Block outlines goals for year

By Wendy Soderburg

The need for faculty housing near or on campus and more money for faculty endowments and student support are just two of UCLA's top concerns for the coming academic year, Chancellor Gene Block told members of the Academic Senate's Legislative Assembly on June 9 as he reviewed the progress he has made so far and outlined his priorities for the future.

Ten months into his tenure, the chancellor has remained steadfast in his commitment to four high-priority areas: academic preeminence, campus diversity, societal engagement and financial security.

Achieving academic preeminence, Block said, is a two-part process. "One part is being able to choose wisely where we make our investments in our academic programs. In that regard, Executive Vice Chancellor [Scott] Waugh has begun a strategic planning exercise to identify where academic investments could be made," said the chancellor, who will be working closely with Senate faculty leaders.

The second part involves UCLA's continuing goal to attract and retain the very best faculty, a task made even more difficult by the high cost of living in Los Angeles, Block said.

He described current efforts by Administrative Vice Chancellor Sam Morabito and Vice Chancellor Steve Olsen of finance, budget and capital programs to develop a plan to provide more faculty housing, either on or close to campus.

"We have a lot of housing, but we don't have nearly enough close to campus," Block said.

The chancellor also described UCLA's progress in the area of campus diversity. He credited former Acting Chancellor Norm Abrams and the faculty for helping to improve student diversity by revising the admissions process. He also praised alumni and members of the community for raising money for scholarships.

Block said that in fall 2007, the number of African-American freshmen doubled and that the numbers are up again for this fall. There is also an increase in the number of Latino/Chicano freshmen enrolling this fall. The chancellor commended UCLA students for their efforts in showing that the campus welcomes a diverse student body.

In the area of societal engagement, Block explained, "We are engaged with Los Angeles, but I don't think we are engaged with Los Angeles in profound ways." One way to improve the situation is for faculty and staff to focus their efforts on a few select problems where solid progress can be made, he said.

To that end, Associate Vice Chancellor Frank Gilliam has been chairing a planning committee to design a new institute that will focus exclusively on Los Angeles and will deal with issues that best engage a public university like UCLA.

"If we're lucky, we'll choose an issue that will become a UCLA 'theme' with the community, whether it is childhood obesity or underperformance in K-12," the chancellor said.

To improve UCLA's financial security, more money must be raised to support both students and faculty, Block said. He plans to focus initially on fundraising for graduate and undergraduate student support and for more endowed chairs for faculty.

In addition, the chancellor said he will look at issues that have been raised by faculty throughout the year, such as barriers to interdisciplinary research.

"There are visible successes in this area. The California NanoSystems Institute is one of those," Block said. "Still new, still struggling to get started, but, in fact, I think it brings together the benefits of multidisciplinary efforts and a focus that will bring real prestige to the university.

"We'd like to see similar efforts in the humanities and social sciences," he said.