Forum 21 | Alessandro Duranti | Intended and Unintended Effects of Changing Academic Practices

April 16, 2015 | UC Davis, Student Community Center

Alessandro Duranti, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Dean of Social Science, UCLA

Abstract: His research projects have focused on the role of verbal and visual communication in political arenas, everyday life, and music performance and rehearsals. Dean Duranti will review a number of projects and initiatives at UCLA that have to some extent disrupted traditional views of collaboration in research and teaching; how to engage a non-academic audience; the separation between basic and applied research; the goals of graduate education; and the role played by alumni and donors in helping students along their career paths. In each of these areas, Dean Duranti will use examples of success and failure to assess some intended and unintended effects of experimentation. The goal of his presentation is to stimulate a productive conversation with faculty, students, staff, alumni, and friends of the University of California system about the best ways to face a number of pressing challenges-- including a rapidly changing job market, institutional competition from private universities, and current political realities in California.