Rosina M. Becerra, PhD

Associate Vice Chancellor of Faculty Diversity
Professor of Policy Studies and Social Welfare
 

Rosina Becerra, PhD is a professor of social welfare in the School of Public Policy and Social Research. Her research focuses on policy issues in health and mental health over the life span, with particular emphasis in social gerontology and child welfare. She is the principal investigator for a State of California Department of Social Services five-year study of welfare reform in California. She also is working on a National Institute of Health/National Institute on Aging four-year panel study of the Mexican American elderly entitled Health Care Use and Social Support.  She served as the keynote speaker at a symposium on the urban elderly sponsored by the 1995 White House Conference on Aging. 

She has conducted large-scale evaluations for the State of California Department of Social Services, such as the study of welfare reform in California (1995-1998) and a study examining Child Support among Non-Custodial Parents of Children on Welfare (1998-2001).

She is the author of over 60 articles and six books. In her latest book, Social Services and the Ethnic Community, Dr. Becerra documents the relationship between the social work profession and ethnic communities, showing why and how ethnic minority agencies have played a pivotal role in their communities by filling the gaps left by mainstream social service agencies.

In addition to her research and publications, Dr. Becerra has held a number of administrative posts since she first came to UCLA in 1975. She has been the associate dean and dean of the former School of Social Welfare, chair of the Department of Social Welfare, chair of the Chavez Center in Chicano/a Studies, director of the Center for Child and Family Policy Research, and acting director of the Institute for Industrial Relations. Most recently she was appointed as UCLA’s first associate vice-chancellor for faculty diversity.  She began the new post on July 1, 2002.
 

In addition to her work at UCLA, Dr. Becerra has worked as a child therapist, a drug counselor, a psychiatric social worker and a probation officer. Professor Becerra also has served on the boards of several social service groups, most recently acting as chair of strategic planning for the YWCA of Greater Los Angeles. She also has advised a wide variety of government agencies and non-profit organizations, including the National Institutes of Health, the US General Accounting Office, the US Commission on Civil Rights, the American Association of Retired People and the American Cancer Society.

Dr. Becerra has a BA in mathematics and chemistry, a master’s in social work (MSW), an MBA from Pepperdine, and a PhD in social policy research from the Heller School at Brandeis University.

Education

PhD, Brandeis University

MBA, Pepperdine University

MSW

BA