Winter 2016 Luskin Forum - Issuu

A PUBLICATION OF THE UCLA MEYER AND RENEE LUSKIN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

WI NTE R 2016

PUBLIC POLICY | SOCIAL WELFARE | URBAN PLANNING

LEADING IN RESEARCH AND EDUCATION

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10 leading in research and education At the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, teaching and research go hand in hand. Not only are our faculty outstanding instructors and mentors, they are also working on leading-edge research, taking on critical, real-world problems facing us now and into the future.

20 international practice pathways bridges studies to global career 22 donor honor roll

24 donor spotlight departments

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milestones seen & heard

26 alumni notes 28 lasting image

by the numbers A publication of INTERIM DEAN LOIS M. TAKAHASHI EDITORS Roberto Gudino, Stan Paul CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Roberto Gudino, Judy Lin, Stan Paul, Breanna Ramos, Adrian Bijan White, Adeney Zo PHOTOGRAPHY Alex Boekelheide, Todd Cheney, Roberto Gudino, Marisa Lemorande, Stan Paul, Gus Ruelas OTHER PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY Sydney Ganon, Patrick Horton, Reed Hutchinson, Christelle Snow, David Sprague DESIGN ETCH Creative

On the cover: Ian Holloway with his research on issues of health and well-being among LGBT service members on page 14.

26 FROM THE INTERIM DEAN As a longtime Luskin faculty member, I am especially proud to serve as Interim Dean of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs — a school comprised of passionate, thoughtful, and dedicated change agents. We have a promising year ahead of us — the launch of the new endowed Institute on Inequality and Democracy; the recruitment of six new professors to join the ranks of our worldclass faculty; and this spring, the five-year anniversary of Meyer and Renee Luskin’s transformative gift.

I have been with UCLA Luskin since 2001 and yet a few months into this new job, I am making new discoveries. I would not have thought it possible, but I am even more impressed by my colleagues, students and our extended Luskin family.

Discover for yourself. In the pages of this issue of the Luskin Forum you will see how our scholars, students and supporters work at the leading edge of today’s most pressing social and public issues: from Internet security

and climate change, to a study on LGBT military service members and the effectiveness of workfare programs in India. These projects highlight UCLA Luskin’s commitment to doing work that makes a real difference.

This year, like every year, UCLA Luskin will continue in its mission to train the next generation of leaders and change agents; and, through impactful research, mean-

What connects our unique departments is that we are concerned with the greater good and working collaboratively to solve public problems. ingful community engagement and public dialogues, confront the most urgent issues facing our society.

I look forward to seeing you at some of our upcoming events this year — we have an exciting lineup.

Finally, I would like to thank all of our outstanding friends and supporters who share our commitment to shaping a better future and make what we do possible.

Lois Takahashi

MILESTONES

LUSKIN KICKS OFF SCHOOL YEAR WITH FIFTH ANNUAL OPEN HOUSE The UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs opened its doors to students, alumni and faculty this fall for the fifth annual Open House. The evening started with the New Student/Alumni Meet and Greet, an event that helped connect first-year students with one another as well as alumni with valuable advice for navigating life after Luskin.

Open House concluded a week’s worth of welcome activities at Luskin.

“I feel like there’s a strong, supportive community here,” said first-year Urban Planning student Andri Tai-Ward.

The alumni, who ranged from recent graduates to longtime professionals, shared their post-graduation experiences. The alumni represented a range of career paths, from private consulting to transportation work for the mayor of Los Angeles.

Jordan Syms MURP ’08 said he changed paths from city planner to founder of a tech startup called Tap.in2, but he explained that urban planning remains integral in his work today. “I tell the story of the project and how it impacts the community. I’m doing the communications of urban planning,” said Syms.

As the sun set over Dickson Plaza, students from all three departments, alumni and guests converged outside for the main Open House festivities, where they had the opportunity to explore a wide variety of student organizations and caucuses.

—By Adeney Zo

FACULTY HONORED PAAVO MONKKONEN MPP ’05 Urban Planning assistant professor, in collaboration with graduate student Jinhuan Li, received the Emerald Group Publishing Award for Excellence on his recently published paper “The Value of Property Management Services: An Experiment.” The study proposed an innovative approach to assessing the added value of property management services to the face value of residential properties.

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ESTRADA IS 2015 PLANNER EMERITUS NETWORK (PEN) AWARD WINNER Leo Estrada, associate professor of Urban Planning, received the Planner Emeritus Network (PEN) Planning Pioneer Award of Excellence in October for his outstanding contribution to the practice and education of planning in California. PEN is a subsidiary of the American Planning Association, California Chapter.

IMPACT ART IMITATING LIFE Jorja Leap MSW ’80, a longtime adjunct professor of Social Welfare at the Luskin School of Public Affairs, doesn’t have to turn to television to learn about or vicariously experience urban issues of crime, drugs and gangs. Leap, renowned for her work on gangs in Los Angeles, has spent years in locales and situations like those depicted in numerous police and crime programs.

Leap argues that the acclaimed HBO television series “The Wire”, which is set in Baltimore, “is a story that is quintessentially urban, focusing on issues involving violence, poverty and the marginalization that comes in their wake” says Leap. She adds, “It comprises a narrative relevant to any American city and its multiple communities.”

This year Leap used this gritty, sometimes violent, program that depicts drug use and other urban ills, in a class she teaches at UCLA. While describing the show as an “unparalleled work of art,” she recognizes it as an opportunity to make an “intimate and unique, multimedia inquiry into the psychological, social,

economic and political crises facing U.S. cities.”

Students view episodes from the program’s five seasons, but it is not meant to be an exercise in binge watching. Each season of the program focuses on specific themes from police, bureaucracy and enforcement to drugs, money and the media. Students are required to hone their observational, critical thinking skills and reasoning to engage in discussion of the criminal justice system while developing oral and written skills to apply theoretical knowledge to real-world situations.

In addition, students explore the trauma and impact on individuals, communities and families, particularly as it relates to violence, fear and loss, says Leap, “crises and struggles that dominate contemporary urban life.”

Leap says she plans to offer the course again this spring.

MARIJUANA DISPENSARY IMPACT ON L.A. NEIGHBORHOODS AND CHILD WELFARE Professor of Social Welfare Bridget Freisthler continues to examine how the concentration of medical marijuana dispensaries impacts local community issues such as child welfare.

A recent study, first-authored by doctoral student Crystal Thomas and funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institutes of Health (and one of a number within a series of inquiries led by Freisthler) reveals that dispensaries are located in commercial zones, likely due to city regulations, and higher concentrations of dispensaries are found close to highways, allowing for easy car access.

Freisthler also has looked at marijuana use, access to marijuana through dispensaries, and impacts on child welfare, specifically child physical abuse and neglect, citing data from a national study showing illicit drug use was a factor in 9.5% of cases of physical abuse and about 12.5% of all neglect cases.

Freisthler and her co-authors from the Prevention Research Center at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation found, in a study out this summer, that parents who reported using marijuana in the past year engaged in physical abuse three times more frequently than those who did not, while having greater densities of storefront marijuana dispensaries was related to more frequent physical abuse. Interestingly, no significant relationship was found between child neglect and marijuana use.

2.3

The number of times more likely that millennials are using public transit than other generations, said Evelyn Blumenberg, professor and chair of the Luskin School’s Department of Urban Planning, at the 14th annual Mobility 21 Southern California Transportation Summit.

12.2 mil ion

The number of Asian American voters in 2040, making them one of the fastest growing electorates over the next quarter century according to research by the UCLA Center for the Study of Inequality and the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies.

$2.2 bil ion

California Governor Jerry Brown’s proposed Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) 201516 fiscal year budget for programs to combat climate change. A new report by the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation provides a guide to navigating GGRF funded programs, focusing on those most targeted to benefit disadvantaged communities.

25%

The increase in value an older apartment in Hong Kong can have with a well-known, high-quality property management company. The research

by Assistant Professor of Urban Planning Paavo Monkkonen and Jinhuan Li, Monkkonen’s student at Hong Kong University (now with the Hong Kong Airport Authority), received the outstanding paper award from the journal Property Management.

luskin.ucla.edu

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MILESTONES

NEW FROM THE FACULTY BOOKSHELF THE RISE AND FALL OF URBAN ECONOMIES: LESSONS FROM SAN FRANCISCO AND LOS ANGELES

INCOME INEQUALITY: WHY IT MATTERS AND WHY MOST ECONOMISTS DIDN’T NOTICE

Los Angeles and San Francisco stand as the two major metropolises of California, but increasing differences in economic growth and prosperity divide the two cities.

Urban Planning professor Michael Storper and co-authors Thomas Kemeny, Naji Makarem and Taner Osman (all UCLA Urban Planning Ph.D.s) address this divide in their recently published book.

Prevailing economic theory attributes the 2008 crash and the Great Recession that followed to low interest rates, relaxed borrowing standards, and the housing price bubble. After careful analyses of statistical evidence, however, Urban Planning visiting professor Matthew P. Drennan discovered that income inequality was the decisive factor behind the crisis.

FOOD STUDIES GRADUATE CERTIFICATE PROGRAM The Department of Urban Planning began administering the Food Studies Graduate Certificate Program in fall quarter 2015. This program is open to all UCLA graduate students and on average, 10 students will be admitted to the program each year.

We asked UCLA Luskin alumni: Where do you see the biggest opportunity for impact in the growing field of food studies?

Cities are at the forefront of advancing progressive policies to create a food system that prioritizes the health and well-being of people, animals and the environment. But local efforts aren’t enough. The growing field of food studies has the opportunity to weave together cross-sector food policy innovations at the local level and network them nationally for large-scale impact.

Alexa Delwiche MPP ’06 Executive Director Center for Good Food Purchasing

Social workers assess all levels of well-being. With exposure to food policy, advocacy and nutrition information, our students will be better prepared to advocate for our child welfare population around issues of food justice and food insecurity. So many child welfare clients have to rely on food stamp programs, which do not allow for adequate, balanced meals. Better understanding relationships to food and how that impacts long-term health is critical.

Laura Alongi LCSW ’92

Food touches every aspect of our lives and society — from environmental stewardship to economic development, entrepreneurship, poverty, immigration, health, politics and community building. Students of food studies will be able to act as a bridge between diverse sectors in a way that achieves true “collective impact.” More than any other issue, food systems helps us effectively think and practice in systemic and integrated ways, which is exactly what we need in future leaders.

Field Education Faculty Department of Social Welfare UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs

Executive Director Los Angeles Food Policy Council

Clare Fox MA UP ’10

NEW ARRIVALS MELISSA MARTINEZ is the new U.S. State Department Diplomat in Residence at UCLA this year. As with the last several years, the Luskin School of Public Affairs Department of Public Policy will continue to be the home department of the Diplomat in Residence while assigned to UCLA. Diplomats in Residence (DIRs) are a select group of career Foreign Service Officers and Specialists located throughout the U.S. who provide guidance and advice on careers, internships and fellowships to students and professionals in the communities they serve, according to the U.S. State Department. Martinez is a media and communications professional with 13 years of international and domestic experience in the U.S. diplomatic service.

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ZEV YAROSLAVSKY, longtime County Supervisor for Los Angeles (1994-2014), will bring his decades of public service experience to UCLA this year.

Yaroslavsky, also a UCLA alumnus (BA ’71, MA ’72), will be teaching a new course on the institutions and leaders that make up the Los Angeles region and influence its policies and quality of life. The former Los Angeles City councilman (1975-1994) will address how leadership and institutional structures, from government and business to media and labor, combine to advance or constrain progress.

In addition, the class will explore how Los Angeles addresses issues such as transportation, real estate development, housing, homelessness, poverty and health care and how it can better do so.

CicLAvia, one of the largest open street events in the U.S., has become a tradition in Los Angeles since the first event in 2010. Marisa Lemorande, Assistant Director of Alumni Relations, spearheaded Luskin’s presence at the event. “CicLAvia offers a place for our school to experience the Los Angeles community in a meaningful way. We have alumni from every part of Luskin who participate, so it was a natural fit,” said Lemorande. “Sharing the positive effects that CicLAvia has on surrounding neighborhoods and the people that reside in those communities is an easy way to engage our alumni and CicLAvia enthusiasts alike, all while promoting Luskin’s overarching commitment to innovation and social change.” The effort not only represented Luskin, but it also promoted the research partnership that the Lewis Center has formed with CicLAvia. Madeline Brozen MA UP ‘11, Associate Director of the Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies, leads a team that has surveyed brick-and-mortar businesses along the CicLAvia routes over the past five years, comparing sales revenue and foot traffic to measure its effect. “Our work helps CicLAvia organizers become more informed. Open street events are becoming more prevalent in the country and our work aims to contribute to the general research surrounding this trend.”

Madeline Brozen MA UP ’11, Niall Huffman MA UP ’10, and MURP student Marc Caswell.

The average percentage — ­ up from 20 percent — of students who passed the state FitnessGram tests in schools where the UCLA Health Sound Body Sound Mind curriculum was implemented, according to a study led by Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris. The study was published in the July issue of the Journal of Education and Training Studies. Loukaitou-Sideris, professor of Urban Planning at Luskin, also reported that students’ confidence levels, enjoyment of physical activity and knowledge about fitness increased.

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NEW FIELD EDUCATION FACULTY SERGIO SERNA recently joined the Field Education faculty. Primarily, Serna is interested in forensic social work, public child welfare and juvenile justice systems. He has focused on youth legal issues, such as poverty, gang membership and history of abuse. Serna has served in various areas, including Koreatown and surrounding areas of Los Angeles.

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IN MEMORIAM HECTOR PALENCIA MSW ’08 recently joined the Field Education faculty. His main research interests include youth, gangs, trauma, theology and social justice. Palencia has focused on crisis and mental health. In addition, he has served in various communities, such as the El Rancho Unified School District and the City of Long Beach.

EDWARD SOJA longtime UCLA scholar and Urban Planning faculty member passed away November 1, 2015. During his long and distinguished career as a scholar at UCLA, Dr. Soja devoted himself to teaching both graduate and undergraduate students and serving as doctoral academic advisor to numerous Ph.D. candidates from the Department of Urban Planning.

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SEEN & HEARD From left: Panelist and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who has been on a “listening tour” around the state, said that inequality is foremost among people’s concerns and noted difficulties facing so many, for example, in the Central Valley.

Dr. Robert Ross, president and CEO of the California Endowment, called for grassroots organizations and individuals to bond together and demand the social and economic changes that would genuinely confront inequality in American society.

Father Greg Boyle, founder and CEO of Homeboy Industries, urged listeners to consider the poor not as failures but as kin, to approach this and other issues with a deepened sense of community and common purpose.

FALL 2015 ISSUE OF BLUEPRINT Income and wealth inequality is the focus of the Fall 2015 issue of Blueprint, a UCLA partnership with the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. The second edition was once again led by editor-in-chief Jim Newton, a 25-year veteran reporter and editor for the Los Angeles Times.

“American inequality decreased in the 1950s, only to explode in the 1970s and ’80s and to expand yet again during the recent recession,” writes Newton in the introduction.

Included in the latest issue is an interview with economics Nobel Laureate and former presidential adviser Joseph Stiglitz, author of the influential 2012 book The Price of Inequality. Los Angeles Times editorial writer and deputy editorial page editor

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Jon Healey interviewed Stiglitz on subjects ranging from taxes and growth since the great recession to minimum wage and basic fairness.

Research and profiles by noted journalists and scholars in this second edition include a look at leadership in Los Angeles, the physical suffering of the poor, unequal schools, wages and the middle class, economic growth, voter turnout as well as pieces on the working poor and same-sex marriage.

Newton led a standing-room-only panel discussion on Oct. 21 at the California Endowment in Los Angeles. Panelists were former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa, Homeboy Industries’ Father Greg Boyle and the California Endowment’s Robert Ross.

Read Blueprint online at: Blueprint.ucla.edu

We are more about conversations…

I hope the pieces contained here will start some of those conversations, as policy makers and others who care about society consider inequality and how it shapes neighborhoods and destinies.”

Jim Newton, Editor-in-Chief, BluePrint

…we have become one of the nations among the advanced countries with the least opportunity. In the United States, the life chances of young people are more dependent on the income and education of their parents than in almost any other advanced country.”

In a partnership with Luskin, Blueprint offers all of us a vital intellectual forum for civic engagement and debate...

Blueprint convenes ideas.”

Ananya Roy, Professor of Social Welfare and Urban Planning; Meyer and Renee Luskin Chair in Inequality and Democracy; Director, Institute on Inequality and Democracy at UCLA Luskin

Economics Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz quoted from Fall 2015 issue of Blueprint

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BY THE NUMBERS

THE FUTURE OF ASIAN AMERICA Asian American Electorate to Double IN 2040 by Paul Ong and Elena Ong UCLA Center for the Study of Inequality & Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies ASIAN AMERICANS AS PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL U.S. POPULATION ASIAN AMERICANS BEFORE 1990

ASIAN AMERICAN INCLUSIVE

ASIAN AMERICANS ALONE

% SHARE of U.S. population

10 %

1950

PAST Original infographic by Lina Cheng.

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1970

1990

2010

2030

PRESENT

2050

FUTURE

ASIAN AMERICAN REGISTERED VOTERS BY NATIVITY

FOREIGN BORN ASIAN AMERICANS VOTER REGISTRATION

5.8 M (47%)

2.2 M (38%)

U.S. BORN ASIAN AMERICANS

3.7 M (62%)

6.4 M (53%)

2015

5.9 MILLION

Asian American Registered Voters

2015

2040

12.2 MILLION

Asian American Registered Voters

2040

20.5 MILLION ASIAN AMERICANS

35.7 MILLION ASIAN AMERICANS

PERCENTAGE GROWTH IN REGISTERED VOTERS +107 %

+106 %

+30 % +2 % Asian American

Latino

Black

White luskin.ucla.edu

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COVER FEATURE

LEADING WITH RESEARCH AND ACTION

PHOTO BY ROBERTO GUDINO

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At the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, teaching and research go hand in hand.

Not only are our faculty outstanding instructors and mentors, they are also working on leading-edge research, taking on critical, real-world problems facing us now and into the future. Faculty in the Luskin School’s three departments, Public Policy, Social Welfare and Urban Planning — as well as scholars in the School’s research centers — contribute analysis and policy recommendations on issues of local, national and international scope. While informing decision makers and leaders, their work also identifies and frames issues that start the conversation on public problems. Equally important to Luskin faculty is the education and training of the next generation of researchers, policy makers and leaders — Luskin students.

UCLA MEYER AND RENEE LUSKIN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS luskin.ucla.edu

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PROFILE

ON THE SECURITY OF THINGS AND CYBER TRUST John Villasenor, Professor of Engineering, Public Policy, and Management The Internet is where technology, policy, law, banking and business meet, not to mention the innumerable interconnected electronics and gadgets that we rely on each day — the so-called “Internet of Things.”

Also at this intersection is John Villasenor, professor of engineering and public policy at UCLA. While keeping up with the growth and proliferation of technology, Villasenor is more concerned with the security, safeguards and trust that must accompany our interdependence on this progress — what Villasenor refers to as “the Security of Things.”

Villasenor also is a prolific writer, researcher and public commenter on technology issues such as digital privacy, intellectual property, trade secrets and corporate cybersecurity, drones and autonomous cars. This year Villasenor testified at a U.S. Senate hearing in Washington, D.C., on unmanned aircraft, examining the safety and privacy issues that are emerging as unmanned aircraft fill the skies over areas of peace and conflict. His wide interest and expertise is evidenced by the array of publications that have included his writing: Atlantic, Billboard, Chronicle of Higher

“ What we want, at the end of the day, is

confidence that the software that runs everything from cars to medical devices to the critical infrastructure can be trusted.”

At the Luskin School, he brings this expertise to the classroom. He co-teaches, among other things, a course titled Science, Technology and Public Policy, a class for graduate and undergraduate students, with Prof. Albert Carnesale, UCLA Chancellor Emeritus, SALT Treaty negotiator, professor emeritus of public policy and professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering.

Villasenor, formerly with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (where he developed methods of imaging the Earth from space), also serves as an adviser for Luskin’s Master of Public Policy (MPP) students’ Applied Public Policy projects.

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Education, Fast Company, The Huffington Post, Scientific American, Slate, and the Los Angeles Times and Washington Post, to name a few.

While the actual application of autonomous cars to the streets is heading toward reality — although a work in progress — some of the legal issues involved are long established, according to Villasenor. In a recent Forbes article, he addresses the headline question: “If a Cyberattack Causes a Car Crash, Who Is Liable?” While the concept, in actual practice, still appears futuristic, unintended consequences may easily be seen through the legal lens of product liability and negligence, which could bring accountability

PHOTO BY ROBERTO GUDINO

Villasenor is a prolific writer, researcher and public commenter on technology issues such as digital privacy, intellectual property, trade secrets and corporate cybersecurity, drones and autonomous cars.

to hackers (often unlikely, according to Villasenor), manufacturers (more likely) and, under some circumstances, even end purchasers, he says.

Villasenor outlines the issues coming to the fore with autonomous vehicles in a Brookings Institution report titled “Products Liability and Driverless Cars: Issues and Guiding Principles for Legislation.”

And, writing in Forbes (July 2015) on the recent wireless hack of a Jeep Cherokee that disabled control over the vehicle, Villasenor comments, “In the rush to increase connectivity, manufacturers — not just vehicle manufacturers — are often giving insufficient attention to the additional security exposures created when complex systems become increasingly linked.” He adds, “More connections mean more pathways and back doors that could be exploited by a hacker — especially when a system’s own designers may not be aware that those pathways and back doors even exist.”

On the recent VW emissions scandal, Villasenor wrote in Forbes Magazine (Sept. 21), “More broadly, the Volkswagen emissions scandal provides an important reminder that cyber trust involves more than cyber security. What we want, at the end of the day, is confidence that the software that runs everything from cars to medical devices to the critical infrastructure can be trusted.”

John Villasenor is a professor of electrical engineering, public policy and management at UCLA. He also teaches at the UCLA Anderson School of Management and the UCLA School of Law and is an APP (Applied Policy Project) adviser for the Department of Public Policy. He is a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a National Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He serves on the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Cybersecurity and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

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Holloway and Fellow Researchers PROFILE

Conduct First Study of LGBT Military Experience

By Adeney Zo With a $1.89 million grant secured, UCLA Luskin social welfare assistant professor Ian Holloway and researchers at the USC School of Social Work, Jeremy Goldbach and Carl Castro, set out to conduct one of the first studies on the experiences of LGBT members of the military.

Assistant Professor of Social Welfare Ian Holloway’s background in social networks and health among LGBT populations is a major part of a Department of Defense-sponsored study of LBGT military personnel.

Following the repeal of the U.S. military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy in 2010 (and lifting of the policy the following year), the opportunity to research issues of health and well-being among LGBT service members became possible for the first time. When the U.S. Department of Defense issued a call for research of this population, Holloway, Goldbach and Castro collabo-

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rated to formulate a research proposal. Each principal investigator drew from his unique area of expertise — Castro is a retired Army colonel and director of the USC Center for Innovation and Research on Veterans & Military Families, while Goldbach researches LGBT stress and stigma. Holloway’s background in social networks and health disparities among LGBT populations plays a major part in this study.

“We want to know if the health disparities we see in the general population extend to the military context, where LGBT people have greater access to routine health screening and services than in community settings,” said Holloway.

An advisory panel of experts, including retired military, active-duty service members, subject-matter experts and academics familiar with the LGBT population, will guide the entire research and policy recommendation process. In particular, the military advisers will help ensure that policy recommendations are feasible within the military context.

“We’re excited to do this research and are aware of challenges this group may face — this is part of the reason for this advisory panel,” said Holloway.

The two-year study coincides with a potential policy shift regarding military service members who identify as transgender. A report this summer in the New York Times revealed that the Pentagon is moving to lift the ban preventing transgender people from serving in the armed forces. Currently, this is the last rule preventing members of the LGBT population from openly serving, said Holloway.

“Depending on if and when that happens, we may be able to examine the effects of this major policy change during the course of the study,” said Holloway. “It will be interesting to work with [transgender service members] and see how this policy change may impact their military service.”

“The ultimate goal is to provide a set of recommendations to the Department of Defense to improve the health and wellbeing of service members and improve the overall functioning of military units,” explained Holloway. “We have a tremendous responsibility to do right by this community.”

“ We are already in the middle of this.”

Susanna Hecht on Climate Change For Urban Planning professor Susanna Hecht, the future of life on this planet as we know it is a matter of degrees — a scant few at that.

Hecht is part of a group of 50 University of California scholars and scientists addressing the 10-campus Carbon Neutrality Initiative proposed by UC President Janet Napolitano in 2013.

Under this initiative, the University of California aspires to become carbon neutral by 2025. Recent California legislation also calls for a marked increase in the amount of renewable resources providing electricity in California by 2030.

Hecht and her UC colleagues, led by Veerabhadran Ramanathan (renowned climate scientist from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography), are among those who want to “bend the curve,” or the “hockey stick” graph as Hecht refers to it, on the rise in global temperatures caused by greenhouse gases. A mere two-degree change in average temperature will portend future disaster from drought to sea-level rise, and changing weather patterns that most of the globe is not prepared for, according to experts representing a wide range of disciplines.

Hecht said, “We are already in the middle of this…and a lot of records are being broken on a weekly basis.”

The group of UC scholars, from fields as diverse as ethics and environmental justice to climate science and religion, met in October at the University of California’s Summit on Pathways to Carbon and Climate Neutrality: California and the World, led by California Governor Jerry Brown. The purpose of the meeting was to focus on solutions that could guide the state but also to provide solutions that could be used worldwide. UC research and recommendations were also part of the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Paris.

In addition to carbon (which has a long life in the atmosphere), Hecht points out the many other factors that contribute to temperature rise, such as methane and HFCs (hydrofluorocarbons) released into the environment, as well as the “heat island” effect our built environment, roads and urban centers create.

As a “carbon sink,” the tropical rainforest absorbs millions of tons of carbon from the atmosphere, and Hecht points out that deforestation of the Amazon has dropped significantly in the last decade. This has had an impact, but the rainforest can’t do it alone, especially when deforestation continues in other parts of the world such as Indonesia.

Change will require not only scientific innovation but also social innovation that focuses on our relationship with forests, said the co-editor of “The Social Lives of Forests: Present and Future of Woodland Resurgence.”

MEET THE 2015-2016 CLASS OF LUSKIN SENIOR FELLOWS Each year a distinguished group of leaders from the public, private and nonprofit sectors is invited to become part of the Luskin School of Public Affairs community. The Senior Fellows represent a bridge connecting Luskin’s problem-solving academic departments of Public Policy, Social Welfare and Urban Planning to the real-world challenges being faced by community, policy and political leaders at local, regional and national levels.

In addition, Senior Fellows have been asked to enhance their participation as leadership role models, providing students with a career meeting, a networking experience that includes arranging informational interviews with colleagues, and an invitation to spend a half-day at the business location of each Fellow.

This year’s annual Senior Fellows breakfast was held on October 29. Guest speaker was Michele Prichard, Director of Common Agenda for the Liberty Hill Foundation and a graduate of UCLA’s Urban Planning program.

Senior Fellows Leadership Program 2015-2016 RANDY BARTH — Founder and CEO of THINK Together and Executive Chairman of the Principal’s Exchange KAFI BLUMENFIELD — Founding executive director of the Discovery Cube Los Angeles science museum and former Executive Director of Liberty Hill Foundation DANIELLE BRAZELL — General Manager of the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs CAROL CHODROFF — Opportunity Youth Director for the Alliance for Children’s Rights RIMA COHEN — Managing Director for Aspen Health Innovators Fellowship MELISSA MARTINEZ — U.S. Diplomat in Residence at UCLA (serving Southern California) STEVE NISSEN — Senior Vice President of Legal & Government Affairs at NBC Universal

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PROFILE

ARE WORKFARE PROGRAMS IN INDIA EFFECTIVE? Public Policy professor Manisha Shah is looking at the data Manisha Shah’s work in development economics has taken her around the world, from Mexico and Ecuador to India and Indonesia.

Her work seeks to evaluate the impact of seemingly well-intentioned efforts such as antipoverty programs as well as their unintended consequences, using primary data collection and applied microeconomics as a tool. At home at the Luskin School, she is the Applied Policy Project coordinator for the Department of Public Policy’s Master of Public Policy (MPP) students. In addition, she teaches

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graduate courses in microeconomics as well as a course on international development.

In a recent working paper for the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), where she is a faculty research associate, Shah and her co-author, Bryce Steinberg, have evaluated the effect of India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). In “Workfare and Human Capital Investment: Evidence From India,” the authors posit that the NREGS workfare program, which requires beneficiaries to work on local

public works projects in order to receive benefits, “could increase the opportunity cost of schooling, lowering human capital investment even as incomes increase due to increased labor demand.”

The research shows that this government program, one of the largest in the world, actually lowers both school enrollment and math scores for students ages 13 to 16. For boys in India, the antipoverty program has them substituting work for school, while adolescent girls are substituting into unpaid domestic work at home (since their mothers are now more likely to be

“The takeaway from these results is that social programs have price effects, and that these price effects can have very real consequences,” Shah’s report concludes. “Ultimately it is important to maximize their potential to alleviate poverty and improve the lives of the poor.”

Other areas Shah has examined include child health and development. Recent work has involved evaluating impacts of improved sanitation on child health outcomes in rural Indonesia. She also has written on the economics of sex markets to learn how more

“ The takeaway from these results is that

social programs have price effects, and that these price effects can have very real consequences. …Ultimately it is important to maximize their potential to alleviate poverty and improve the lives of the poor.” working outside the home). Put in human terms, this means, according to Shah, that the program in India “may have caused anywhere from 650,000 to 2.5 million adolescents to leave school prematurely.”

Interestingly, the additional income from the workfare program may benefit the very young children in the household — the 2- to 4-year-olds. The authors find that human capital outcomes improve for the very youngest children as a result of NREGS. Overall, the workfare program may serve as a disincentive for adolescents to invest in education. This is important to policy makers, who may be considering workfare as a means of poverty alleviation, says Shah.

“If we believe education is important for economic growth, and that workfare programs raise prevailing wages and cause older students to substitute toward work and away from school, lump sum grants or conditional cash transfers might be other policy options to consider.”

effective policies and programs can be deployed to slow the spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections.

Where will her research take her next?

Shah says her next destination is Tanzania in East Africa to study intervention programs for adolescent girls. Programs to help girls stay in school and avoid risky sex and its harmful consequences are proving unsuccessful. Shah wants to know what’s going on and why this is happening, looking to the data to provide answers.

Manisha Shah is an Associate Professor in the Department of Public Policy at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. She also is a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), a Faculty Affiliate at UC Berkeley’s Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA) and a Research Associate at the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).

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PROFILE

Leo Estrada to Chair UCLA’s Academic Senate Leo Estrada has spent decades serving his community at the local and national levels, as well as at UCLA as a member of the Academic Senate. He’s now taken his involvement in the senate to a higher level as its 2015-16 chair.

Estrada, an urban planner and associate professor at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, has played an influential role in the life of Greater Los Angeles. In 1990, he worked with civic leaders to redraw the map that redistricted the L.A. County Board of Supervisors’ territory to give Latinos equitable representation. He served on the Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department (the Christopher Commission) that investigated the 1991 beating of Rodney King and police response. On the national level, he helped guide retirement policies as a board member of the 37 million–strong AARP.

“ I love UCLA. I always tell people, ‘I like my colleagues, but I love my students.’ I have taught at several institutions — I have never taught better students, brighter students, students who are so eager to learn than my students at UCLA. I can’t imagine a better place to teach.”

Now Estrada, who joined the UCLA faculty in 1977, is facing the challenge of leading the Academic Senate through a yearlong agenda bullet-pointed with major issues, including a University of California proposal to make changes to retirement benefits; systemwide innovations to enhance student success; and a new teaching professorship that may be offered to new faculty to help cope with heavy teaching loads in the UCLA College.

For the past two decades, he has served on several key committees, as well as two separate councils that set curricula for undergraduate and graduate students.

“The more I learned,” he said, “the more I began to realize how much impact the senate has on everything,

from faculty welfare to ensuring a quality learning experience for our students.” He has also been pleased to experience UCLA’s vibrant system of shared governance. “The administration knows that if they’re going to make a decision that impacts faculty, students or curriculum, they bring us in from the very beginning and we try to come to a decision that works for all.”

But the prospect of taking on the responsibility of leading an organization that represents UCLA’s approximately 4,300 tenure-track faculty prompted Estrada to first consult with previous senate chairs. “Every one of them told me, ‘It’s one of the best things you can do to give back to UCLA.’”

By Sharon Hong

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Income and Child Development in Native American Communities

By Adrian Bijan White As part of a long-term study on Native American communities in North Carolina, Randall Akee, assistant professor of Public Policy, looked at the correlation between household income and child welfare, finding a positive correlation between increased income and child development. In collaboration with psychologists, economists and epidemiologists, Akee collected and analyzed data sets pertaining to childhood development, taking a novel approach.

Professor Akee first turned to a source of much of his research — Native Americans. “I do a lot of work with these communities, specifically studying economic development in Native American tribal lands.” While there are a variety of political and socioeconomic distinctions between Native American communities and the U.S. at large, the study group allowed Akee to examine the effects of increasing income in poorer households.

The data was collected from families on tribal land that received annual payments from local casinos and compared them with families who did not benefit from the extra unearned income. “Native Americans are both a racial group and a political entity, which makes them very different than other groups in the U.S. For example, casino operations could not be applied to other groups,” said Akee. Another distinction was unlike most instances of institutionalized distribution of resources, “the unearned income was distributed evenly, regardless of socioeconomic distinctions,” providing an opportunity to test the effects of unearned income in a

logical improvements. Furthermore, in the long run children demonstrated greater success in school and in their careers. “What it shows is that on a number of dimensions the children perform better, especially among those who live in poverty. There is educational success, reduced likelihood of crime and lower levels of obesity. Now, we see correlations with personality.”

The results may be attributed to several possibilities.

“One mechanism that improves the child’s outcome is that parents are less stressed and more able to make good parenting decisions for their children. Secondly, these families

“ Native Americans are both a racial group and a political entity, which makes them very different than other groups in the U.S.” household. Through questionnaires, personality assessments and regular observations, Professor Akee tracked the development of these children from the age of 9 until adulthood.

The results implied a positive correlation between income growth and child welfare. With the extra income, children with emotional or behavioral problems demonstrated psycho-

move to slightly better neighborhoods, which improves the child’s home environment,” said Akee. While the Native American community represents a specific set of political, economic and historical circumstances, the findings of this study, to a certain extent, could be extrapolated to broader communities in the U.S.

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FEATURE

IPP BRIDGES STUDIES

By Adeney Zo Since 2011, the International Practice Pathways (IPP) program has offered a global component to Luskin students’ education prior to the inception of Global Public Affairs. This summer, IPP once again sent a group of students to internship placements around the world, offering them the unique opportunity to see their education come to life on the international scale.

the Department of Planning is investing in strategies and tools for inclusive and equitable growth,” said Choudry.

Despite the practical experience she gained, Choudry was most inspired by the people she encountered during her time abroad.

“I met extraordinary, young and talented individuals that are passionate about transforming their city for the

The global journey begins with Shafaq Choudry MURP ’16, who interned in the mayor’s office in Panama City, Panama. Having grown up in Venezuela and worked extensively with Latino communities as a planner, Choudry was immediately drawn to a placement opportunity in Latin America. “The IPP summer program in Panama presented a tremendous opportunity to work at a recently established Department of Urban Planning under the mayor’s office on transportation and land use projects,” she explained.

Her areas of academic interest include sustainable transportation and equitable development, so the opportunity to work in a rapidly developing city was invaluable.

“Panama City has undergone rapid growth and development over the years, and with new leadership in place,

better,” said Choudry. “Their open and eager-for-change attitude allowed me to integrate with the team and generate ideas for the future together.”

Choudry will continue her travels this year with a comprehensive thesis project in Mexico City, an endeavor she hopes will lead to a career in Latin America.

“Toward the end of my 10-week fellowship in Panama, I received the affirmation I needed in order to pursue international planning work in Latin America as a consultant,” she said.

Like Choudry, Katie Merrill MSW ’16 had deep personal ties to her placement — Europe — having lived and worked in Germany before coming to Luskin.

Motivated by this combination of personal and academic interest, Merrill chose to intern at the UN Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

By Sharon Hong

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S TO GLOBAL CAREER “I have always been interested in the UN and the grand scale of global humanitarian work,” said Merrill. “I was particularly attracted to the idea of working at UNHCR in the wake of the Syrian refugee crisis.”

Merrill was given the freedom to design and run a study on staff alcohol abuse across the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Many UNHCR staff

to apply for his IPP placement, Karpman had his sights set on the research organization World Agroforestry Centre. Between their global office locations, Thailand had the most abundant forest area, covering approximately 37% of the country. “I was drawn to the ecology of the place,” explained Karpman.

IPP offers students the chance to engage in real-life applications of their studies, and this aspect of the program resonated

members work in dangerous areas under highly stressful conditions, leading to a widespread alcohol abuse problem, Merrill explained. “I was shocked and fascinated by what I heard on a daily basis, and I felt a profound responsibility to do them justice,” she said.

“This experience showed me just how intimate research can, in fact, be,” she continued. “I spent hours on the phone with staff members speaking about very jarring personal experiences.

It was so powerful to feel that my synthesis and communication of their messages may very well lead to real and important policy changes in the organization, and it was an honor to be at the heart of something so big.”

Merrill and her coworkers interviewed more than 100 staff members over the course of her study, and her findings will be incorporated into a final report to UNHCR. Away from city life, Jason Karpman MURP ’16 applied his studies in urbanization and environmental impact to the rainforests of Chiang Mai, Thailand. When considering where

deeply with Karpman. While the majority of his time was spent conducting literature review and research at Chiang Mai University, Karpman was most inspired by field visits to the rainforest itself. He recalled the breathtaking moment when he entered a tropical rainforest for the first time: “It’s one of those awe-inspiring experiences, and I was humbled by how spectacular [the rainforest] is, how productive it is,” said Karpman. “There was green as far as the eye can see.

It solidified that these places provide important environmental services for our planet.”

To future students considering IPP, Karpman recommends the program as the ideal window between the first and second year to reassess the direction of one’s studies. “[I realized] how to maximize my last year in this program to get the skills and content education I need,” he said. “I can’t overemphasize how important the value of the program is — it’s a moment to pause in your education, reassess things and then get back in the program.”

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DONOR HONOR ROLL

Recognizing gifts made between July 1, 2014, and June 30, 2015

The Luskin School of Public Affairs gratefully acknowledges the following alumni, friends, students, faculty, staff, foundation and corporate partners for their donations made during the 2014-15 fiscal year. Those listed made contributions of $250 or more. To view gifts of less than $250, please visit our website at www.luskin.ucla.edu. We deeply appreciate the generosity of all supporters of the Luskin School, as well as those who have lent their time and talents to enhance the educational experiences of our students.

Renewing donors who have sustained their support over the last two consecutive fiscal years are specially recognized with the symbol § and new donors are acknowledged with the symbol *. $100,000 and above Asian Americans Advancing Justice LA § Patricia and Stewart Kwoh ’70, JD ’74 * Renee ’53 and Meyer Luskin ’49 Patricia and Donald Shoup § Antonia MSW ’73 and Norman Tu § $50,000 and above Marianna and David Fisher § Friends Research Institute, Inc. * The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation § Google, Inc. The Mayer & Morris Kaplan Family Foundation * Jeanne and Tony Pritzker § $25,000 and above Joyce** and Stanley Black § David Bohnett Foundation § The California Endowment

Peter M. Craig ’65 * Marilyn and Calvin Gross § Judy and George Marcus § Timothy Nicholas Papandreou MA ’04 § Ralph M. Parsons Foundation Erin and Brian Rishwain ’87 § Mr. & Mrs. Ralph J Shapiro & Family § Weingart Foundation § Winter61 Associates* $10,000 and above Judy ’66 and James Bergman ’64, MBA ’66 § Alan Nathan Berro ’82 § Stephanie ’81 and Harold Bronson ’72 § Helen Reid Brown MSW ’61 and Saul Brown The Capital Group Companies, Inc. § Elaine and Bram Goldsmith § Fran Inman * JL Foundation * John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation § Christine and Jordan Kaplan MBA ’86 *

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Karen Malmuth Kaufmann ’81, MBA ’85, MA ’93, PHD ’98 and Gadi Kaufmann ’79 § Joanne C. Kozberg ’58 § LA River Revitalization Corp. * Mark and Jorja Manos Leap ’78, MSW ’80, PHD ’88 Los Angeles Business Council § Lillian and Jon Lovelace * Majestic Realty Noel Massie § Vicki Reynolds ’58 and Murray Pepper ’56 § Susan MPA ’76 and Donald Rice § Joanne MSW ’67** and William Sackheim** Valerie ’73 and Jeffrey Seymour ’73, MPA ’77 § Maureen ’86 and Bryan Stockton § Strategen Consulting LLC * Catherine and Leonard Unger ’67 § May and Richard Ziman *

$2,500 and above Sindhu and Gregory Baer MA ’89 § Astrid Beigel MA ’67, PHD ’69 § Janet ’70 and George Buckley ’70 * Marian and Eliot Corday § Madeleine Stoner and Ralph Fertig JD ’79 § Sheila ** and H. Perrin Garsombke MBA ’72, PHD '76 Audrey and Arthur Greenberg ’49, ’52 * Tai-Kuo Liu MA ’80 Natalie and Michael Mahdesian MA ’83 The Marilyn S. Broad Foundation, Inc. § Mary Bergman-Rallis and John Rallis * Susan Way-Smith** and Douglas Smith MBA ’89 Ryan Thomas Snyder ’79, MA ’85 § Patti and Steve Soboroff Ruth MSW ’67 and Jay Sugerman § Jo Sherman and Mary Varley §

$5,000 and above Azteca International Corp. * Kathleen Flanagan MBA ’00 and Keenan Behrle JD ’69 Barbra Streisand and James Brolin The Brotman Foundation of California * Barbara Cohn MPH ’75 * Shawn D. Conrad * Mike Donnelly * Mari ’64 and Edmund Edelman ’54, ’58 Karin and Jonathan Fielding * Antonia Hernandez ’71, JD ’74 and Michael Stern * Betty ** and Marvin Hoffenberg ** Emily Koons * Paula and Barrett Litt JD ’69 * Annette and Leonard Shapiro § Sidney Stern Memorial Trust Sheryl Miller and Robert Schilling § Claudette L. and Henry L. Taylor Jr. § Helen and Martin Wachs § Marion ’50 and Robert Wilson ’53 *

$1,000 and above Chandra Keller-Allen MPP ’03 and Warren Allen II ’99, MPP ’03 § Bricepac, Inc.* California Community Foundation § David Claugus Castle MPP ’10, MBA ’10 § Kurt Edward Christiansen MA ’91 June and Bill Coggins MSW ’55 § Community Foundation for Northern Virginia Alan M. & Nathalie P. Voorhees Fund * Kori and Martin Czasnojc § John DiLazzaro MBA ’98 and Kevin Holliday MA ’04 Kitty and Michael Dukakis Phyllis and James Easton ’59 P Amy Frances Ford-Wagner MA ’12 § Pauline ’63 and Gordon Freshman * Linda Griego ’75 and Ronald Peterson * Vicki Torf ’77 and William Fulton MA ’85 * Andrea and Donald Goodman * M. Schneider & S. Green Trust * Sharon and J. Eugene Grigsby III MA ’69, PHD ’71 Linda ’71 and Stanley Hoffman ’66, MA ’72 § Shirley Hsiao MA ’79 and An-Chi Lee §

Heidi Schulman and Michael Kantor § Eric Stebbins Lee MA ’92 L. Eugene Dudley ’67 and Richard Lieboff § Joan Chung-Chung Ling MA ’82 § Sarah Macpherson ’98, MA ’07 Carol and Wally Marks Ellen and James McCormick § Gary Neff * Dean Edward Okamura ’75 * Alex Olivares * Rosemarie and H. Pike Oliver MA ’74 Kate O’Neal § Marilyn and James Ortner PHD ’78 § John Patrick Petrilla MPP ’09 § Eleftheria and Theodore Polychronis § Polychronis Family Trust * VC Powe § The Prewoznik Foundation § Sharon Greene and Michael Schneider ’70, MA ’72 Frank Shoup * Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris and Athanasios Sideris § Patrick Siegman * Evelyn Blumenberg MA ’90, PHD ’95 and Brian Taylor ’83, PHD ’92 § Danilo Sapinoso Torres Jr. ’92, MA ’96 § Barbara** and Claude Townsend ’49, MSW ’51 § Walker Parking Consultants * Charles Robert Williams ’57, MBA ’58 *

Jennifer Lynn LeSar MA ’92, MBA ’93 § LeSar Development Consultants * Mark Trenton Lethco MA ’98 * Liberty Hill Foundation Red Green Blue Fund * Robin MS ’71, PHD ’78 and David Liggett Martin Lowery Kathleen MA ’09 and Kevin Matchett § Andrew Samuel Mondschein MA ’04, PHD ’12 Eric A. Morris MA ’06, PHD ’11 § Vinit Mukhija The David and Lucile Packard Foundation Jackie ’94, MA ’99 and Raymond Rocco * Tamara La Torre ’86 and James Rowe * William Lee Satoris MA ’79 * Susan Karlins MPH ’84 and David Sausjord MA ’83 § Southern California Edison Company § Fumiko and Hal Suetsugu MA ’91 Gigi Marie Szabo MA ’02 § Lois Takahashi and David White Timothy Merritt Taylor Jr. JD ’86, MA ’86 * Steffen I. Turoff MA ’04 § Nicole Vermeer MA ’96 § Robin Scherr and Richard Willson PHD ’91 Danny Wu MA ’98 * Pauline Louie ’92, MA ’95 and Timothy Yip Allison Yoh MA ’02, PHD ’08 and Davis Park MA ’02

$500 and above Christina JD ’94 and Kyle Arndt MA ’91, JD ’94 Jane Elizabeth Berner MA ’12 * Barbara and Frederick Borsch § Jeffrey Richard Brown ’96, MA ’98, PHD ’03 * Masako MA ’75, MBA ’77 and Jeffry Carpenter MA ’71 § Daniel Gregory Chatman PHD ’05 Rachel Hurst MA ’83 and Richard Clampitt Vanessa and John Dingley MA ’75, PHD ’83 § Laurie MSW ’04 and Ian Eddleston § Estolano LeSar Perez Advisors § Bonnie Faherty MN ’75, MPH ’76 and Edward Feldman ’63, JD ’66 § Timothy Michael Foy MA ’90 § Mark Edward Gander Mary Ann and B. Kipling Hagopian ’64, MBA ’66 * Monica MSW ’88 and Mark Harris Susan McKay Herre MA ’03 § Heidi Schulman and Michael Kantor * Margo Linden Katz David Andrew King PHD ’09 * Jeremy Klop * Linda ’84, MSW ’88 and Scott Kutner ’81, MA ’85 §

$250 and above Laura Aldrete MA ’96, MA ’96 and John Plakorus § Diane Belinsky MSW ’09 * Alan Peter Bell MA ’81 Ava Stein Bromberg MA ’07 § Anne Elizabeth Brown MURP ’14 § Eric Bruce Carlson MA ’99 * Joy Chen MA ’98, MBA ’98 and Dave De Csepel * Matthew Michael Dababneh ’04 Lynne Zucker and Michael Darby § Alex Demisch MA ’09 Kathy Denise Dixon MA ’93 D. Gregg Doyle * Cecilia Valerie Estolano MA ’91 § Thomas Ford * Rachel Freitas MPP ’04 and Jason Cohen § The Gerontological Society of America Mary MSW ’74 and Melvin Grimes * Marlene ’64, MA ’91 and Marshall Grossman Sophia Guel-Valenzuela MPH ’94 and Abel Valenzuela Jr. * Kara Heffernan MA ’00 § Daniel Baldwin Hess PHD ’02 Niall H. Huffman MA ’10

Nurit D. Katz MPP ’08, MBA ’08 § Susan and George Kinney Douglas Andrew Kolozsvari ’99, MA ’02 * David Lee Kriske MA ’09 Tuey Jean Lee ’66, MSW ’74 § Bernard Lee MA ’05 § Marsha Brown ’70 and Jeffrey Lemler MAR ’76 § Alcene and Robert Looper MSW ’71 § Laura Zahn MA ’08 and Michael Manville MA ’03, PHD ’09 § Jacqueline Golding MA ’82, PHD ’85 and James Mather MAR ’89 Sirinya MA ’09 and Juan Matute MBA ’09, MA ’09 § The Mercier Trust * Gloria Yolanda Morales-Raya MSW ’86 Eva Vera-Morrow and Wayne Morrow ’81, JD ’88 Rorie Nazareth ’93, MA ’99 and Paul Saunders ’92 * Nancy N. Ngugi MA ’02 * Alexandra Tassiello Norton * Denise and Joseph Nunn ’65, MSW ’70, PHD ’90 § Megan and Nathan Otto MPP ’14 * David Lawrence Peterson MA ’11 * Jane Margolis and Mark Peterson § Anaite Caceres and William Pitkin MA ’97, PHD ’04 § Renaissance Charitable Foundation, Inc. The Aldrete Plakorus Family Fund * Rosalynd Winery * Gian-Claudia Sciara MA ’00 Karen Hill Scott MA ’72, EDD ’74 and Timothy Scott * Gabriel Sermeno ’95, MPP ’06 § Anne McAulay Shah MA ’06 § Pamela and Luke Sims MA ’83 Chandini Rani Singh MA ’10 * Lorraine and Thomas Smith Jr. MA ’76 § Mott Smith ’94 * Laurie ’92, MPP ’98 and Jason Spivak ’91 Marie Kennedy and Christopher Tilly University Catholic Center * John-Paul Vojtisek * Wells Fargo & Company § Winfield Associates, Inc. Janette Lawrence and Russell Worden § Elizabeth and Emmanuel Yeow MA ’98 § This listing reflects gifts, grants, and new pledges made between July 1, 2014 and June 30, 2015. Donors who are deceased are denoted with a **. If you have any corrections or questions, or would like to make a gift, please contact the Luskin School of Public Affairs Development Office at 310-206-5479 or advancement@luskin. ucla.edu.

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IN SUPPORT

UCLA LUSKIN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS BOARD OF ADVISERS convened earlier this year to welcome new members and discuss ways to continue supporting the school, its students and faculty.

First row from left: Annette Shapiro, The Honorable Vicki Reynolds, Dr. Karen Hill Scott, Maureen Stockton, Dr. Susan Rice, Meyer Luskin, Joanne Kozberg, Jill Black Zalben. Second row from left: Charles Gatchell, Jeffrey Seymour, Keenan Behrle, Michael Mahdesian, Leonard Unger, Gerald Chaleff, Michael Donnelly.

REAGAN FELLOWSHIP RECIPIENT SYDNEY GANON Leadership, integrity, drive and citizenship are qualities that leaders should have — Sydney Ganon has them all.

Ganon is the second recipient of the Ronald Reagan Public Policy Fellowship, an annual award. Through the support of the Reagan Presidential Foundation and the Draine Family Charitable Foundation, UCLA Luskin students apply to receive up to $30,000 for the two-year Fellowship. Upon hearing the news, Ganon declined offers to other schools.

As a Fellow, there are a number of requirements the recipient must uphold, academic strength being one of them. Ganon, who graduated from the University of Vermont cum laude with a B.A. in Anthropology and English, is pursuing her MPP with a focus on educational policy and quantitative analysis.

“I’m interested in learning about the cross-sections between education and other policy, such as education and health, education and environment,” Ganon said. “I like that the broad program at UCLA lets me look at those other factors.”

Recipients also must have a keen interest in public policy and assisting in the local community. At the Knowledge Is Power Program New York City (KIPP NYC), which is a national network of public charter schools, Ganon was heavily involved, from aiding with curriculum, to connecting students’ families with local officials through lobbying.

“I’m really happy that I worked before going to grad school,” Ganon said. “If I hadn’t worked at KIPP, I would have never known that education was what I wanted to have as my career.

The experience totally shaped where I wanted to go.”

A key part of the Fellowship is access to Reagan’s Presidential Library. As a part of the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Presidential Learning Center’s internship program, Ganon must

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complete 100 internship hours at the library. Over the two-year Fellowship, the internship hours will give Ganon the time she wants to research Reagan’s educational policies.

“One of the incredible things about the Fellowship is that you get to see and learn about things from the politician’s side,” Ganon explained. “In order to create change, you have to understand what’s going on from both sides.”

Upon earning her MPP, Ganon plans to pursue a career that provides opportunities to improve education for all.

“I would like to be working pretty specifically in education analytics, either with a school district or the state,” Ganon elaborated. “I want to be heavily involved in student data and test scores, using that information to make schools better.”

—By Breanna Ramos

DONALD & PAT SHOUP ENDOWED FELLOWSHIP IN URBAN PLANNING Master of Urban and Regional Planning students Katherine Bridges, Meghmik Babakhanian, and Evan Moorman are the first recipients of the Donald & Pat Shoup Endowed Fellowship in Urban Planning. In May, over 300 donors contributed to the fellowship, which was then matched

by Donald and Pat Shoup 2-to-1, raising over $220,000 in student support. The Donald and Pat Shoup Endowed Fellowship will support urban planning students at UCLA Luskin each year, lowering costs and making graduate school possible for those who might otherwise not be able to attend.

1

From left: MURP student Evan Moorman, Evelyn Blumenberg Professor and Chair of Urban Planning, Donald Shoup Professor Emeritus of Urban Planning, Pat Shoup, MURP student Meghmik Babakanian.

INTERNATIONAL FOCUS Every summer, UCLA Luskin students are working and learning abroad thanks to the generosity of donors like Harold and Stephanie Bronson. Their support is an integral part of the International Practice Pathways study-abroad component of Global Public Affairs at UCLA Luskin program.

Since 2011, the International Practice Pathways (IPP) program has offered a global component to the Luskin education prior to the inception of Global Public Affairs. A group of students are placed in professional internships related to their field of study, creating an invaluable bridge between their education and future career. Shafaq Choudry had the opportunity to work in transportation and land use projects for the mayor’s office in Panama City, Panama. Katie Merrill worked for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva, Switzerland, where she ran a study on the relationship between alcohol abuse and high-stress work settings.

Top, from left: Harold Bronson, MURP/MBA student David Leipziger, and Stephanie Bronson.

Bottom, from left: MSW student Elsie Silva; MURP student Shafaq Choudry; MSW student Katie Merrill; MURP students Joseph Lawlor, and Maritza Lee.

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ALUMNI NOTES

PATRICK HORTON M.A. URBAN PLANNING ’04 was recently honored for dual civilian and U.S. Coast Guard service at the Chamber of Commerce in his hometown of Temple City. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti congratulated Horton for his service to the public both within the Coast Guard and as a Los Angeles City employee. As a member of the Coast Guard, Lt. Horton serves in maritime law enforcement, search and rescue, and marine wildlife protection as an Executive Officer based in Long Beach. Horton has served three terms as a Temple City Planning Commissioner.

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DR. NANCY A. HUMPHREYS DSW ’75 INDUCTED INTO CALIFORNIA SOCIAL WORK HALL OF DISTINCTION

JOCELYN GUIHAMA MPP ’03 NEW DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF INSTITUTE OF INEQUALITY AND DEMOCRACY

New Social Welfare Hall of Distinction inductee Dr. Nancy A. Humphreys has been honored for her pioneering social work as an educator and leader. She led a national effort to modernize the social work profession, helping to establish a new vision for the National Association of Social Workers (NASW). This new vision emphasized the role of social work in policy and politics, encouraging women to pursue leadership roles in the professional organization and elected office.

She earned her MSW at the University of Southern California in 1963 and served in the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services.

There she rose from direct services worker to assistant program deputy of family and children’s services and staff development administrator. She completed her DSW degree at UCLA in 1975 and held teaching positions at a number of schools including UCLA, USC, California State University, Los Angeles, and California Polytechnic University, Pomona. She later served as dean of the schools of social work at Michigan State University and the University of Connecticut.

Jocelyn Guihama is Deputy Director of the new Institute on Inequality and Democracy at UCLA Luskin, where she will be working with Professor Ananya Roy on developing this campuswide research center. Previously, she served as Executive Director of the UCLA Center for Civil Society, managing research projects examining the role of philanthropy and nonprofits. Guihama’s earlier career focused on education, youth and immigrants at nonprofits such as Breakthrough Collaborative, the Potrero Hill Neighborhood House and the International Institute. She received her B.A. with distinction from UC Berkeley and studied at the Taipei Language Institute. She earned her master’s degree in Public Policy (MPP) at UCLA in 2003 and was a founding member of the department’s Alumni Council. Guihama currently serves on the Board of MEND (Meet Each Need with Dignity) and Cal State Northridge’s Center for Southern California Studies Community Advisory Board.

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PRESIDENT OBAMA APPOINTEE

ALUMNI & STUDENT NOTES

“Luskin gave me a variety of tools that, combined with my personal experience, allowed me to access new approaches, and really develop a new framework that operates across all three disciplines,” Victor Santiago Pineda UP Ph.D. ’10 said.

Recently appointed by President Obama as a member of the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Access Board, Pineda will be utilizing the new approaches he learned at Luskin.

The Access Board is responsible for conducting research as well as developing regulations and guidelines that support the implementation of the Architectural Barriers Act of 1968 as well as a range of other federal laws. Prior to coming to Luskin, Pineda was already a leader in the fields of international disability rights and economic development. He received a B.A. in Political Economy, a B.S. in Business Administration and a master’s degree in City and Regional Planning from the University of California, Berkeley.

“It is very unique and very forward-thinking that Luskin brings together public policy, social welfare and urban planning, because so many of the most challenging problems lie between various disciplines,” he said.

As a recipient of numerous degrees, grants and awards, with an extensive research background and years of leadership experience, Pineda embodies Luskin’s interdisciplinary practices.

—By Breanna Ramos

Kelcie Ralph (UP Ph.D. ’15) is this year’s winner of the Barclay Gibbs Jones Award for Best Dissertation in Planning. The award includes a $500 prize provided by Cornell University and recognizes superior scholarship in a doctoral dissertation completed by a student enrolled in an ACSP (Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning) institution. She also was asked to present her paper, “Stalled on the Road to Adulthood? Assessing the Nature of Recent Travel Changes for Young Adults in America, 1995-2009,” at the annual Fall ACSP conference.

Ralph recently joined the faculty of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University as an assistant professor.

MPP student Chrissy Chung is continuing her LeadersUp fellowship throughout the 2015-16 academic year. Chung was one of three graduate fellows initially selected for the summer 2015 program, founded by the Starbucks Corporation and some of its other major U.S. suppliers, to mobilize businesses to hire young workers and to focus on the growing issue of unemployment among young adults.

Michael Manville (UP Ph.D. ’09), Assistant Professor of City and Regional Planning at Cornell University, published a chapter titled “Parking Pricing” in the book Parking: Issues and Policies. Manville’s chapter was named as an Outstanding Author Contribution and was awarded a 2015 Emerald Literati Network Award for Excellence from the editors of Emerald Publishing.

MURP student Lance MacNiven was elected American Planning Association’s (APA) Student Representatives Council (SRC) Representative for Region VI, which includes California and Nevada.

What started out as a small gathering of students watching the game has developed into a ten year tradition, welcoming new students to the MPP family and reconnecting with friends...

We’ve loved hosting this event and look forward to this tradition carrying on and growing — Go Bruins! co-hosts of Annual MPP Tailgate Gabe Sermeno MPP ’06 & Jack Clift MPP ’06

SAVE THE DATE All events require RSVP. Please visit the calendar section at luskin.ucla.edu to RSVP. Tuesday, January 12, 12pm Luskin Lecture with Mary Robinson Thursday, January 14, 6pm The Changing Landscape of Voting with Alex Padilla Tuesday, January 26, 6pm UCLA Luskin Alumni Regional Reception Los Angeles, CA Friday, February 5, 6pm Luskin Lecture with David Simon Tuesday, March 22, 6pm UCLA Luskin Alumni Regional Reception Washington, D.C.

luskin.ucla.edu

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LASTING IMAGE

UCLA VOLUNTEER DAY brought together Luskin alumni, staff, and incoming students. Volunteers helped weed and landscape the 49-acre Wattles Farm Organic Community Garden which has served the local residents of Hollywood since 1975. Toby Leaman, the Wattles Garden Master and President of the Board, stated “this group was the best group of volunteers we’ve ever had!”

Back row from left: MSW students; Isaac Wright, Frances Echeverria, Naaz Mirreghabie; Emily Gable MURP ’14; Tulsi Patel MURP ’14; Benton Heimsath MURP ’14; Amanda Daninger MPP ’14; Waiyi Tse (Chief of Staff ); Vicky Hsu MPP ’14; Marisa Lemorande (Assistant Director of Alumni Relations).

First row from left: Madeline Brozen MA UP ’11; MSW students; Hasmik Aghazaryan, Hallie Snow.

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luskin forum / / winter 2016

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Tag #UCLALuskinAlumni for a chance to share your world with the UCLA Luskin family.

Therese Hughes MA UP ’99 (left)

Kristina Bedrossian MPP ’10 (second from left), Sarah Locher MPP ’10 (middle)

Susan Nakaoka UP Ph.D. ’14 MSW ’99

Gerry Lavina MSW ’88 (left), Paco Retana MSW ’90

Brenda Perez MURP ’12 (left)

Nurit Katz MPP/MBA ’08

Rhianon Anderson MPP ’15 (second from left), Sandeep Prasanna MPP/JD ’15 (middle), Natalie Knight MPP/JD ‘14 (second from right)

Stacy Low MSW ’10

Rudy Espinoza MA UP ’06 (right)

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