NEW SPRING 2018 ADJUNCT FACULTY OFFER CLASSES ON CRIME AND DRUGS, PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT LEADERSHIP, AND ENVIRONMENTAL PERMISSIONS The Pepperdine School of Public Policy welcomed three new adjunct faculty members for the Spring 2018 semester. Brad Rowe, Primo Tapia, and Ashley Trim (MPP ’09), taught master of public policy (MPP) elective courses in the American policy and politics and the state and local policy specializations, bringing a diverse background of policy expertise to the program. Rowe, chief executive officer of BOTEC Analysis, led a course on criminal justice and drug policy; Tapia, vice president of Envicom Corporation, held a course focused on land use; and Trim, executive director of the Davenport Institute for Public Engagement and Civic Leadership, taught a course on leadership through public engagement with SPP dean Pete Peterson. "We were privileged to have these new faculty engaging with our students this semester,” said Peterson. “Each brought significant experience as a policy practitioner and researcher, and expanded our course offerings into new areas." BRAD ROWE is the chief executive officer of BOTEC Analysis. He oversaw the completion of projects on violence reduction for the Office of the Attorney General State of Mississippi, cannabis and hemp policy for Jamaica, community supervision for the Office of the Commissioner of Probation of Massachusetts, medical cannabis market measurement for the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board, field research in lower income neighborhoods for Uber Technologies, Inc., and the Cannabis Science and Policy Summit for New York University. Rowe has also had a multifaceted career in the entertainment industry for 17 years with a filmography that includes almost 100 titles. He received an MPP from the University of California, Los Angeles, where he was awarded the Ann C. Rosenfield Fellowship for his work with the United Way of Greater Los Angeles on educational attainment.
PRIMO TAPIA is an environmental permitting, regulatory compliance, and entitlement consultant with more than 27 years of experience. He is the vice president of Envicom Corporation, a Southern California-based professional services consulting firm, and has extensive experience in the preparation of environmental constraints analyses and development impact analyses pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Tapia has served as analyst, lead author, and project manager for several complex, large-scale CEQA projects that require the coordination of diverse, multidisciplinary teams. Additionally, he has successfully coordinated the acquisition of resource permits from various agencies, including the US Army Corps of Engineers, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Regional Water Quality Control Board, and the California Coastal Commission. Tapia received a BA in geography from California State University, Northridge. ASHLEY TRIM (MPP ’09) is the executive director of the Davenport Institute for Public Engagement and Civic Leadership at SPP. She began her career in public engagement as communications specialist for the City of Lancaster, California. This experience provided insight and understanding into the challenges and fears of local government officials who wish to involve their residents. Trim writes and speaks about public engagement and transparency issues; coordinates the institute's grant programs, training seminars and events; and oversees its research and engagement projects. She codesigned and serves as an instructor for the professional certificate. Trim spearheads the institute’s collaborative partnerships with various organizations committed to improving engagement between citizens and government in connection with the Advanced Public Engagement for Local Government workshop. In this capacity, she served as the 2017–2018 chair of the University Network for Collaborative Government. Trim received a BA in government from Patrick Henry College and an MPP from SPP.
SPP AND FREE THE FACTS HOST SOCIAL SECURITY DISCUSSION Free the Facts is a nonpartisan organization that gives college students the opportunity to reform policy in Washington, DC. Its 2017–2018 cross-country college tour focused on social security. Lindsay Hayes, executive director of Free the Facts, and Tom Church (MPP ’11), a fellow at the Hoover Institution, joined the School of Public Policy to give insight into the threat of social security’s bankruptcy 12 | School of Public Policy Dean’s Report
that affects our future and should be prioritized today. Explained with graphic representations exhibiting how social security is collected and distributed, Hayes and Church demonstrated what potential policy solutions would do to the US economy if implemented through the next 18 years. One of the most important elements of the Free the Facts presentation is it not only explains why the system is at risk,
but what it would take to fix it. Free the Facts proposed 36 social security policy options and projections through its online tool, the Social Security Performance.