By Noah Grand
Daily Bruin Reporter
UCLA appointed two of its professors to new high-level
administrative positions in an attempt to strengthen ties with the
community and increase diversity.
Franklin Gilliam
Franklin Gilliam Jr. will take the position of associate vice
chancellor of community partnerships in September, and Rosina
Becerra will be the associate vice chancellor of faculty diversity
starting in July.
“Their outstanding appointments will enable UCLA to
achieve two of its most important goals, that of expanding our
collaborations with the broader community and insuring that the
campus continues to foster diversity among the faculty,” said
chancellor Albert Carnesale in a statement.
UCLA now has seven associate vice chancellors, each dealing with
a broad range of issues, ranging from information technology to
campus development.
Gilliam Jr. ““ UCLA’s first associate vice chancellor
of community partnerships ““ wants to fulfill an obligation as
a public university professor to serve Los Angeles. Public service
is one of the three goals of the University of California,
according to the California Master Plan, which was established in
1960.
“The most basic thing is try to serve the mission of a
great land grant public university like UCLA,” Gilliam
said.
Gilliam will oversee Carnesale’s “UCLA in LA”
initiative, which tries to connect the university to the outside
Los Angeles community by providing health, cultural and educational
programs.
“The Chancellor and the Executive Vice Chancellor have
been anxious to get the UCLA in L.A. initiative operational and I
was the one selected,” Gilliam said. “We will try to
move forward pretty quickly.”
Gilliam said he wants to both increase the number of community
outreach programs at UCLA and promote the ones that already
exist.
He said that there are already a number of student-initiated
programs, such as tutoring, that are generally over-looked by the
UCLA community.
These programs will be highlighted and supported as much as
possible, Gilliam said. He also mentioned expanding current UCLA
Medical Center projects to give health care beyond Westwood.
Gilliam is currently the director of the Center for
Communications and Community at UCLA. This gives him prior
experience in working with the Los Angeles community, on which his
research is based.
Part of the reason he accepted the new administrative position
is because it would be an extension of his research, he said.
Rosina Becerra
Rosina Becerra will “serve as the campus’ chief
academic affirmative action officer” when she takes her
position as associate vice chancellor of faculty diversity in July,
said a statement from UCLA media relations.
Becerra will try to increase faculty diversity and increase
diversity planning in the campus’ long-term planning.
“For UCLA to continue its preeminence as an educational
institution, we must maintain a climate that promotes and
encourages diversity among the faculty,” Becerra said in a
statement.
However, increasing diversity may be difficult. Proposition 209
““ an amendment to California’s constitution ““
bans the use of race, gender or ethnicity in all public hiring,
including UCLA’s.
Becerra was unavailable for further comment.