New program offers good food, company

Students hoping to become familiar faces to their professors
will now have the opportunity to eat free pizza and chat with
faculty members about issues ranging from biowarfare to
writing.

“Professor in the Union,” a program sponsored by the
Associated Students of UCLA, will kick off next Tuesday in room
2408 of Ackerman Student Union.

“It will be an informal, casual setting for students to
sit with and talk to professors,” said Lisa Raigosa, ASUCLA
Student Support Services manager. “It will be a setting
that’s less stressful than the classroom might be.”

Eight times per quarter, a selected faculty member, chosen on
the basis of student input and bruinwalk.com professor reviews,
will be available to discuss pre-planned topics with students.

The program will be open to 40 students on a first-come,
first-serve basis, Raigosa said.

Letters were sent out to the most popular professors from all
over campus inviting them to participate, Raigosa said.

The first speaker for the program, writing lecturer Shelby
Popham, will discuss academic writing with students on Tuesday.

Popham said she asked her own students what specifically they
would like to see discussed.

“What surprised me was that a lot of them wanted to know
about me, what do I like to read or write,” Popham said.
“And in class, I don’t have time for
stories.”

Some students said the lunch program is an interesting way to
get to know professors better ““ especially if students have
not made themselves known to their instructors yet.

“I can’t really say that I’ve made an attempt
to get to know my professors well,” said fourth-year
biochemistry student Isaac Caudillo.

Caudillo added that if students could find the time to
participate in the program, it would ultimately be in their
favor.

For students who enjoy the notion of a complimentary meal, a
free lunch is enough for them to participate in the program.

“It gives some students an incentive to go,” said
fourth-year computer science student Matt Yeo. “It will help
students break through and actually get to know their
professors.”

English Professor Katherine Hayles, who is scheduled to lead a
discussion early spring quarter about the relationship between
literary productions and media, is also in favor of the
program.

Hayles said she frequently teaches large lecture courses, and
this program will help her know students on a one-to-one basis.

“It sounds like a wonderful opportunity for informal
exchange between professors and students,” Hayles said.

Popham also said the relaxed atmosphere will be a plus, because
students sometimes get the wrong idea about professors.

“Students perceive us as authority figures, and we seem
sort of scary sometimes,” she said.

But not all of the planned discussion topics are centered around
English and writing.

Microbiology Professor Ralph Robinson will lead a discussion on
biowarfare, and history Professor Teofilo Ruiz will talk about
making the most of students’ undergraduate years at
college.

“Professor in the Union” is one of the low-cost
programs of ASUCLA’s Student Strategic Initiative Plan,
anticipated services the association hopes to implement to improve
the student union.

The only expense is the complimentary food, which can range from
pizza to sandwiches; the professors aren’t paid, Raigosa
said.

ASUCLA modeled this program after the “Tuesdays with
Morrie” lunches held at the UC San Diego.

UCSD’s program, which started in 2001, offers weekly
lunches with a selected professor in the Price Center student
union, said Kristi Shibata, UCSD off-campus housing supervisor.

Shibata said the program has been a success.

“The students are really interested, they ask a lot of
questions,” Shibata said.

“It’s interesting to see how professors interpret
the topics, to see how their own life stories relate to
campus.”

For more information on “Professor in the Union,”
contact Karen Noh at (310) 825-2311 or Lisa Raigosa (310)
206-0700.