As assistant dean in UCLA's Division of Undergraduate Education, I have drawn upon my knowledge of basic, applied, and developmental research in higher education to inform the development, enhancement, and visibility of campus initiatives and educational programs. My portfolio has included the coordination of several campus-wide undergraduate education initiatives:
Pathways to Commencement
In Spring 2013, UCLA embarked on a new, large-scale institutional initiative focused on optimizing undergraduate offerings while simultaneously seeking strategies to increase students' four-year degree completion. Associated efforts focus on: (1) examining factors both embedded in student culture and imposed by the institution that may slow students' time to degree and identifying new strategies for removing barriers to timely degree completion; (2) identifying strategies for engaging UCLA students in taking active ownership of their undergraduate learning experiences; and (3) considering the potential for increasing the proportion of UCLA students who elect to pursue accelerated degree completion pathways. Recommendations for the campus are featured in the July 2014 Pathways to Commencement Task Force Report.
Capstones
As part of UCLA's commitment to enhancing the scholarly development of its undergraduate students by providing them with opportunities to culminate their baccalaureate education with a creative demonstration of their knowledge and skills, the Capstone Initiative, which began in 2006, aims to broaden substantially the availability of undergraduate capstone experiences by UCLA's centennial in 2019. UCLA capstone experiences are defined to include not only research, but also creative performances, product designs, community service, and campus leadership projects.
Evaluating the Effectiveness of Programs for Undergraduate Students
UCLA has a long-standing commitment to understanding the undergraduate experience, and has long embraced the practice of using assessment data to facilitate improvement in teaching, research, and service. The campus also has a long-standing, rigorous academic program review process. At the undergraduate level, however, there were no common expectations for articulating or assessing "learning outcomes." In response to new accreditation-related expectations, UCLA embarked (in 2010) on a multifaceted initiative to support departmental efforts to document educational effectiveness for undergraduate degree-granting programs. Together, faculty are establishing learning objectives for their academic programs, communicating associated expectations to students, incorporating new approaches to evaluating student learning, and considering how to use new insights gleaned to support curricular enrichment. Through this work, UCLA is creating an enriched climate for learning and teaching that is student focus and outcomes based. As an academic community, we are building a broader and more explicit commitment to a process of inquiry and reflection that focuses on growth, renewal, and continual improvement.