Global studies program review postponed

The global studies interdepartmental program will not undergo review for another year, as it works to reorganize its curriculum in light of state budget cuts in past years.

The program would have started preparing for its first eight-year review this month, but requested to postpone the review. The UCLA Academic Senate approved the request Wednesday.

All departments and programs are required to undergo review, during which UCLA faculty members and faculty from other universities spend two or three days interviewing students, faculty and staff to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the program and compile a list of suggestions for improvement, said Michael Thies, chair of the global studies interdepartmental program and a political science professor.

Review postponements are relatively common, said Linda Sarna, chair of the UCLA Academic Senate.

“All kinds of things – internal and external factors – can influence the timing, but we don’t want to miss any important information,” she said.

The global studies program underwent an internal review in 2010, four years after its establishment.

Interdepartmental programs require a partial review four years after their implementation.

Russell Burgos, the global studies lecturer, said that although the 2010 review noted positive feedback, the conclusion was that in order for the program to continue, it needed to have a dedicated faculty member and be configured more like a department.

Burgos said the global studies program began in a time when departments had more funds to be more generous with their professors. Since the state budget cuts in the past few years, however, interdepartmental programs all over campus are learning to cope with less money and fewer professors, he added.

“Their department can’t be convinced to let them teach in global studies, and it’s hard to get regular faculty members to teach in it because, in institutional terms, it doesn’t provide payoff – you don’t get credit for tenure for teaching outside of the department,” Burgos said.

The global studies program is organized around three main pillars: Culture and Society, Governance and Conflict, and Markets. The three core global studies classes are currently organized in a way that each pillar is spread out over each class – each class covers all pillars, Thies said.

In the past, the core courses were taught by three professors, he said. This format has now become too expensive, and the program is proposing a new format of the three core classes that aims to focus one class on one pillar, Thies said.

Thies said he and the program’s staff hope the change will attract professors from other departments.

“We figure it’s going to be much easier to find a faculty member who would be inclined to teach a class that is more specified to their expertise,” he said.

Thies added that a professor with departmental expertise in one of these areas of study is unlikely to feel comfortable teaching a class encompassing three disciplines.

“The nicest thing about the major from the perspective of students is actually a problem from the perspective of teaching classes, because we as faculty are not interdisciplinary, and you want someone with expertise in each pillar.” Thies said.

As an interdepartmental program, global studies has no permanent employees or faculty of its own, Thies said. Programs such as global studies use professors from similar departments, he added.

Burgos, who is teaching all of the core global studies courses this year, said he is the only lecturer in the global studies program and is not a permanent faculty member.

Thies sent out an email to the students in the major and minor on Dec. 3, informing them of the postponement request and asking for feedback about the program. Thies said he has received four responses so far, and the text of each email was included in the application to the Academic Senate.

“The students … have an opportunity to let anyone know if there are any issues or anything we need to be aware of,” Sarna said.

Thies said he hopes to have the changes implemented by this fall.