Claudia Mitchell-Kernan

Claudia Mitchell-Kernan is an anthropologist currently serving as Vice Chancellor for Graduate Studies and Dean of the Graduate Division as well as interim Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs. She is also a Professor in the Departments of Anthropology and Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences.

She received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley and her B.A. and MA from Indiana University. She was a member of the faculty at Harvard University before coming to UCLA in 1973. Much of Dr. Mitchell-Kernan's early work was in the area of linguistic anthropology and her classic research in the late 1960s and early 1970s on the speech patterns of Black children is widely cited to this day. Her most recent book, The Decline in Marriage Among African Americans, co-edited with M. Belinda Tucker, was published in 1995 by Russell Sage. Other books include such topics as children's discourse, television and the socialization of ethnic minority children, and linguistic patterns of African American children. She currently conducts research on marriage and family formation patterns in the United States among Americans and West Indian immigrants.

Throughout her career she has maintained an active record of service nationally to federal agencies that sponsor research. President Clinton appointed her to the National Science Board for a six-year term in 1994. The National Science Board provides advice to the President and Congress on issues affecting science and technology and governs the National Science Foundation, our country's premier agency for the support of basic science. At the national level, she is currently serving on the Board of Higher Education and Workforce of the National Research Council, on the Board of Directors of the Council of Graduate Schools, and on the Advisory Committee on Minorities in Graduate Education of the Council of Graduate Schools. She has also recently served as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Graduate Record Examination, the Advisory Board of the National Security Education Program, and the Board of Deans of the African American Institute. She has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles based Golden State Minority Foundation since 1990 and the Board of Directors of the Venice Family Clinic since 1995.