Departmental Self Review - UCLA Academic Senate

subfields. Several students also mentioned a need for courses dedicated to grantwriting, writing publishable papers and dissertations. Specific recommendationsinclude (1) reworking the socio-cultural core sequence (203A, B and C) to include twoquarters on history and theory and one quarter on methods and (2) restructure Anth 200(Proseminar: Practice of Anthropology) to include a methods class followed by ashowcase of faculty research and then a class on how to write a dissertation.• Diversity of Graduate Classes: Some students see a lack of adequate course offerings,which is sometimes exacerbated by barriers to having undergraduatedasses, wherethere may be greater topical diversity, count for graduate credit. Some studentsspecifically ask for more theory classes in socio-cultural anthropology. One studentsuggests that there be a push to have more graduate classes from other departmentscross listed in anthropology (e.g., American Indian Studies).• Biological anthropology core course: A number of students voice concerns over thegraduate core course in biological anthropology (Anth 120G). Many students considerthis class to be too demanding of student time as it requires attendance both at a seminar(120G proper) and the lower division undergraduate biological anthropology class(Anth 7). Others accept the need for the course format, but question why it is notconsidered a graduate level course. As of the 2007-2008 year the 120G class has beenreplaced by a graduate class that assigns appropriate graduate credit.Diversity: Some students are concerned about diversity within the student body and thedepartment as a whole. One student writes that there is "~ot enough divers~ty (of ethnic,cultural, national, sexual orientation, racial backgrounds, life circumstances, social positions)among either faculty or students." Another observes that the diversity situation "is notparticular to the Department of Anthropology, but to the university as a whole...A good placeto start [to rectify this situation] may be to ask ourselves what we have to offer that would makeour department attractive to a diverse population, and if we fall short in any way, we need toactively address it."Faculty Advising: Students praise the quality of graduate advising. One student writes, the"mentorship has been wonderful-I feel very comfortable talkingwith my advisors and don'thesitate to drop in to ask other professors...for advice when I need it." Others comment thatthe strength of the program is in "accessibility of the faculty/faculty commitment to graduatestudents" and limy experience with faculty mentorship has been outstanding. I could not behappier or more impressed." However, a few students voiced concerns about differentexpectations among the faculty regarding timely progress and the protocols in place with19. :