‘Be relentless,’ new UCLA graduates are told
Thousands of new UCLA graduates from ages 17 to 60 reveled inside Pauley Pavilion on Friday with cheers, fist pumping and many, many selfies as they officially received their bachelor’s degrees.
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A spirited welcome and invitation for thousands at Bruin Day 2017
UCLA pulled out all the stops for the nearly 17,000 potential incoming freshmen and their families who visited campus for the annual Bruin Day on April 15, which for many, marked a final, exhilarating stop on their college-search journey.
UCLA launches master of social science program
Applications are now open for a new Master of Social Science (MaSS) Program, a nine-month degree program that will be the first of its kind on the West Coast. Launching in Fall 2017, the UCLA MaSS program is expected to attract high-potential students who will benefit from training in social science research and perspectives to become strong candidates for top Ph.D. programs or for career positions requiring sharp analytical, quantitative and qualitative skills.
Twenty-first century social science research increasingly cuts across disciplines, but most undergraduate-level training in the social sciences continues to be organized along disciplinary boundaries. The UCLA MaSS program will address the need for new approaches to social science education by offering interdisciplinary training in problem-based social science research.
Working closely with faculty mentors, students will learn the nuts and bolts of social science research, including how to: identify and frame complex social problems; conduct, interpret and evaluate relevant research; analyze research data generated from different theoretical, methodological and disciplinary approaches; and present findings in clear and compelling ways.
“This is an ideal way for students to ‘activate’ their undergraduate degree and be highly competitive for desirable professional opportunities or top doctoral programs,” said MaSS chair Juliet Williams.
The MaSS program plans to enroll twenty-five students each year, and merit and need-based aid is available. Along with core courses and electives, each student will design and submit a major research paper, gaining hands-on research experience outside the classroom. Also on offer will be practical workshops on how to apply to Ph.D. programs, conduct scholarly research online, use data management and analysis programs, and ace job interviews.
For more information please go to http://mass.ss.ucla.edu/
Key dates:
November 30, 2016 4-6 p.m.: MaSS Open House (registration required)
January 6, 2017: early admission application deadline
April 30, 2017: final application deadline
Anthropologist brings European refugee crisis to the classroom
Students in two global studies classes at UCLA this quarter will benefit from an eye-opening month their professor spent in Greece this past summer. In July, anthropologist Laurie Hart taught international graduate seminars on the current border crisis at the University of the Aegean on the island of Lesvos.
Using science to fight for environmental justice
Ward wanted to be a lawyer, but his plans changed during a class action suit against Chevron. In August 2012, the oil giant’s refinery in Richmond, California caught fire, sending a plume of toxic, black smoke into the air.
Feeding the hungry while cutting food waste
Rachel Sumekh, 24, co-founded Swipe Out Hunger when she was a student at UCLA. The nonprofit that she now leads as executive director allows college students to donate excess dollars on their meal plan to fellow students in need or to the broader community.
Literature and film help teach students to understand the brain
What can Shakespeare, Cervantes, Proust, and even contemporary playwrights and filmmakers contribute to the study of neuroscience? A lot, says UCLA professor of integrative biology and physiology Scott Chandler.
UCLA graduates are told ‘the world needs you’
With whoops, hoots, foot-stomping and a reckless disregard for where their hats landed, graduates in UCLA’s class of 2016 shook Pauley Pavilion with applause as they celebrated their commencement on Friday afternoon.
After kicking addiction, graduating UCLA student reboots life
This week, Hale, 53, will graduate with a degree in sociology and celebrate his transition to a new life at the campus’s Native-American graduation celebration on Friday at 4:30 p.m. with 18 other graduates.
Foxes on one of California’s Channel Islands have least genetic variation of all wild animals
UCLA biologists report in a new study that a species of foxes living on six of California’s Channel Islands have a surprising absence of genetic variation.