Departmental Self Review - UCLA Academic Senate

Ie:'Student Degree Objective:Factors whichhelp yourprogresstoward yourdegree·!I\.lI1V' .Funding isthesingle most. Important factor indegree progress.TAshlps should beawarded early andfellowships shouldbe awarded later Inthe graduateprogram.Factors whichhinder yourprogresstoward yourdegree. The expectation byadvisors that thedissertation be avery large andtheoretically complexbody of work. Thisrequires that thestudent spend yearsworking on thedissertation in orderto bring it up to thehigh standards of theprofessors. Thedissertation Issupposed to be thebeginning Of thestudent's career, notthe summary of alife's work.Less emphasisshould be placed onthe dissertation, butrather on graduatestudent publications:To write acIlssertation ANDpUblish severalarticles beforegraduation is verytime consuming andgreatly hindersdegree progress.Many otherdepartments havealready cued into thischange and insteadhelp students focuson what is needed toget a job aftergraduation. TheBiologicalAnthropologists inPHDThe nature of work as aTA and/or GSR at UCLA,its value as part of youreducation, and the qualityof the training you received...;-,.....:.'....:':.. :.The nature of work as a TA isvery demanding and someprofessors'require a .very largetime commitment from theirTAs. Teaching takes up a lottime that could be devoted todegree progress. Manystudents spend'3 years as ateaching as.sistant and can onlydevote half as much time to theirdissertation research and writingduring that time period. TAshipsare valuable for learningteaching skills that will no doubthelp students in their futurecareers. However, after 2-3TAshlps, the graduate studenthas learned the majority of whathe/she needs.The reasons why somestudents have left ourgraduate program beforecompleting their degreesLack of funding, conflict withadvisors, tired of being astudent. desire for a reasonableincome.The overallintellectualquality ofyour programVery highTheappropriateness ofcourse and otherdegreerequirements inregard to yourcareer aspirations'·:';/;;:~f:·';··;'The four fieldrequirement isexcellent. Thereabsolutely needs to be areqUired course for grantwriting during thequalifying exam andproposal writing year.Any questions you believethe review team shouldraise and/or areas theyshould examine:~ ..~::/-~,.The order and allocation offunding should be reconsidered.Wednesday, May 02, 2007 Anthropology, Open·EOded Comments. Graduate Council SurJey. Winter 2007 Page 2 of 14