Message from UCLA Wasserman Dean
September 2023
Dear Friends of UCLA School of Education & Information Studies,
It is no understatement to say that we are living in a sociopolitical climate that consistently threatens our democracy and demands our attention. Vast, deeply entrenched inequities permeate every social institution, from health care to education. Increasing polarization and partisanship lead to more conflict than cooperation. The work done within the UCLA School of Education & Information Studies, now more than ever, centers on addressing these very issues.
Our faculty, students, and staff engage in rigorous scholarship that advances understanding of a broad range of issues tied to education and information studies. All of our efforts are guided by a commitment to increasing social justice and to growing diversity, equity, and inclusion. With these principles in mind, we develop teachers, information professionals, institutional leaders, and scholars. Our faculty are not only global and national leaders in their fields, they are also award-winning classroom teachers who see their students as partners in their work.
Our programs include an undergraduate major leading to a bachelor’s degree in education and social transformation, as well as several undergraduate minors, including one that spans both departments with a focus on information and media literacy. We offer 12 graduate programs, including at the master’s and doctoral levels, along with 23 research centers between our two departments.
Within the Department of Education, we have developed comprehensive ethnic studies and racial justice curricula and pedagogy for preK–16 teachers, faculty, and education leaders statewide. Our scholars inform leaders in higher education on institutional change and college students’ beliefs and experiences. And they continue to advance high-quality educational experiences for all learners, including those with dyslexia and other learning differences.
The experts within the Department of Information Studies are doing essential work on the 21st-century knowledge economy, including by exploring the implications of AI technology for democracy and social justice. They are expanding the practices of global community archives and highlighting the importance of collecting the history and memories of displaced and marginalized communities. Alumni from both departments are deeply engaged in transformative work and making contributions to societal change as professionals and scholars in schools, colleges and universities, libraries, and communities.
I invite you to explore this website and learn more about what we do, how we do it, and why. And if you are not already part of the Ed&IS community, please consider the myriad ways to become involved. We have a longstanding commitment to including many voices in all of our endeavors, and we look forward to including yours.
Warmly,
Tina
Christina A. Christie
Wasserman Dean of Education & Information Studies