I. FTE Requests
In June of
2000 Don Nakanishi and I submitted to Dean Scott Waugh a breakdown
of FTE needs in Asian American Studies. These needs represent
the most urgent student demands and new areas of scholarship in
Asian American Studies that the program must address. The Academic
Senate review recommends at least three new 100% FTE, which is
based on programmatic needs and does not take into account the
anticipated enrollment increase. The anticipated enrollment increase,
in conjunction with leadership needs after the new department
is established, will translate into additional FTE demands. We
request FTE commitments for replacements, and a total of six new
100% FTE – three during the next three years and three during
the following five years.
Our faculty
have expressed strong desire to maintain the interdisciplinarity
of Asian American Studies as we seek departmental status, and
favor continued cooperation with other departments and programs
in curriculum development and faculty searches. We will continue
to work with other departments and programs on new joint/split
appointments. At the same time, the anticipated new department
will require full-time appointments especially for its leadership.
We propose that our FTE needs be fulfilled by a combination of
full-time and joint/split appointments.
Women represent
close to half of the faculty who regularly teach classes in Asian
American Studies at UCLA, but Southeast Asian Americans and South
Asian Americans are severely underrepresented among our faculty.
We are committed to diversifying the faculty and increasing appointments
of women and minorities, especially by prioritizing ethnic community
specialists in our future hires. We would like to appoint the
best scholars whose work concerns underrepresented ethnic communities
and whose work also addresses other programmatic needs.
In the following
we would like to provide updates of and prioritize our FTE requests.
Our first priority involves searches for replacements and anticipated
replacements. The six new 100% FTE we request will be used for
priorities two and three, involving a combination of full-time
and joint/split appointments. Wherever appropriate, thematic and
ethnic communities needs can be combined in these proposed searches.
Priority
Number One – Replacements
(a)
Replacement for an Economics specialist
With the departure of Wei-Yin Hu we have urgent needs to appoint
a ladder faculty to teach undergraduate and graduate classes on
“Asian Americans and the US Economy,” which have had
large enrollments. With your support the Department of Economics
and Asian American Studies have begun a search for a replacement.
(b)
Replacement for a Psychology/Mental Health specialist
Asian American Mental Health used to be an important core of the
Asian American Studies program at UCLA and had earned UCLA national
and international recognition. Since the departure of Stanley
Sue and David Takeuchi and the shift of interest of Cindy Yee-Bradbury,
we currently have no ladder faculty teaching courses on Asian
American Mental Health. This year we have hired a temporary instructor
to teach this class, and the enrollment is extremely full with
a long waiting list. The faculty in Asian American Studies consider
this area a crucial area for teaching and research; the absence
of a ladder faculty in this area will potentially adversely affect
the stature of the program. We request FTE commitment to support
a joint faculty search in this area with the Department of Psychology.
(c)
Anticipated Replacement for a Media and Communication
specialist
Bob Nakamura has been a major force behind developing a series
of courses on “Ethnocomunications.” Media and communication
are increasingly popular among students and are important new
areas of scholarship in Asian American Studies. As Bob Nakamura
is anticipating retirement in the next several years, we propose
a search for a specialist to continue building these courses.
Priority
Number Two – Immediate Needs in New Areas
(a)
Renewed search for an Art History specialist
Several years ago a search in this area failed primarily because
this new field had not yet produced a large pool of candidates.
The field has matured in the past several years and we are confident
that a pool of highly qualified candidates can be identified.
This will represent a new area of scholarship for Asian American
Studies at UCLA.
(b)
New FTE for a Religion/Philosophy specialist
No current UCLA regular faculty teaches Asian American religions
and philosophy, yet this is an area that is increasingly central
to the scholarly studies of the Asian Pacific American population.
“Asian Americans and Religion” is one of the most
popular courses we offer, but we have always had to rely on temporary
instructors for this course. We wish to appoint a ladder faculty
on Asian American religions and philosophy jointly with a Social
Sciences (e.g., Sociology) or Humanities (e.g., East Asian Languages
and Cultures) department.
(c)
New FTE for a Gender and Sexuality/Women’s Studies
specialist
Gender and Sexuality and Women’s Studies are relatively
new areas of scholarship in Asian American Studies that should
be supported by regular offering of classes. Student enrollment
in “Asian American Gender and Sexuality” and “Asian
American Women” have been consistently high, but we have
not been able to offer them on a regular basis and we have had
to frequently rely on temporary instructors. Our faculty are very
interested in working with LGBT and Women’s Studies programs
on searching for a specialist in this area.
(d) New FTE for a Vietnamese American Studies
specialist
We have an urgent need to hire at least one Vietnamese American
Studies specialist. Annually we offer one to two courses on Vietnamese
American Studies that are almost always highly enrolled, for which
we have been relying on temporary instructors for the last decade
or so. Student demands have been especially keen and we wish to
offer more courses on Vietnamese American Studies. The current
joint search with the Center for Southeast Asian Studies and the
Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures for a Vietnam/Vietnamese
American specialist may alleviate students’ demand in the
short run, but in the long run we will need more than one specialist
in this area. A new Vietnamese American Studies appointment can
also be combined with other thematic priorities.
(e)
New FTE for a Filipino American Studies specialist
At UCLA, only one regular faculty (Pauline Agbayani-Siewert) is
Filipino American, and Filipino American Studies is severely underrepresented
in teaching and research. Because of this we have only been able
to teach courses on Filipino Americans irregularly. Over the past
several years a large number of students have expressed concern
over this. Even if Vince Rafael came (candidate for a joint search
with the Department of Comparative Literature and the Center for
Southeast Asian Studies), he would teach only one class for Asian
American Studies. Our faculty and undergraduate and graduate students
have expressed very strong interests for one to two more specialists
in Filipino American Studies. Again Filipino American Studies
appointments can be combined with other thematic priorities.
Priority
Number Three – Long-Range needs
(a)
New FTE for a Geography specialist
The scholarship on geographic perspectives in Asian American Studies
is rapidly growing, and students’ demand for a specialist
in this area has increased tremendously. For example, an expert
who can teach classes on race, gender, migration, geopolitics
and urban geography and how they relate to the Asian Pacific American
population would further enrich both the Asian American Studies
and Geography curricula.
(b)
New FTE for a Political Science specialist
Studies on the voting behavior and political participation of
the Asian American population are appearing in leading journals
with the emergence of a new generation of scholars who have expertise
in both Political Science and Asian American Studies. Asian Americans
are becoming a significant actor in American electoral and international
politics, and courses on their growing presence are of interest
to both graduate and undergraduate students.
(c)
New FTE for a South Asian American Studies specialist
We have never had an appointment for a specialist in South Asian
American Studies, though South Asian Americans constitute one
of the major and most influential Asian Pacific American communities.
An appointment in South Asian American Studies can be combined
with other thematic areas.
(d) New FTE for a Pacific Islander Studies specialist
Likewise, we have never had an appointment for a specialist in
Pacific Islander Studies. Pacific Islanders are however among
the most fast-growing populations in the nation. An appointment
in Pacific Islander Studies can be combined with other thematic
areas.
(e)
New FTE for a New Technology specialist
Information technology, including the use of computers and the
Internet, increasing defines access to not only data but also
resources. How access to information and new technology affects
the well being of the Asian Pacific American population is an
area underrepresented in the curriculum of Asian American Studies
at UCLA. We propose a search in this area, possibly jointly with
the Department of Information Studies or another allied department/program.
II.
Graduate Student Admissions
Over the past
several years, the Asian American Studies MA program has maintained
a new-registrant rate of 12 students per year, despite a consistent
increase of applications to the program. We have been extremely
selective in admission because of the following three reasons.
Firstly, we are committed to admitting only the very best students
who will help us maintain the quality of the program. Secondly,
the small number of ladder faculty in Asian American Studies and
their joint responsibilities inevitably impose constraints on
the number of MA students we can admit. Thirdly, limited funding
has constrained admission. Our funding concerns have been outlined
in the recent IDP’s self-review and response to the Academic
Senate review. In summary, fellowship allocations and awards from
the Graduate Division provide partial financial support to only
about half of the incoming students; funding for continuing students
is even more limited because the TA funding we receive from the
College is less than a fraction of what regular departments of
similar size and enrollment receive. Most of our MA students are
supported by other on- and off-campus employment, which negatively
affects their time-to-degree. Though the program has been successful
in recruiting top candidates, as reflected by high ratios of registrants
to admission (> 85%), we have lost some of our best candidates
to doctoral programs that offer multi-year packages.
Increasing
the size of the graduate program is indeed part of the program’s
long-range plan, especially in relation to possibilities of establishing
a PhD program in Asian American Studies in the future. Existing
joint-degree programs and plans for new joint-degree programs,
which forge intellectual links between Asian American Studies
and professional schools and enhance our students’ employability,
will also put pressure on graduate student admission. While the
faculty would like to increase the number of graduate students
by one-third (4 new entrants per year) during the next two to
three years, we strongly feel that this can only be done with
(1) commitments on new FTE and (2) a significantly higher level
of funding. Immediate commitments for FTE priorities one and two
outlined above would enable a more diversified curriculum and
increased number of graduate classes, both critical for supporting
a larger graduate program. Funding from the Graduate Division
and TA allocations from the College would need to be at least
doubled, in order to alleviate the financial needs of continuing
students and to support an increasing number of new entrants.
III.
Summer Sessions and Re-uniting
The Asian
American Studies program has been offering an average of five
summer session classes annually, as well as a joint summer program
with the American Studies Department at the University of Hawai’i
at Manoa on “Asian Pacific American Communities of Hawai’i.”
While the joint summer program in Hawai’i is usually fully
enrolled, the regular summer session classes do have possibilities
to expand in enrollment. In order to attract more students, we
are planning to concentrate on high-enrolling classes (e.g., 99
– History of Asians in America; 100 – Contemporary
Asian American Communities; 130E – Chinese American Experience;
115 – Asian American Women).
The faculty
in Asian American Studies have begun to identify courses with
more demanding requirements for re-uniting (from 4 to 5 units).
Both 99 and 100 are introductory classes that have discussion
sessions and high workload. In addition, 107A (Introductory Video
Ethnography and Documentary Workshop), 107B (Advanced Video Ethnography
and Documentary Workshop), and the newly created 108A and 108B
(Planning, Policy and Community – Field Studies) series
have demanding field and lab components. Re-uniting these classes
to 5 units reflects more accurately the workload involved. We
plan to offer 99 and 100 each twice a year, and 107A, 107B, 108A
and 108B each once a year. Together they enroll more than 700
students during regular quarters. It is expected that re-uniting
the above classes, together with expanding enrollment in summer
sessions classes, would significantly increase student throughput
as the program takes in more undergraduate students in the future.
The Asian American Studies program is planning to appoint an Undergraduate
Advisor to chair an Undergraduate Affairs Committee that will
be asked to oversee course re-uniting and summer sessions.
IV.
Undergraduate Teaching
The Asian
American Studies program is highly committed to undergraduate
teaching. We offer about 50 undergraduate classes and 10 graduate
classes a year. Not only does the program teach a large number
of classes, but the ratio of undergraduate classes to graduate
classes is higher than most other departments and programs in
the Social Sciences Division. Faculty teaching in Asian American
Studies typically hold joint appointments that contractually require
them to teach two classes in the program. About half of them teach
two undergraduate classes, and another half teach one undergraduate
class and one graduate class every year. Their joint appointments
entail double roles in two or more programs in teaching, advising
and committee work and they already have higher workloads than
faculty whose appointments fully reside in one department. The
Asian American Studies program does have a significant number
of courses taught by temporary instructors. The double roles of
our faculty render the option of increasing teaching load unrealistic.
One short-term solution is to appoint permanent lecturers on,
say, a three-year basis, but we believe the long-term solution
is to commit more FTE so that new ladder faculty can take up the
classes currently taught by temporary instructors (see I above).
V. Space
Space is identified
as one of the most urgent needs of the IDP in its self-review,
the Academic Senate review of the IDP, and the IDP’s response
to that review. Specifically, the IDP has only one small office
for its chair, but no office space for staff, students or Teaching
Assistants. Almost all IDP administration is undertaken in offices
held by the Asian American Studies Center. Space is urgently needed
for daily administrative functions, for offices for faculty advisors
and student advising, to facilitate faculty-student interactions,
and for recruiting faculty for full-time FTE if the IDP is to
become a department. The Reading Room, which is under the Asian
American Studies Center but provides significant research and
library service to the IDP’s undergraduate and graduate
students, is in severe need for expansion. Our faculty believes
that addressing the Academic Senate review’s recommendations
to the program would require significant augmentation of office
space. We also believe that departmentalization necessitates a
long-term rather than piecemeal solution to our space needs, and
requires a central location on campus which will facilitate the
contributions by faculty from different disciplines and will further
enhance the interdisciplinary strength of the program. It is almost
certain that space needs will become a crisis as the undergraduate
and graduate programs both expand with the anticipated increase
in enrollment and admission. It appears that solution to our space
needs must involve not only the Dean but also administrative units
at the College level and perhaps beyond the College. We hope that
the Dean and respective administrators would consider the program’s
space needs one of their highest priorities.
