share the challenge of
inadequate enrollments of African Americans, especially males. We
recognize that addressing this problem is crucial to the future of
UCLA, of higher education, and of our country, and it is a priority
in UCLA outreach. For example, in choosing our K-12 and community
college partners for outreach activities, high schools and colleges
with large African American enrollments have been included. We also
are establishing Community Education Resource Centers in five
areas, among them Inglewood and Watts. A community-based
collaborative outreach program designed to complement our work with
schools is under development. In addition, faculty researchers are
examining the particular issues that affect African Americans and
other underrepresented groups, and a new undergraduate organization
called ONYX, actively supported by faculty and staff, has formed to
address special concerns faced by African American males on our
campus and beyond. These efforts complement the excellent
contributions of the African Student Union through its SHAPE
outreach initiatives. Underlying all of these efforts ““
outreach, research, student-initiated activities, and community
partnerships ““ is the unchanging fact that African Americans
and members of all underrepresented groups are very much wanted,
needed and welcome at UCLA.

Q: Recently there have been assaults on women on campus. What is
your role in ensuring that all students feel safe here despite
their gender, ethnicity or cultural background?

Kristina Russell Third-year Psychology

A: There is no higher priority than the safety of our students,
staff and faculty, regardless of gender, ethnicity, race or
cultural background. I feel a special responsibility to ensure that
everyone in our campus community has a sense of security while
studying, working, visiting or living at UCLA. UCLA has numerous
programs that promote community safety. Our campus was the first in
the United States to establish a protocol for swift and
compassionate response to sexual assault. The Orientation Program
features a mandatory session on awareness and prevention of sexual
assault. The Center for Women and Men offers a wide range of
services geared toward personal safety, including confidential
counseling and workshops on self-defense, date rape and stalking.
The UCLA Police Department’s Escort Service makes Community
Service Officers available from dusk until 1 a.m., 365 days a year,
to help ensure the safety of students, faculty, staff and visitors
on campus and in Westwood Village. The Evening Van Service provides
free, safe transport after dark. All of these resources are
helpful. But we must remember that UCLA’s safe environment is
our personal responsibility to maintain through vigilance and
awareness.

Q: I’m a student at your university. All I know about you
is that you write e-mails that I get every now and then. What do
you do exactly? Are you sort of the CEO of UCLA?

Liza Raynal Second-year Theater

A: Yes, the chancellor is officially the Chief Executive Officer
(CEO) of UCLA. Each of the 10 UC campuses has a chancellor, and all
chancellors report to the president of the University of
California, who in turn reports to the UC Board of Regents. As
chancellor of UCLA, I have overall responsibility for the campus,
including the academic and administrative aspects. This amounts to
overseeing a small city with a population of 60,000, an operating
budget of $2.5 billion, and many different constituencies. In
accordance with our shared governance tradition, substantial
responsibilities are delegated to the faculty and the students. The
faculty has primary responsibility for academic matters: what is
taught, by whom and to whom. And students, through their
participation in student government and service on academic and
administrative committees, have significant input into the
decision-making process. Being chancellor is an exciting and
challenging job and I’m grateful for this opportunity to
serve the UCLA family.

Q: It seems like all of my professors are male. Why don’t
we have more female professors?

Bret Galeste Fourth-year English

A: It is true that the faculty is not sufficiently diverse, not
only in terms of gender, but in terms of racial and ethnic
representation as well. Faculty diversity is vitally important to
every aspect of university life, and we are taking steps to achieve
it. We recently announced the results of a six-month faculty
gender-equity study, which elucidated UCLA’s need to hire
greater numbers of academic women and to improve our campus
environment for female faculty members. The report set forth
several recommendations with regard to gender issues and faculty
recruitment, and we intend to pursue each one of them. Anticipated
enrollment growth over the next decade and accompanying growth in
the faculty ranks will combine to increase both the urgency and the
opportunity for achieving greater faculty diversity. The Academic
Senate Committee on Diversity and Equal Opportunity and the
campus-wide Chancellor’s Advisory Group on Diversity have
begun working with our academic leadership to help us realize that
objective.