I'd bet someone just wanted to teach a course for fun and without compensation, but they had to formalize it and pose an actual job listing online for a month.
Probably explains why the "Open date" & "Final date" are just 30 days apart.
Probably explains why the "Open date" & "Final date" are just 30 days apart.
Having "UCLA professor of X" on a CV looks way better than having nothing.
Keep things in perspective: there are people who pay large sums of money to go on boot camps so that they can have a line on their CV that can open doors.
If somebody better wants to come and teach for free, this is how they'll find them.
Interesting how a rule that was meant to curve corrupted hiring practices get so easily circumvented.
Source: I’m not in this department, but I’ve worked at UCLA for ~10 years
This is extremely common in academia. This is typically used to ensure exceptional long time researchers and PhD students, who already have all the context they need to have, have a shot at staying in the institution as a reward for their work.
The standard application process doesn't allow this because you have literally the whole world to compete with for a position, evaluation processes can be gamed and exploited, and in some cases you also have unscrupulous individuals who falsify their credentials in a way that can't be corroborated in a timely manner.