UCLA Awards 552 International Studies degrees in 2010/2011

The UCLA International Institute expects to award 552 degrees for the 2010/2011 academic year.

The UCLA International Institute's Commencement Ceremony was held on Saturday, June 11, 2011 in UCLA's Royce Hall. Graduates proudly walked onto the stage to cheers of family and friends accompanied by UCLA's organist Christoph Bull . He performed an enthusiastic rendition of Handel, "See the Conquering Hero Comes".

International Institute Interim Vice Provost Randal Johnson and Interim Associate Vice Provost Roger Waldinger shared the Master of Ceremony duties.  Eight other faculty rounded out the dias:

Jennifer Jung-Kim
Michael Lofchie
Ghislaine Lydon
William Marotti
Michael Morony
William Summerhill
Kevin Terraciano
Michael Thies

The keynote address was delivered by the Honorable Dame Barbara Hay , Her Britannic Majesty's Consul General, Los Angeles. She is a Dame Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, awarded to those who render extraordinary or important non-military service in a foreign country; a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order, and a Member of the Order of the British Empire.  Her many decorations are due to a distinguished career in the British Diplomatic Service in the former Soviet Union, Central Asia, South Africa and Canada, among others.  Not surprisingly, she possesses a broad understanding of international and academic issues, and she was an early supporter of cooperative efforts between UCLA and the British government in Los Angeles

In her address, Dame Barbara described her early life in Scotland as quite ordinary with no degrees in higher education and suggested she is living proof that there are no limits to what you can achieve in life.  Her Foreign Service career is filled with stories of her various cultural encounters including dinners in the high mountains of Tajikistan and with former Soviet KGB agents in Russia, stressing the importance of creating ties across cultures.

Undergraduate degrees were earned in the following areas:

For the first time a minor in European Studies will be awarded.

27 Masters Degrees will be awarded in four areas: African Studies (8), East Asian Studies (8), Islamic Studies (1), and Latin American Studies (10).  One Ph.D. in Islamic Studies was earned.

UCLA International Institute

Date Posted: 7/28/2011