Sound Bites

Now that Chancellor Gene Block has taken UCLA's helm, Voices editor Ajay Singh asked people on campus what advice they would give the new chancellor to help him get to know the campus and the UCLA community.

Ada Tseng, managing editor, Asia Pacific Arts, UCLA Asia Institute

Technology is growing so fast, and the Internet is creating innovative ways for the university to communicate and educate. It'd be eye-opening for the chancellor to take a look at all the niche Web sites, blogs and podcasts that UCLA folks are producing — to discover the diverse subjects that people are passionate about.

Sander Goldberg, professor of classics

I think it would be helpful for the chancellor to know of the strength of our academic programs. Because of the pressures of his work, I think the chancellor can get too easily distracted by such things as fundraising and lose sight of UCLA's fundamental strengths.

Kyle Cunningham, coordinator of postdoctoral and visiting scholar services

It would be refreshing to have a chancellor who gets to know each specific area on campus. Obviously, the university revolves around research, teaching and public service, but there is also this whole other realm of staff — people like me who work in administrative positions. And postdoc scholars. We have about 1,000 postdocs, an interesting and growing group that is sort of a gray area on campus. I'm very hopeful that Dr. Block, who was vice chancellor of research at the University of Virginia and is already familiar with postdocs, will take an interest in this area.

Claudia Bautista, third-year political science major

I would urge the chancellor to look at the social diversity — or the lack of it — on campus and try to see how greater diversity would affect education.