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The UCLA CALL
Appendix 37
—
Interdisciplinary Activity
—
Effective January 24, 2006
It is well
recognized that interdisciplinary work has increasingly become a
frequent feature of scholarly work in recent years, and UCLA seeks
to recognize and encourage the interdisciplinary engagement of its
faculty. To be effective, this requires that all parties engaged in
the academic review process must be sensitive to the unique aspects
of such interdisciplinary work, and to the varied settings in which
interdisciplinary research and teaching are carried out.
This appendix
is intended to call specific attention to the diversity of
interdisciplinary activities at UCLA so that reviewers—including
Chairs, Deans, Departmental Faculty, and other reviewing bodies—can
appropriately take these activities into account in the course of
their evaluations.
The list below
is an extended, but not exhaustive, accounting of interdisciplinary
considerations that are embodied in UCLA’s interdisciplinary
program, and hence constitute elements that are pertinent to
departmental and campus reviews.
I. Departmental Evaluation
Since the
evaluation of faculty routinely begins in the faculty member’s
primary department, it is important that departmental faculty and
Department Chairs give due attention to the interdisciplinary
activities in which the candidate may be involved. These activities
may be formally recognized (e.g., through Joint Appointments) or
they may be in the nature of informal collaborations, but in any
case they are not to be treated as diversions from departmental
duties but as integral features of the candidate’s contributions.
The essential question that is under review is the quality of the
work, not its adherence to the vision of a restricted departmental
mission. In this respect, Chairs and reviewers should be aware that
it might be necessary and appropriate on occasion to call on the
expertise of an extra-departmental reviewer or committee member to
adequately evaluate a candidate’s dossier.
II. Campus Ad Hoc Review Committee
The UCLA review process has traditionally incorporated an important
interdisciplinary element in its review process through the rules
that govern the nomination of campus ad hoc review committee
members. Though a departmental representative is routinely named to
such committees, the Chair of the committee and the other members
are regularly drawn from corollary departments so that the
membership constitutes, in principle, an interdisciplinary
committee. Among other things, this means that the committee can
readily provide appropriate expertise where, as is often the case, a
candidate’s work bridges a variety of disciplines. Deans and
Chairs can recognize these interdisciplinary needs through the
nominations they regularly provide as suggested members for ad hoc
review committees.
III. Joint Appointments
Faculty have for some time had the option of participating in
interdisciplinary work through formal appointments in secondary
departments. Importantly, such appointments have recently been
further encouraged through the adoption of the procedure described
in Appendix 15 of The CALL. It
provides for a “waiver option” which allows faculty members to
participate in such Joint Appointments without undergoing a full
scale review by two departments. The candidate waives his or her
right to participate in the personnel reviews in the secondary
department, and at the same time the secondary department waives its
right to participate in the joint appointee’s academic review. The
procedure is intended to encourage interdisciplinary collaboration
while minimizing the review burden for both the candidate and the
secondary department. It is important, however, that the primary
department takes note of the candidate’s contributions in such
collaborative activity, and where appropriate, seeks input regarding
such contributions from the Chair of the secondary department.
It is also important to recognize the stipulation in The CALL that
departments are required to seek such input with respect to any
affiliation that candidates may have (whether officially joint
appointees or not) with other academic bodies on the campus (e.g.,
affiliation with research centers, interdisciplinary degree
programs, centers for interdisciplinary instruction, and the like).
The attraction of Joint Appointments when it comes to recruitment
of valued prospects is not to be overlooked.
IV. Extramural Evaluations
Candidates
have the option of seeking interdisciplinary input regarding their
work through their nominations to the Chair regarding extramural
evaluators; and Chairs (or departmental ad hoc review committees)
can, in their independent selections of extramural evaluators,
likewise implement an interdisciplinary perspective. Thus, the body
of extramural letters should be viewed as an opportunity to span the
candidate’s breadth of contribution rather than simply a
departmental focus. An important aspect of such letters is that
they identify in specific terms the nature of the candidate’s
contribution to the diverse fields to which his or her work
applies—a stricture that applies as well to the candidate’s own
self-statement so that it is possible to know what creative
contribution to the discipline or to related disciplines is
identified with the candidate. It is most important for the
candidate or other evaluators to identify the candidate’s
contribution when there are multiple authors or contributors to
published works.
V. Publication Credits
Reviewers
regularly take note of the repute that is associated with journals in
their field; but it is sometimes not easy to make such judgments
regarding journals in other disciplines or journals that are
specifically conceived as interdisciplinary in character. Nevertheless,
it is important for reviewers to be attuned to the problem of making
such judgments regarding journals that are not discipline-centered but
are nonetheless quality venues to be taken seriously. The important
principle is to remain open-minded on an interdisciplinary basis
regarding the quality issue, and to seek further advice where necessary
in making an evaluation of the relevant journals.
VI. Council on Academic Personnel
The CALL, and the
process of shared governance generally, provides for an
inter-disciplinary body—the Council on Academic Personnel—to make
recommendations to the Chancellor regarding important personnel actions.
The Council is explicitly designed to be representative of a wide range
of disciplines, and thus regularly conducts its work with an
appreciation of interdisciplinary issues. CAP members are appointed by
the Committee on Committees of the Academic Senate which is charged with
the duty of constructing a reviewing agency that is both diverse and
representative of the gamut of faculty interests.
VII. Interdisciplinary Agencies
UCLA has
recognized interdisciplinary concerns by providing a wide range of
institutional bodies whose explicit purpose is to further
interdisciplinary research and teaching. As noted earlier, this
includes such organizations as IDPs (Interdepartmental Programs) and
CIIs (Centers for Interdisciplinary Instruction); but it also includes
an extensive list of research and teaching organizations throughout the
campus. It is not possible to list these in detail, but faculty and
administrators need to take note of the extent of such bodies on the
campus, since they provide opportunities for interdisciplinary
collaboration for the faculty and they are also sources of faculty
evaluation. The following are illustrative of such interdisciplinary
campus agencies: The Brain Research Institute; African Studies Center;
International Studies and Overseas Program (ISOP); Women’ Studies
Program; Center on Aging; Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center; Institute
of Labor Relations; and the like. UCLA’s commitment to interdisciplinary
instruction is exhibited in the wide range of officially established
“interdisciplinary programs,” (IDPs)—e.g., in Archaeology; Latin
American Studies; Molecular, Cellular and Integrative Physiology;
Neuroscience; Environmental Science and Engineering; and Molecular
Toxicology.
VIII. Research Grants and Proposals
Interdisciplinary
research grants are common on the campus, and are encouraged by the
University. Resources are available through the Office of Contracts and
Grants to facilitate the submission of such grants. Deans and Chairs are
encouraged to support such interdisciplinary research activities—e.g.,
through the provision of seed funds, space and other assistance—and to
provide an intellectual climate that stimulates interdisciplinary
research.
IX. Lecture Programs
There are a
variety of established lecture programs that feature interdisciplinary
work, and such programs are both welcomed and supported by the
University. The Marschak Colloquium program is one example of such an
established lecture series, and there are similar long-running programs
in a number of fields.
X. Teaching and Graduate Training
Interdisciplinary
teaching takes place on both an informal and a formal basis. Informally,
faculty are encouraged to “team teach” courses that will profit from
interdisciplinary views. More formally, the Honors Program is oriented
in an interdisciplinary way, as is the program of undergraduate seminars
instituted after the 9/11 disaster. In graduate studies, an
interdisciplinary requirement is established through the rule that two
members of the doctoral committee must be drawn from outside the primary
department; but in that domain as well, informal cross-discipline
consultations are encouraged. Interdisciplinary teaching is encouraged
in many on-going interdepartmental programs (e.g., Communication
Studies; Comparative Literature), and through thoughtful proposals for
new multidisciplinary programs.
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