Appointment of Christine Dunkel Schetter as Associate Vice Chancellor for Faculty Development

Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Personnel

Dear Colleagues,

I am very pleased to announce that Professor Christine (Chris) Dunkel Schetter has agreed to serve as Associate Vice Chancellor for Faculty Development beginning July 1, 2015. This new, half-time position is part of the reorganization that occurred with establishment of the office of Vice Chancellor, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. As Associate Vice Chancellor for Faculty Development, Professor Dunkel Schetter will be responsible for overseeing and developing programs to support faculty at all stages of their careers, but particularly during the pre-tenure period and upon their arrival at UCLA. Faculty orientation and mentoring programs, grants and other initiatives to support the research and teaching efforts of junior faculty, and support for work-life issues will be among the areas of her concern.

Professor Dunkel Schetter has been a faculty member in the Department of Psychology since 1982 and is a leading health psychologist, both nationally and internationally. One of her important roles has been as director of the Health Psychology Training Program for pre- and post-doctoral research fellows, which NIMH has funded for more than 20 years. Her research program involves several large, collaborative extramurally-funded projects on the effects of maternal stress in preterm delivery, low birth weight, pre and postpartum mental health, and infant and child development. This research encompasses the study of SES, ethnic and racial disparities in maternal child health, and conceptualizations of resilience including Latino cultural resources. She is also the recipient of the Senior Scientist Award in Health Psychology and the Strickland-Daniel Mentoring Award from the American Psychological Association, and Psychology Department awards for outstanding teaching and for service.

Professor Dunkel Schetter’s work is highly interdisciplinary, leading to affiliations with programs across the campus, from the School of Medicine to the Social Sciences, including the Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology, the California Center for Population Research, and the Center for the Study of Women. With all of her internal and external experience, she brings a wealth of knowledge to this position.

I would like to thank the advisory committee members, Professor Emeritus David Lopez (Sociology), Professor Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris (Associate Dean, Public Affairs), Dean Victoria Sork (Life Sciences), Distinguished Professor Emeritus Stephen Yeazell (School of Law), Vice Dean Jonathan Hiatt (DGSOM), and Professor Albert Courey (Chemistry & Biochemistry) for their assistance in this process.

Please join me in welcoming Chris to the Office of Academic Personnel. She can be reached at dunkel@psych.ucla.edu and will be located in 3109 Murphy Hall.

Sincerely,

Carole Goldberg
Vice Chancellor, Academic Personnel