Rosina M. Becerra is UclA's Advocate for Gender equity

							                                                 CSW
                                                                                             newsletter of the
                                                                                            ucla center for the
                                                                                                study of women




                                                  update
RHODESSA JONES (CENTER) wiTH SuE-EllEN
CASE (lEFT) AND KATHlEEN MCHuGH




NOVEMBER 06
AssociAte Vice cHAncelloR

Rosina M. Becerra is UclA’s
Advocate for Gender equity
and Faculty Diversity
Achieving ExcEllEncE Through DivErsiTy




    I
is mission of office for fAculty Diversity
          in a 2005 article for the         Chancellor Albert Carnesale         Industrial Relations. She has a BA
          Daily Bruin, UCLA’s            identified diversity as one of the     in Mathematics and Chemistry, a
          Associate Vice Chan-           areas demanding our immediate          Master’s in Social Work (MSW), an
          cellor for Faculty             and long-term attention when he        MBA and a Ph.D. (1976) from the
Diversity Rosina M. Becerra              set out his “Strategy for a Great      Heller School. As Professor of So-
wrote, “For some, the idea of            University” in 1998. As part of the    cial Welfare and Policy Studies, she
diversity conjures up images of          ongoing effort to create and sup-      focuses on policy issues relating
lowering standards and bend-             port a diverse student body and        to children and families. She has
ing rules. In reality, diversity         faculty, a search for an Associate     conducted large-scale evaluations
and excellence are not mutually          Vice Chancellor for Faculty Di-        for the State of California Depart-
exclusive. As a matter of fact,          versity was undertaken. Becerra,       ment of Social Services on welfare
excellence can be enhanced               who has been at UCLA since 1975,       reform (1995–1998) and Child Sup-
through diversity. In addition,          was selected. During her nearly 30     port (1998–2001). Her latest book
diversity can lead to creativ-           years on campus, she has been the      is social services and the Ethnic
ity, innovation, and bound-              Associate Dean and Dean of the         community.
ary expansion. The goal is not           School of Social Welfare, Chair of        As administrator, researcher,
diversity for the sake of diver-         the Department of Social Wel-          and professor, Becerra knows
sity, but diversity for the sake of      fare, Chair of Chicano/a Studies,      that efforts need to be made and
excellence. Diversity becomes a          Director of the Center for Child       resources expended to reach out,
means to the end in maintain-            and Family Policy Research, and        recruit, and support a diverse
ing a preeminent university.”            Acting Director of the Institute for   faculty and student body. In an
                                                                                                     continued on page 15
Rosina M. Becerra, continued from page 1
interview published in uclA                                        The relationship between CSW and
Today in 2005, Becerra stressed the
importance of diversity among the                Rosina Becerra’s office is essential. Both share the
faculty, “A diverse faculty is needed
to attract and support a diverse                mission of supporting gender diversity and equity
student body. Students see faculty
members as role models. Whether                       at UCLA. I frequently approach her about the
they are women or members of
underrepresented groups, students                             issues facing women scholars at UCLA.
can envision their own potential
through these faculty, many of                      CSW has enjoyed her support on such projects
whom had to overcome the same
obstacles and barriers these stu-                      as the Sister Scholars Embodiment research
dents may encounter. It’s our re-
sponsibility to help students find a            group. Rosina was also instrumental in retaining
way to get through, over or around
those barriers.”                                   two of our distinguished senior women faculty,
   Since being appointed in 2002,
Becerra has been instrumental in                  Professor Helen Deutsch (English) and Professor
ensuring that UCLA continues to
foster faculty diversity as a crucial          Shu-mei Shih (East Asian Languages and Cultures,
element of institutional excellence.
Collaborating with academic lead-                     Comparative Literature, and Asian American
ers, faculty, and administrators, she
works to make sure that diversity                          Studies). We are delighted that UCLA was
planning is integrated into the
campus’s overall strategic planning.                               successful in keeping both of them.
She is UCLA’s chief academic affir-
mative action officer and is a mem-                                                   – Kathleen McHugh
ber of the Chancellor’s Advisory
Group on Diversity and she directs
the Office for Faculty Diversity.          http://faculty.diversity.ucla.edu/    meetings on career advancement.
   Achieving and then sustaining           provides information for faculty      The Office partners with other
faculty diversity is the Office’s mis-     and presents current and histori-     committees and offices to promote
sion; communication, education,            cal reports and analyses, including   faculty diversity as a goal for the
and collaboration are the means.           reports on gender equity. To help     whole university.
To make information on its activi-         create a climate that is welcoming       Each year, the Office also pub-
ties available across the campus           and supportive to new faculty, the    lishes monographs of demographic
and beyond, the Office for Faculty         Office sponsors programs that pro-    data on the faculty at UCLA, in-
Diversity maintains two websites:          vide networking and development       cluding Regular Rank Faculty and
http://www.diversity.ucla.edu/ pro-        opportunities for faculty, includ-    the School of Dentistry and School
vides a wide range of information          ing awards and lectures, network-     of Medicine; an annual report on
on issues of diversity at UCLA and         ing luncheons, and informational      faculty demographics, current
                                                                                                             continued
CSW update                                             NOVEMBER 06	                                              1
Rosina M. Becerra, continued from page 1                                                                       Front page
programs, and future plans related                                                                             of one of
                                                                                                               the two
to faculty diversity; and a search
                                                                                                               websites
committee toolkit, which is a valu-                                                                            main-
able resource for departments.                                                                                 tained by
                                                                                                               the office
   Hiring is only the first step
                                                                                                               for Faculty
toward achieving diversity. As                                                                                 Diversity.
Becerra said in her uclA Today
interview, “Supporting diversity...
is about building a welcoming
environment in this institution
where all faculty want to come and
want to stay....UCLA has to be a
place that supports your interests,
recognizes your contributions and
welcomes you into its community
of scholars.” Promoting a culture
of inclusiveness at UCLA can take
many forms including fostering
cooperative research activities or
supporting individual faculty. As
Kathleen McHugh notes, for ex-
ample, “The relationship between
CSW and Rosina Becerra’s office is
essential. Both share the mission
of supporting gender diversity and
equity at UCLA. I frequently ap-           told uclA Today, “We are making        “underutilization estimate” for that
proach her about the issues facing         progress. One day we won’t need        academic unit. As Becerra points
women scholars at UCLA. CSW                my position any longer, because        out, “This report gives departments
has enjoyed her support on such            enhancing diversity in all aspects     information about where they need
projects as the Sister Scholars Em-        of the campus community will be        to put more effort in generating
bodiment research group. Rosina            occurring spontaneously.”              their applicant pools. The argument
was also instrumental in retaining            As of now, UCLA still needs         that the applicant pool doesn’t in-
two of our distinguished senior            Becerra, as her own Office made        clude women or minorities because
women faculty, Professor Helen             clear in a recent report that de-      they’re not graduating in a field isn’t
Deutsch (English) and Professor            tailed, for each department and        based on reality in some cases. I’m
Shu-mei Shih (East Asian Lan-              division, the number of women,         trying to let everyone know where
guages and Cultures, Comparative           African Americans, Chicanos/La-        we stand. We’re not the best; we are
Literature, and Asian American             tinos, Asian/Pacific Islanders, and    not the worst. But I believe that,
Studies). We are delighted that            Native Americans on the faculty.       with some more effort, we can be
UCLA was successful in keeping             That number was then compared          the best” (interview from uclA
both of them.” Ensuring faculty di-        with the estimated number of           Today). UCLA is fortunate to have
versity and gender equity is a large       faculty available in each discipline   an Associate Vice Chancellor for
task and progress is not as rapid as       nationwide. The difference be-         Faculty Diversity as expert and
we might like but, as Becerra also         tween the two percentages is the       committed as Becerra.
CSW update                                             NOVEMBER 06	                                                  1