Message from the Co-Chairs ( January 2008)

Dear WAC Community,

Happy new year to all! 2008 will be a very busy and productive year for the department.

As you may already know, David Gere stepped down as Co-Chair (overseeing the undergraduate cultural studies and M.A./Ph.D in Culture and Performance programs) effective the first of January. For reasons he articulated, the faculty reluctantly accepted his departure so that he could fully pursue his research and directorship of the Center for Art|Global Health. He will continue to be active in all departmental matters as part of his ladder faculty’s responsibilities. We are most appreciative of his service to the department and to the campus!

The WAC faculty decided to invite Professor Kathleen Komar to step into the co-chair position for the remainder of this academic year, Winter and Spring Quarters 2008. This was proposed by the WAC faculty because of her shared interest in interdisciplinary studies (she is in the Comparative Literature Department), her vast knowledge of university administration, and because she served as the external academic facilitator in our program review work; she truly wants to assist the department achieve its goals. She will be holding office hours for WAC on Tuesdays from 1:30-3 p.m. in Room 114 in Kaufman Hall so that she can get to know the WAC department and its needs. If those hours do not work for some students, she will be happy to find times to meet individually. [Co-Chair Leung has open office hours on Thursdays 9:30-11 a.m.in Room 150 (main office).]

With the UCLA Arts Dean Waterman’s and Executive Vice Chancellor (EVC) Waugh’s approvals, Kathy Komar now serves as Co-Chair alongside continuing Co-Chair Angelia Leung. Professor Komar’s main focus will be to guide the department’s next major task in response to the Program Review Recommendations. We are charged to develop a 5-year strategic plan for the department. Co-Chair Leung will oversee the overall operations and day-to-day activities of the department along with course-planning and programming in consultation with the ladder faculty.

The following provides a brief update on the department’s curricular and programmatic work. Please do check out the remainder of our WAC website for information on upcoming events, alum news, current faculty and graduate student work, and our two centers’ work.

Admissions and Advisement
In the last Co-Chairs’ Townhall Meeting with the department, David Gere and Angelia Leung explained the work that the department needed to accomplish in response to the 2007 Program Review Recommendations by the Academic Councils (Undergraduate and Graduate Councils). One of the recommendations was to suspend admissions effective for the 2008-09 admissions cycle. We are very pleased to report that because of the department’s efforts over the summer 2007, the councils rescinded this recommendation temporarily, with the caveat that there will be an internal program review in the spring quarter to determine if they will make this a permanent action. Undergraduate and graduate admissions have been in full gear with over 200 applicants at the undergraduate level, and 80 at the graduate level.

Overseeing the undergraduate and graduate programs, Victoria Marks and Donald Cosentino have served as Undergraduate Faculty Advisor and Graduate Faculty Advisor respectively. Due to an unexpected medical leave, Professor Allen Roberts has replaced Donald Cosentino as the Graduate Faculty Advisor for the remainder of the academic year. We wish Professor Cosentino speedy recovery and are grateful for Professor Roberts for stepping in to the extensive service as Graduate Faculty Advisor.

The WAC Graduate Student Organization (GSO) is an active group that recently met with the co-chairs and ladder faculty at our Graduate Townhall Meeting (Jan.25). There are questions and concerns that will be addressed – some are easily accomplished while others will require extended work, which the students are ready to undertake. Professor Marks reports that she has been meeting with undergraduate representatives (WACUS) along with working with our Graduate Mentors (Cari Ann Henderson and Christine Suarez) who mentor our undergraduates and will report on her work by the end of this year.

Program Review
The first two phases of the department’s work in response to the program review recommendations have taken place and we now must look forward to planning for the future even as we continue to evaluate the phase one and two actions (course revisions, curricular revisions, continued discussion on key concerns such as development of foundational readings, performance opportunities, advisement, funding and outreach). Phase three will focus on the strategic planning process in the next three to four months. Alongside this process we will be searching for two new ladder faculty hires (job titles: “Culture, Performance and Globalization” and “Dance Studies”) and continuing to refine our various degree programs.

New Faculty Searches
The two aforementioned positions were approved by Dean Waterman and EVC Waugh effective the first of January. Announcements have been posted widely and may be viewed on our website. The on-line application deadline is February 29. The two positions are much needed replacement of ladder faculty positions and serve to enhance our two sub-units, World Arts and Cultures/Culture and Performance, and Dance. We will be posting the dates of campus visits and talks by candidates as we have them. We are very interested in hearing from our students regarding the candidates.

Departmental Structure
There had been discussion about possibly restructuring the department but subsequent to the program review, the department will remain as one. However, the ladder faculty is committed to strengthening its two sub-units -- World Arts and Cultures/Culture and Performance, and Dance. This is already evident in the curricular revisions that have been approved as well as the two searches cited above. There will be continued bridges between the two subunits with collaborative projects and shared interdisciplinary and intercultural concerns.

Strategic Planning Process
WAC has begun a series of “curated conversations” to help the department discuss some of the main issues we want to consider in future planning and to generate new ideas. The dates, chairs and topics of the conversations are listed below:
The issues/topics that the WAC ladder faculty identified for each of these conversations are as follows:
· Interdisciplinarity/Interculturality
· Studies of Performance/Performance Studies
· Community Connections - activism, outreach, facilities use
· Dance - student funding, recruitment; faculty renewal; BA, MFA, PHD developments/connections
· NewWAC (formerly titled Cultural Studies) - student recruitment; faculty renewal; BA, MA/PHD connections
· Globalization and the Arts
· Museum and Curatorial Studies

Each sub-committee for these respective topics has both graduate and undergraduate members in addition to the faculty, staff, and guests. We would be very happy to have the active input of all WAC students and faculty in this series of discussion.

Dates for winter quarter:

Jan.22 – Interdisciplinarity/Interculturality (chair: Dan Froot)
Feb.5 – Studies of Performance/Performance Studies (chair: Susan Foster)
March 4 – Community Connections – activism, outreach, facilities use (chair: Judy Mitoma)

Additional dates in the spring quarter will be forthcoming.

In sum, there’s much to be done but this is a great opportunity for all to take part. Please do contact your advisors and us for further conversations about your interests and questions.

Warmest regards,

Kathy Komar and Angelia Leung
Co-Chairs, Department of World Arts and Cultures

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