Meet the Administrators: Q&A with Dean of Students Yonie Harris

Q. What are your responsibilities at UCSB? What are the main units for which you are responsible? How do your administrative responsibilities affect undergraduates at UCSB?

A. I serve as the dean of students at UCSB. This is what I call a "buck stops here" position, where a student can come for any issue and get assistance or an appropriate referral. Additionally, a number of departments report to me, including Arts & Lectures, Isla Vista Liaison, Judicial Affairs, Multicultural Center, Orientation, Recreation, Storke Student Publications, Student Health, Student Life, and the Women's Center. I also coordinate space planning for the Division of Student Affairs, and the division's fundraising efforts report to me. This is an interesting job in that no day is ever the same, and often I have little idea of what a day has in store for me.

Q. Can you tell us about your own academic experience? Where were you a student?

A. As an undergraduate I attended Baylor University in Waco, Texas, and majored in French. Baylor is a private university, and at the time that I was there did not offer the same level and quality of academic and co-curricular programs that make UCSB such a stimulating place. Nonetheless, I think that I received a good education in the basics. I learned how to think and how to analyze. When I was growing up in Texas, there were really not many professional careers that were considered socially appropriate for women; the choices were nurse, teacher, and office manager. I chose teacher and prepared to enter the classroom, getting a teaching credential for secondary education. I tried teaching junior high the year after I graduated from Baylor and discovered to my dismay that I did not enjoy teaching. So, I decided to go to graduate school in French at the University of Houston. After two years at U of H, I found that I was not feeling intellectually engaged by French, and as a consequence I developed a bit of wanderlust and decided to spend some time exploring life and the world. I traveled in Mexico and Central America and eventually ended up moving to California and landing in Isla Vista, where I began working in the nonprofit sector. After some years, I realized that my true love was anthropology and decided to pursue a doctorate in that area here at UCSB. At the same time, I got a job as the director of Orientation Programs here on campus and was able to work at the university and pursue my doctorate at the same time. I took a leave of absence from my job in 1990 and 1991 to do research in Polynesia in preparation to write my dissertation. This was an extremely exciting experience, one which I look back on with great fondness. I loved doing field research and even enjoyed the dissertation writing process. It was great intellectual adventure to take raw research and fashion it into a polished document that made a convincing argument for a certain point of view. I became acting dean of students in 1993, finished my Ph.D. in 1995, and was selected as the permanent dean in 1996.

Q. Can you describe your research? What do you enjoy about it? Have your academic directions refocused over the years?

A. My dissertation and the supporting research tackle the question of the nature of romantic love. Is romantic love a cultural construction that was invented by Western Europeans in the late Middle Ages or is it part of what is commonly known as human nature – that is, a universally occurring psychological phenomenon fashioned by natural selection? I was drawn to Polynesia by an assertion made by an anthropologist who had conducted research in the Cook Islands in the 1950s that the people on the small island of Mangaia did not experience romantic love and could not even understand descriptions of it. I was able to determine that Mangaians did and do experience romantic love and that their language, songs, and folklore contain evidence of romantic relationships. What I enjoyed most about my research was that it turned out to be so eclectic. It allowed me to combine my interest in evolutionary psychology, world literature and ethnography, and Polynesian culture to explore the relatively neglected area of romantic love. I found the work to be exhilarating. My work as the dean of students is essentially administrative and leaves little time for pursuing research interests. However, I do try to keep up with reading in my area of interest; and I intend to get back to research at some time in the future. I truly love research and look forward to having more time to devote to it. One thing I am certain of: I will continue to work within the theoretical framework of evolutionary psychology.

Q. Do you have some advice for honors undergraduates at UCSB?

A. My advice to honors undergraduates is to follow your passion. Some of you already know what fires you up; others of you will discover the thrill of some discipline or topic. By whatever means the enlightenment comes to you, be prepared to recognize it and then be willing to embrace it in some way in your life. The best thing about UCSB is the richness of its opportunities for students. I wish I could start over in my education and attend UCSB as an undergraduate. I would want to be in the Letters and Science Honors Program, to take advantage of Education Abroad, and to do research with a faculty member. I would have a great time. The one thing I would change about UCSB is its reputation as a party school – that reputation does not do justice to the extraordinary students and faculty that pursue serious scholarship here.

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