Professor Judith Smith
Dean and Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, UCLA
Professor Judith Smith has been Dean and Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education at UCLA since 1996, the university’s top leader responsible for the education of more than 25,000 undergraduate students at one of America’s best public universities. Over more than a decade, Judi has been responsible for a range of path breaking innovations in undergraduate education at UCLA. Her achievements include major reforms to the General Education program for students in their first two years of study, the creation of UCLA’s Honors College for its best students, and new Student Research opportunities for all undergraduates.
Judi has greatly expanded the recruitment, mentoring and retention of students from underrepresented ethnic groups. Today 30% of UCLA students begin their higher education in other institutions, principally from California’s network of Community Colleges catering to students from ethnic minorities and lower SES backgrounds. As a result, UCLA is a national leader in minority student education. Professor Smith also created UCLA’s Cluster program of year-long multi-disciplinary classes that over 1000 students entering UCLA take in their first year, on topics including the global environment, human aging, sex and sexuality, and genetics and society.
We caught up with Judith during her visit to the US Studies Centre.
