Alexandra Minna Stern will become dean of humanities at UCLA on Nov. 1, succeeding David Schaberg, who has led the division since 2011 and will return to full-time teaching and research after a sabbatical.
For Stern, who was most recently associate dean for humanities and the Carroll Smith-Rosenberg Collegiate Professor of American Culture at the University of Michigan, the move is a homecoming — she grew up in California, earned her master’s degree in American studies Latin. from UC San Diego and was an assistant professor at UC Santa Cruz.
In her two decades at Michigan, Stern held academic appointments at history, women’s and gender studies, and obstetrics and gynecology. She is widely recognized as an expert on the history of eugenics, genetics, society, and justice in the United States and Latin America.
As she prepares to begin her term, Stern spoke with us about this new chapter for her and the split.
What does it mean to you to lead UCLA’s Humanities Division?
It is a great honor to follow in the footsteps of David Schaberg, who has managed this division with a steady hand and inspiring vision of the humanities. I am excited to join my fellow deans at UCLA College and the leadership team at the university.
For me, this is both a return home to California, where I lived for many years before my two decades in the Midwest, and a new adventure in Los Angeles, a city I’ve never lived in but am eager to explore. . I am deeply committed to public higher education and can imagine no better place to pursue transformative work than UCLA.
I look forward to getting to know the university community as I represent and advocate for the humanities on campus and beyond. Coming from Michigan, it will be a great experience to go from Wolverine to Bruin!
What qualities of sharing do you think make it unique and impactful?
UCLA Humanities is an exceptional division with a talented, diverse faculty whose research covers a wide range of themes, chronologies, regions and approaches. The division is highly interdisciplinary, which has allowed it to lead in many fields, including urban humanities and digital humanities. Due to its location in a vibrant and polyphonic city, the humanities at UCLA are public facing, contributing to and benefiting from an amazing artistic, cultural and creative environment. The full breadth of UCLA’s humanities appeals to me and resonates with my vision of an engaged humanities in the 21st century.
What are your top priorities as dean?
My priorities will evolve over time as I familiarize myself with the humanities community and the university as a whole. Overall, I will seek to maintain strength in old areas and activate new initiatives. For example, I want to ensure the sustainability of global languages, including the least-taught languages, and build capacity for experimental programs such as health humanities and disability studies.
As a fierce advocate of the humanities, I welcome the opportunity to demonstrate their relevance to the pressing issues of humanity, society, democracy, and culture today. I am eager to support the entire humanities community—students, staff, faculty, and alumni—and to work together toward common goals, while maintaining my signature optimism without overlooking the serious challenges facing the humanities in academia. in our present moment.
What keeps you inspired and passionate about your work and your field?
Much of my research has focused on the history and legacy of eugenics, particularly in California, and I am actively involved in projects related to reproductive justice and injustice, reparations, and memory today. The lab I founded, Laboratory of Sterilization and Social Justice — which will now likely be based at UCLA’s Institute for Society and Genetics — is working with California state agencies to help vet sterilization survivors who are eligible for monetary compensation through a recently approved program, and collaborates with activists and scholars on anti-eugenics projects that are community-based and guided by social justice principles and goals. I remain passionate about my research; it is rewarding when it contributes to addressing the historical harms of the past and contemporary social inequalities.
Is there a little known fact about yourself that we can share?
I spent most of my 20s living in San Francisco and reading poetry at Cafe Babar on 22nd and Guerrero, and that kind of creative energy sustains me to this day. Unfortunately, I have lost most of the poems I wrote during that rough and painful period of my life. I often turn to poetry, in English and Spanish, for intellectual and emotional sustenance because of my love of language, metaphor, cadence, and its irresistible pitch.
What is your favorite piece of advice to share with students and others?
I believe active listening and humility can go a long way. Wherever or however we enter academia, we must strive to be lifelong learners. To me, leadership is less about giving advice and more about modeling and implementing empathy and advocacy within an interdependent and generative community.
