Fall 1998
A PDF version of the full Grad News is available. Selected stories for the on-line edition:
Graduate Division Welcomes Toby F. Lazarowitz
The Graduate Division welcomes Toby Lazarowitz to its staff. In July of this year Toby became the Division's new Director of Policy, Publications, and
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| Toby and Tom Le Blanc work on the Fall Grad News |
Lazarowitz has extensive experience in higher education. He received his bachelor's degree in anthropology from the City College of New York and was awarded the M.A. and Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He has done fieldwork in Indonesia, mid-coastal Maine and currently is engaged in research in small college culture. He has also resided in Chennai (Madras), India where he accompanied his wife for part of her fieldwork. He has taught at the University of Maine--Orono, Westbrook College in Portland, Maine (where he was also director of the Division of Arts and Sciences), and most recently at The Union Institute in Los Angeles.
His time on both sides of the graduate education divide has made him keenly aware of the importance of his job. "The entire graduate education community at UCSB is our constituency. What we offer must be accurate and incorporate the latest information available. The university community must trust what we say." Toby remembers his own time in graduate school when publications were minimal and information was obtained through the grapevine. "We must minimize the pitfalls in the way of graduate students and allow them to get on with the work of doing their research and getting their degree."
The position of Director of Policy, Publications, and Analysis was designed to facilitate this effort. It focuses in one position many of the concerns of graduate education at UCSB and facilitates the communication of them to the appropriate audiences. At this nexus point Toby promises quality, accuracy and consistency. "All that we produce in Policy, Publications, and Analysis reflect on Graduate Division. We must excel whether it is in Grad News, the handbooks for graduate advisors and graduate students, our new and improved Web site, or any of our other publications."
Associate Dean Diane Mackie is enthusiastic about his appointment and notes, "Toby's background as an anthropologist makes him particularly sensitive to and supportive of the issue of diversity on the UCSB campus. We anticipate strong contributions from him in this area and hope that future publications, whether to help attract a diverse student body to campus or to give voice to those already here, will reflect this personal and institutional commitment."
FYI...
Money Matters
On the Front Page:
VOICES: The Bus Station and Beyond
Graduate Division Welcomes Toby Lazarowitz
Graduate Peer Advisor and Graduate Diversity & Outreach Advisor
Dean Li Returns
Brings with Him a Message for Higher Education in the United States
The Graduate Division is pleased to welcome back Charles Li, Professor of Linguistics and Dean of the Graduate Division. Dr. Li returns from his yearlong sabbatical as a senior fellow in residence at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study.
Dean Li used this time to read, think, write and lecture on two major projects. The first, tied to a NSF project, is Dr. Li's continuing study of grammatical changes in Chinese over a period of 2,000 years. The second and more recent project is an interdisciplinary study into the evolutionary origins of language. Drawing on the neurosciences, paleontology, linguistics, theories of evolution, and cultural anthropology, Dean Li and a colleague in France are examining the shift from the development of language changes which are adaptive in early hominid evolution to a state where language changes are no longer adaptive in the evolutionary sequence. Dr. Li was invited to speak throughout Europe on both his research projects.
Dean Li also held discussions and meetings with university administrators in several European countries. "Higher education in Europe is becoming more polarized," Dean Li observed. With severe limitations on government resources (and little private funding support), universities are being separated into a few highly funded, research institutions such as the Max Planck Institutes of Germany, the grandes ecoles in Frances, the National Research Centers (CNR) of Italy, capable of attracting the "brightest and the best" and the majority of universities (some long established and venerable) whose reduced support relegates them to a teaching college status.
Dean Li foresees such a change on the horizon for research universities in the United States. Public funds for research and graduate education in this country will not be able to meet the needs and demands of hundreds of institutions that are, or aspire to be, Research I universities. Ultimately the United States will end up in the same position that European countries find themselves in: a small number of elite research institutions and the majority of universities funded as undergraduate teaching institutions. He feels that a move towards educational elitism is deplorable and unfortunate, but inevitable.
" UCSB has come a long way in its march towards excellence. We are poised to succeed in our competitive environment as long as we maintain our commitment to quality," Dean Li noted. "An equally critical challenge facing UCSB will be its ability to raise money from private quarters and philanthropic organizations to supplement government support. Success will breed success. We must build on our momentum and continue our march toward becoming one of the best research universities in this country."
SARI 1998 -- Another Successful Summer
Each summer, the Graduate Division at UCSB invites a select group of undergraduate students from UCSB and across the nation to participate in the Summer Academic Research Internship (SARI) Program. SARI is an intensive, eight week residential program designed to increase the pool of highly qualified and diverse students eligible for graduate education.
This year, sixteen extremely talented students were invited to UCSB and paired with faculty and graduate student mentors to conduct graduate-level research projects, representing a strong sampling of departments and disciplines at UCSB. The students also engaged in a writing class and a variety of workshops and presentations meant to round out their experience, and give them the tools necessary to succeed in both the graduate admissions process, as well as the rigors of graduate student life. This blending of academic training, research experience, and workshop skill-building promotes a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach to success in graduate education, and makes the SARI program stand out as unique among summer research programs.
The culminating event of the program is the opportunity for the students to present their research in a conference environment, at the annual SARI Undergraduate Research Colloquium. Faculty and graduate student mentors, spanning the spectrum of UCSB disciplines and programs--the humanities, sciences, social sciences, and engineering--were present to support and celebrate the achievements of the SARI participants. Some representative SARI presentation titles this year were:
- The Role of Stereotype Threat in Creating Gender Differences in Math Performance. [Psychology]
- Biogeographic Analysis of Mangrove Food Webs. [EEMB]
- Royal Chicano Air Force and Self-Help Graphics and Art: Building Community Through Art. [Art History]
- A Half-Century of Chicano Literature, 1848-1898: An Overview [Spanish]
One of the many factors contributing to the success of the SARI Program is the involvement of graduate student mentors. This year, we were lucky to have Mark Bidell (CNCSP), Britta Bierwagen (ESM), Lorenzo Lopez (Sociology), Marie Mitani (ESM), Judith Huacuja Pearson (Art History), Toni Schmader (Psychology), Peter Von Langen (Geology), and Dave Wakefield (Psychology) offer their time and mentorship to the SARI participants. Inclusion of graduate student mentors offers SARI the unique opportunity to support both prospective and current graduate students through a single summer program. Graduate student mentors cite the inherent personal rewards involved in mentoring and serving as a role model for undergraduates as reasons which attracted them to the position--in addition to a stipend for their commitment.
Involvement in the SARI program is an excellent way for faculty to gain research assistance for their ongoing projects, and for graduate students to receive financial support while making a difference in the lives of talented prospective students. If you are interested in promoting the quality and diversity of graduate students at UCSB, involve yourself in the 1999 SARI Program. For more information, please contact Mike Meraz, the Program Director, at 893-2277, or by email at sari@graddiv.ucsb.edu.
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