Susan L. Ettner Appointed Interim Dean of Graduate Education
Dear Colleagues:
I am pleased to announce that Professor Susan L. Ettner, who is currently an associate dean in the UCLA Graduate Division, will be appointed interim dean of graduate education. She will begin her term August 1, 2020.
Before joining the UCLA faculty as an associate professor in 1999, Susan was an assistant professor and associate professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School. Susan is currently a professor of general internal medicine and health services research in the David Geffen School of Medicine, with a secondary appointment as professor of health policy and management in the Fielding School of Public Health. She also holds an affiliate faculty position at Kazakh National Medical University.
She has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed publications and has been the principal investigator on 25 grants or sub-awards and a co-investigator on 48 other studies. Her current research focuses primarily on behavioral health policy. Most recently, Susan led an evaluation funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the impact of the federal Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act.
Since 2017, Susan has been an associate dean in the Graduate Division responsible for academic and admissions policies. Among other accomplishments, she has led efforts to streamline exceptions processes; proposed the restructuring of fellowship reviews; and reviewed and proposed revisions to policies related to academic disqualification, Ph.D. committee composition, and the duplication of degrees. She also co-chairs the Mentoring and Evaluation of Graduate Academic Progress Implementation Committee, focusing on the development of faculty mentor training and annual student progress reviews, and has served as a representative to the National Science Foundation’s Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate.
In addition to her work in the Graduate Division, Susan chaired the Academic Senate’s Charges and Faculty Welfare committees and served on numerous campus committees, including the Gender Equity Committee, After the Moreno Report Task Force, advisory committee for the Institute of Industrial Relations, Provost’s Committee on Faculty Work/Life Issues, and advisory board for Early Care and Education. She is the former director of the UCLA Clinical and Translational Science Institute TL1 fellowship program and is currently a member of the executive board of the UCLA Center for the Study of Women and the stewardship council for Startup UCLA.
Susan earned bachelor’s degrees in mathematics/economics and German from UC Santa Barbara and a doctorate in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Chancellor Block and I appreciate Susan’s willingness to serve as interim dean, and we have every confidence in her ability to provide strong leadership and continuity for the Graduate Division and graduate education across the campus. I anticipate forming a search committee early in 2021 to identify candidates for a permanent dean, and I will keep you informed as we begin the search process.
Sincerely,
Emily A. Carter
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost