Wednesday, May 29, 1996
Double majors allowed for School of Arts and ArchitectureBy
Rachanee Srisavasdi
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
In the only Legislative Assembly meeting of the year thus far,
Academic Senate faculty members quickly and quietly approved
several bylaw changes Tuesday, one of whichwill allow students in
the School of Art and Architecture to take on a double major.
Currently, students in the school are not allowed to double
major, primarily due to concerns of a potential work overload, as
well as the rigor of the school’s current majors.
"The school wants to allow a double major option," said Rudy
Alvarez, of the undergraduate council and sociology professor, at
the meeting. "Our committee has approved their request."
Members of the Academic Senate  the representative body of
faculty at UCLA Â unanimously passed the change in the
school’s policy, which would immediately take effect. Students in
the school would be allowed to double major in or out of the
school, and must complete the double major within a 228 unit
limit.
Petitions to change the status started within the department
about a year and a half ago. The undergraduate council of the
Academic Senate unanimously approved recommending the department’s
request to the Senate.
Additional changes in the school’s policy included the
calculation of grades from University Extension courses into a
student’s UCLA grade point average.
The Senate also approved the establishment of a mentorship
program between assistant professors and tenured/associate
professors. The program would provide assistant professors with a
familiar link to the university, Academic Senate members
explained.
"Our aim is to make best use of the resources at UCLA," said
Harris Sanders, of the Diversity and Equal Opportunity Committee.
"By adopting these guidelines, more people will be attracted to
UCLA and we can retain the junior faculty members we already
have."
The mentorship program would be run by each department, and
would be an opportunity available to each new assistant
professor.
The Senate also approved expanding the current research
committee into a research council.
The research council, which would consist of 10 faculty members,
would work with Vice Chancellor of Research Kumar Patel in
evaluating the university’s research policy.
Some of the council’s duties would include giving faculty input
on the university’s research mission, and periodically evaluating
certain faculty research offices, such as the Office of Research
Administration.
"Our leadership, as a research and teaching institution, is best
reflected on how we are organized," said John Edmond, a biological
chemistry professor and Academic Senate member. "The Senate’s
council would help reflect this."
Also at the meeting, the Senate approved a change to Appendix V
of the Academic Senate bylaws, which details procedures for a
proposed elimination, transfer or other significant change to an
academic program. The approved changes seek to clearly define the
roles of the various players in the process, as well as seek to
resolve disputes involving changes in the process.
Faculty arguments against the current system have included that
faculty members did not have enough input into the process, as well
as the process was too complicated.
The bylaw change streamlines the current process, Academic
Senate members maintained.
"We tried to clarify the lines of authority, as well as simply
the process," said Michael Asimov, a UCLA law professor and Senate
member. "We also want to avoid events that might have happened
under the previous program."
* * *
Annual faculty awards were also announced at Tuesday’s
meeting.
Chancellor Charles Young announced the recipient of the Gold
Shield Faculty Prize, which recognizes a faculty member who
demonstrates extraordinary success in both teaching and
research.
Professor Peter Narins, of the physiological science department,
was given the $25,000 award, which will be used to conduct
scholarly research.
The Senate also announced the recipients of the Teaching Awards
for Senate Faculty, which recognizes faculty members for
outstanding teaching skills. Recipients were geography Professor
Judith Carney, sociology Professor Walter Allen,
chemistry/biochemistry Professor William Gelbert, anthropology
Professor Peter Hammond and Phyllis Guze of the medical school.
Additionally, computer science Professor Judea Pearl and
biological chemistry Professor Elizabeth Neufeld received this
year’s Faculty Research Lecturers’ award.