Jimenez, a member of the executive committee for the program, explains that while there is a great amount of value put on interdisciplinary work and collaborative work among UC campuses, junior faculty participation is sparse.
“The main hurdle is the academic culture and academic rewards. There aren’t enough incentives to work collaboratively until a faculty member is senior or has tenure,” he says.
Ong says another pitfall is simply the distance between campuses. For example, UCLA is located 600 miles away from UC-Davis.
“The real complication is that we are staggered,” he says. Still, “when you deal with policy issues that are complex, with economical, cultural and sociological dimensions, it’s important to look at an issue from multiple perspectives.”
Although the multi-campus research program is based within the UC system and will be a resource for state legislators and community organizations, education leaders, like Nakanishi, Ong and Jimenez, say they would like to see the program develop nationwide in the following years.
“We will establish a base here,” says Ong. “But we’re just getting started.”
© Copyright 2005 by DiverseEducation.com
