History department changes made to benefit students

Stevenson is the chair of the Department of History.

By Brenda Stevenson

I’m saddened by the sense of neglect and ill-treatment
that our graduate students have expressed. I want to have a
departmental environment in which everyone, particularly our
graduate students, feels welcomed, respected, appreciated and able
to do the important scholarly work that is the driving passion of
our lives.

It was never my intention, nor the intention of other members of
the department’s administration, to design policies or act in
any manner that would jeopardize the well-being of our students or
make them feel that we don’t care for them. Indeed, one of
the central missions of the department is to nurture and train our
graduate students; it is a mission we are dedicated to carrying
out.

The Department of History at UCLA is a unique one. We are by all
measures one of the finest history departments in the world. We are
also the largest in the country. Our graduate program has been
nationally lauded, not only because of the superior quality of our
students, but because of their excellent training and,
subsequently, their marvelous placement record as recent Ph.Ds.
hired by institutions of higher learning.

One of the key elements in such a success story is the funding
that students receive. Trying to provide better financial
assistance to our graduate students has been the utmost priority of
all those in the department. This academic year alone, we not only
admitted the largest class of graduate students that we have
admitted in 10 years (a total of 47), but we offered financial
support to the majority of them. This academic year also was the
first year in 10 years that we were able to offer five-year funding
packages to those applicants who ranked highest. This year, more
than any other, we were able to get students who turned down
Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, Stanford, Chicago and Berkeley
to come to work with our internationally acclaimed faculty and to
take advantage of our generous financial aid packages. We were able
to put together these packages even in the face of shrinking
institutional support.

Responding positively to requests from me, our endowed chair
holders gave support to our new and continuing students; faculty
sacrificed their summer research money to give to our students who
needed summer support; our vice chair for development, Steven Aron,
raised additional funds; the department chair tripled her
contribution to graduate support from the chair’s
discretionary funds. We also have benefited recently from the
support of emeriti faculty such as Gary Nash and Cynthia Shelton,
who endowed a graduate fellowship in colonial American history as
well as from the bequest of distinguished professor emeritus Albert
Hoxie, whose estate donated more than $2 million for the support of
our graduate students.

We certainly would never sacrifice student support to redecorate
a conference room, or any other room. I requested that funds the
college granted for capitol improvement be used for graduate
funding, but that request was denied. The small cost-cutting
measures that our manager, Doris Dworschak, tried to implement,
which only affected mail, phone and photocopying charges, was an
effort I asked her to initiate in order to save additional money to
support our foreign students and our readers. None of these
measures, most of which have been completely reversed, were meant
to harm our graduate students. They were meant to save money for
their support.

Another key issue of concern for our students involves some
labor disputes. While we are still trying to resolve these
questions, I can say without hesitation that all of our readers and
teaching assistant policies are in complete compliance with union
regulations. We will, however, continue to meet with labor
relations experts and union representatives so that our graduate
students are assured of our good-faith efforts and so that they
completely understand the terms of the contracts that they have as
student employees within the department.

Some students have suggested the inclusion of union shop
stewards within the department. I, for one, would welcome their
inclusion. I also have suggested that we place on our Web site a
complete guide to graduate student financial aid and labor issues
followed up by a workshop each year for students to articulate all
of their questions and concerns.

Of course, one of our students’ most deeply felt concerns
was the resignation of their beloved adviser, Shela Patel, who
served the department and our graduate students faithfully for
eight years. We will all miss her tremendously. Hopefully, with our
students’ help, we will be able to find another adviser soon
who too will be able to help and guide them through the
bureaucracies and general ups and downs of graduate life. I have
promised that at least three student representatives will be on the
selection committee for their new adviser.

Ten days ago, graduate students came to me with a list of
concerns that I have been trying to address, and will continue to
address. Some of their concerns were immediately alleviated ““
polices regarding photocopying and use of other supplies, access to
the department’s bylaws, etc. Most importantly, however, we
have begun a meaningful partnership that will allow me, the
administration and the department to understand the basis for
student concerns and alleviate them.

I was encouraged by the submission in the Daily Bruin on Feb.
11, “Conflict lies in management, not chair.” In that
submission, students reiterated that they had serious concerns that
had to be addressed, but they also underscored their support for
me, were pleased with the results of our initial meetings, and
believed that I would continue to work to resolve their
concerns.

I certainly will do so. I have drafted a proposal that I have
sent to the graduate students and hope that it will be a basis for
the real changes that they want and need.

Stevenson encourages you to visit www.history.ucla.edu for more
information about graduate student concerns.