Building From Strength

By Barry Jagoda I October 3, 2005

Michael Bernstein has been in the dean's chair less than a month but he already has an ambitious plan for improving the visibility and quality of the arts and humanities at UCSD. He calls it "building from strength." And in stressing his focus on partnership with the faculty and department chairs, the longtime history of economics professor, a veteran of 18 years at UCSD, says, "It's all about collaboration, that's my style."

Elaborating on his design for enhanced academic excellence, Dean Bernstein is precise. "We should focus our investment in the various departments in areas where we can get a rapid return in the form of visibility, scholarly and pedagogical activity and, down the road, the development of resources," he says. He cites the success of other units in the university: "Every successful department on this campus and every division literally began with a particular set of focus points and then were able to develop more resources to expand their operations."

And Bernstein is sensitive to the flip side of building from strength. "If you are going to concentrate on the peaks, what do you do about the valleys?" is the way he puts it, and then answers, "These are real people, all with aspirations, and so, over time, you want to eliminate the valleys by scaling the heights and then leveraging up other areas."

Asked how much a dean can do to make great changes, Bernstein was frank. "I don't think you're a dean for very long if you embrace a dictatorial style--you know, you will do it my way or the highway, sort of thing. That makes no sense. I'm very early in the job. I've had one-on-one meetings with each of the department chairs and I've asked them to identify areas where they are ready, willing and able to focus investment on new faculty and allied resources. It's easier for some than for others. The dean can facilitate discussion and force a conclusion."

As a former chair himself, for two terms in the UCSD history department, and as a former chair of the Faculty Senate, he not only has had much experience in planning and collaboration, but he's also observed significant changes among the faculty since the 1980s.

"In the arts, the advent of computer design and application of computers in music and arts creation has been profound," he said. Asked if this development was encouraging or bothersome, Bernstein said, "Maybe both. Coming from a more traditional background it is a bit unnerving. But the fact that colleagues in engineering have been able to develop significant resources that help expand our arts program is good, although a bit ironic."

Changes in the humanities revolve around much trickier issues, said Bernstein. "Not only have the traditional areas of the humanities been shrinking nationwide but there have been direct attacks on the humanities because they tend to explore issues or take up agendas that people find unsettling: gender, sexuality, the nature of truth and meaning, for example."

Bernstein suggested that the arts and humanities at UCSD often do not get as much attention as they deserve. "There is a saying, 'scientists discover, artists and humanists create.' Those are two wonderful activities, but the focus here at UCSD has been on discovery, and it has been done so well and so passionately here in such a short period of time. On the other hand there's been a lot of creation going on here-in ways that people are not aware--often because the units are smaller, newer and less dramatic in their physical presence."

Bernstein, who earned a Ph.D in economics at Yale, got his first teaching job in the department of history at Princeton in 1982 because Princeton wanted a true economist to teach American economic history. He accepted the chair of the UCSD history department as a young associate professor, a position normally reserved for more senior faculty members, and said he was fortunate to have it as a learning experience. "Life is, in part, learning more about yourself so you know what gives you satisfaction. I've learned that I'm a good administrator and I enjoy and get something out of it. And, let's be honest, there's also the ego thing: Some people hate to be the center of attention. I'm not that way."

Asked about activities beyond academia, the new dean said, "I play golf, badly; I've become very interested in physical fitness, weight training, jogging. Much to my surprise, it is something I enjoy doing. Partly, for me, this was part of a bigger decision, about a year-and-a-half ago, to stop smoking, change my diet, and lose weight. Also, my daughters were asking when I was going to stop smoking!"

Bernstein's older daughter, Eleanor, 16, is a student at the San Diego High School of Creative and Performing Arts, interested in music and voice. She lives in the Clairemont neighborhood with Michael and his partner, Patti Harp, who is the Management Services Officer (MSO) of the UCSD economics department. Their other daughter, Claire, a 10-year-old fifth grader, lives with her mother and stepfather in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Of course, Bernstein likes to read, admitting to enjoying "trash" but also higher quality stuff. "I love to travel, when I can do it, and I have a little secret: I've been intensely interested in flying and have soloed an aircraft three times, including flying over the campus looking down on the top of Geisel Library."

This kind of overview perspective will come in handy, in the coming months and years, as Bernstein applies his years of experience as a scholarly author, a respected classroom teacher, a community and faculty leader to strengthening the visibility and the quality of the arts and humanities now under his domain.