University officials announced UCLA Student Affairs is currently in the planning stages of reconfiguring and improving the services offered at the UCLA Center for Women & Men.
The center and UCLA Student Development Health Education ““ both of which are departments of Student Affairs ““ will merge to expand services to accommodate different groups on campus.
Those groups will include veterans, students from foster care, transfer students, undocumented students and re-entering and non-traditional students, Vice Chancellor Janina Montero said.
“As a whole, all of these groups are becoming an increasing part of our student body,” said Pam Viele, director of Student Development Health Education.
The transfer students, for instance, constitute 40 percent of the entering students this coming school year, she said.
The plan for the reconfiguration arose because of complications students had come across while seeking solutions to problems, and because of a lack of a larger, more coordinated support for their issues, she said.
“For example, over the last few years we’ve noted that there was a bit of confusion in terms of those students who’d come seeking assistance and support with sexual abuse situations,” Viele said.
Because of this confusion, the part of the center that deals with sexual abuse will be fully integrated with services provided by UCLA Counseling and Psychological Services.
The improved center aims to provide resources for all of students’ needs so they do not have to go to multiple offices, said Tina Oakland, director at the Center for Women & Men. Oakland is also in charge of the Veterans Resource Office at the center.
The official debut for the improved center is set at July 1, Montero said.
She said they will continue to talk to various student groups and faculty to ensure that services are not duplicated and that the center will be as efficient as possible in addressing all needs.
The Center for Women & Men currently provides free services for undergraduate and graduate students. These services aim to identify and respond to the needs of women and men, promote awareness of gender-related issues and provide options for personal and academic growth, according to the center’s Web site.
“It’s an opportunity for us to, in a way that is very cost-effective, try and expand services and make the university less complex, less bureaucratic and more accessible,” Montero said.
With these changes, the university budget will be about the same and not expand, she said.
No major physical remodeling will take place as university officials want to maintain the look and feel of the space, Viele said.
“I think the Center for Women & Men is a really comfortable and private place for students to discuss some very personal issues,” said Jennifer Reina, a second-year neuroscience student who has used the center’s services.
Reina said she liked the location in the Student Activities Center and that she thinks the plans to expand services will be beneficial to the UCLA community.
The staff of Student Development Health Education will also move to the current space that’s occupied by the Center for Women & Men in order to collaborate with the existing staff and provide these growing services, Montero said.
The Student Development Health Education office, which provides free programs and services aimed at improving overall student well-being, is currently located in Pauley Pavilion and will move its services with the renovation project, she said.
With the expansion of the center, university officials said they want to increase its student involvement. They also want to increase the number of student interns in order to provide more professional opportunities.
The interns will go through in-depth training regarding how to address specific issues and develop a broad sense of university services, Montero said.
Current interns work primarily in the sexual violence area and have been doing workshops in fraternities, sororities and residence halls.
They are also in charge of putting together poster campaigns in the residence halls every quarter, Oakland said.
Employees in both the offices of the Center for Women & Men and Student Development Health Education are committed to making the transition as smooth as possible, Viele said.
“We’re still making sure that all services in the center continue at high quality,” Montero said.
“We hope and envision that the improved center will provide strong coordinated support for all students and specific student groups.”