Much of the cutting-edge research in the Division of Social Sciences is directly applicable to business, government, and community groups. Last year saw continued collaboration between the division and the San Diego region.
The Preuss School, a secondary school on the UCSD campus, fosters a culture of high academic performance among motivated, low-income students. Under the direction of professors Cecil Lytle and Hugh “Bud” Mehan, techniques that proved successful at Preuss are now being implemented at Gompers Charter Middle School. Gompers is an inner-city school with a history of low academic achievement.
Partners @ Learning (PAL), which puts UCSD students into K–12 classrooms as interns, teachers, and mentors, recently added a preschool component. More than 400 undergraduate and graduate students participate in PAL, a division of UCSD’s Education Studies program. The extension of PAL to a preschool environment echoes the University of California’s concern with improving early-childhood learning.
The UCSD Economics Roundtable brings renowned experts in economics, finance, business, and public policy to San Diego to share their insights with local business and faculty members. Visitors in 2007 included Lawrence H. Summers, former president of Harvard University; and Glenn Hubbard, past chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers. The Social Sciences Supper Club, meanwhile, engaged community members and the division’s scholars in thought-provoking discussions, including whether America is ready for an African-American president.
Public debate over immigration continued last year. Wayne Cornelius, who heads up the university’s Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, appeared in local, national, and international media and at a congressional field hearing to discuss his research findings. Beefed-up security, he noted, has only served to bottle up undocumented migrants on this side of the border.