A Publication of the UCLA Meyer and Renee Luskin School of Public Affairs
Spring 2013
LEADING THE PACK
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10 feature UCLA Luskin is a training ground for leaders. With a focus on programs already in place and what’s in store with the School’s strategic plan, this issue is dedicated to the leaders of today and tomorrow. UCLA Luskin faculty, alums and current students are featured throughout our “Leadership Issue.”
departments
2 milestones
24 all the answers
6 seen & heard
26 alumni notes
8 by the numbers
A publication of Dean Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr. editors Alex Boekelheide, Matt Hurst Contributors Alex Boekelheide, Ruby Bolaria, Colleen Callahan, Matt Hurst, Ramin Rajaii Photography Alex Boekelheide, Jonathan Chia, Matt Hurst, Gus Ruelas Design ETCH Creative
on the cover: Stephen Cheung MSW ’07 heads up international development for the Port of Los Angeles.
20 from the dean The close of this academic year marks my fifth as dean of UCLA Luskin. We have accomplished a great deal in a relatively short time frame. We received the naming gift (as always, a big thank you to Meyer and Renee Luskin!); we witnessed a surge in student applicants; we hired eight new faculty; we built a career and alumni center; and we successfully completed a strategic planning process. Our faculty and students continue to do remarkable work, both in terms of scholarship and in terms of their engagement with the broader community. All in all, a pretty good five years. Nonetheless we face tough challenges ahead. In particular, we must be innovative and intentional in developing our business model in the context of the “new normal”— that is, an environment of declining state investment in higher education, demographic and technological changes, globalization, and increased pressure to stay relevant. This issue of Luskin Forum is about leadership. This is a topic I have given great thought to over the last several years. In the interest of brevity, here are three leadership lessons that have guided my tenure as dean:
accountability, innovation — it is rather a function of how you approach problem-solving. I would prefer to see people try and fail than not try at all. As a result, I encourage people to try, make mistakes, learn, and move forward. That is the culture that launches success. 2. Inspiration matters. As corny as it may sound, people need to feel inspired. They need to feel the passion for the work coming from the top. They have to care enough to take pride in their work. The organization, on the other hand, has to exude feeling and reward inspirational efforts.
I encourage people to try, make mistakes, learn, and move forward. That is the culture that launches success.
1. Culture sets the tone. Developing an organization culture or ethos is an ephemeral challenge. It begins with more than simply the obvious principles — excellence,
3. People precede vision. You can have the most innovative, exciting, and forward thinking vision possible, but it will never succeed unless you have the right combination of people in place. Finding the smartest, most dedicated people is critical to the ability of a leader to develop and carry out a vision for the organization. At UCLA Luskin we offer our students many opportunities to develop their leadership skills. In these pages you will find several examples of how we unpack the important issue of leadership.
milestones
TEACHING THE NEXT GENERATION The Planners of Color for Social Equity hosted the first-ever Urban Planning Youth Empowerment Conference, bringing East Los Angeles high schoolers to UCLA for a daylong event focusing on urban planning and improving communities. “The statement ‘where we live influences how we live’ was better defined to me,” said one attendee.
Sex markets are not a problem — policies and norms that prevent participants of sex markets from practicing safe sex are the problem. Manisha Shah, new professor of Public Policy, who has studied sex markets and how to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.
LA NEIGHBORHOODS “SPREAD THIN”
42.5% Unemployment rate in poorer neighborhoods of L.A. County
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Percent of nonprofits that reported reductions in government programs affecting their organizations
45% Revenue gap between human services nonprofits in poor neighborhoods and the L.A. County average.
These data were unveiled in an April study by the Center for Civil Society.
Loukaitou-Sideris Receives $2M Grant Anastasia LoukaitouSideris, an Urban Planning professor and the associate dean of academic affairs, was part of a team that earned a $2 million grant from The Mellon Foundation. The three-and-a-half year project will build connections between architecture, urban studies and the humani-
43%
ties in L.A., Tokyo, Shanghai and Mexico City. By studying these issues in four different cities, UCLA will create the groundwork for a new cross-disciplinary field defined as “urban humanities.” This is the first grant of its size designed to bridge the disciplines of humanities and design. Loukaitou-Sideris and Dana Cuff, a professor of architecture and Urban Planning, are two of the four UCLA professors who will work on the project.
Randall Akee recently joined the Public Policy faculty. His main research interests are labor economics, economic development and migration. He has focused on the detriments of migration and human trafficking and the effect of household income on educational attainment. Akee has worked on several American Indian reservations, Canadian First Nations and Pacific Island nations.
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KLEIMAN NAMED WASHINGTON’S POT ADVISOR A team of consultants led by Public Policy professor Mark Kleiman will advise the state of Washington on marijuana policies after its citizens voted to make the drug legal. “We are all — speaking for the team now — a little bit daunted by the task ahead, but mostly excited,” Kleiman wrote on his blog, samefacts. com. “All the claims we’ve made over the years about knowing how to make smart drug policy are about to be put to the test, and the stakes are high.” Kleiman has received massive amounts of nationwide attention, appearing in numerous media outlets due to his appointment as Washington ventures into brand new territory. An author of several books on drug policy, including Marijuana Legalization: What Everyone Needs To Know, and a nationally recognized expert in the field, Kleiman’s work with Washington began in late March.
Amount of Americans who moved locally, the highest in a decade, according to research by Public Policy department chair, Michael Stoll. His research found that during the Great Recession families moved down the housing ladder instead of up, especially in metropolitan areas with the highest unemployment and highest foreclosure rates.
60 25%
Number of students enrolling in the Public Policy program, the largest incoming class in the program’s history.
“ This was a great opportunity to see concepts talked about in class like land use, design and transportation used in another city. Paris was so much more accessible and walkable at all times, which is the opposite of Los Angeles.” — Urban Planning student Eric Johnson, who studied at Sciences Po in Paris as part of the UCLA Luskin Global initiative.
“ Berlin helped me broaden my perspective on how to enact policy, but it also is a lot more top down in Germany — the state decides and the city follows. Citizens have no direct role in decision-making unless they are credentialed. There is a lack of transparency for citizen participation.” — Urban Planning student India Brookover, who studied at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin as part of the UCLA Luskin Global initiative.
Percentage of single parents in the U.S. with low-wage employment, higher than the rate in 14 other countries, according to a study co-authored by Social Welfare Ph.D. student Laurie Maldonado.
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Number of NFL players produced by the greater Louisiana area, more per capita than any other part of the country, according to Urban Planning Ph.D. student Patrick Adler, whose study was featured on the NFL Network.
FACULTY HONORED
Lois Takahashi The Urban Planning department chair received a $430,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to provide a better understanding of sex work at massage parlors and other venues in New York and L.A.
Aurora Jackson The Social Welfare professor was named to the Academic Advisory Board of the Arizona Department of Economic Security, to assist in the overhaul of the system of state benefits that serves two million citizens.
Lené Levy-Storms The Social Welfare professor received a grant from the Archstone Foundation to test the feasibility of a communication training intervention for caregivers of elderly people in nursing homes that suffer from dementia.
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milestones
Soja Recognized for a Lifetime of Achievement
LIGHTING UP LOS ANGELES Jacki Murdock created an interactive map showing electricity consumption in Los Angeles. The Urban Planning student, who worked for the California Center for Sustainable Communities, showed that West LA and LAX were among the highest users of electricity. “This is the first time that we’re really able to see what consumption patterns are in the city,” Murdock said. “It really helps reveal the connections between land use and energy demands.” See the interactive map at: sustainablecommunities.environment.ucla.edu
new from the faculty bookshelf
Keys to the City: How Economics, Institutions, Social Interaction, and Politics Shape Development Urban Planning professor Michael Storper’s latest book analyzes successful economic development at the city-region level and provides key recommendations for policymakers.
The Scramble for the Amazon and the “Lost Paradise” of Euclides da Cunha In this sweeping social and political history of the Amazon Basin, Urban Planning professor Susanna Hecht traces an author’s journey into one of the world’s most mysterious regions.
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Urban Planning professor Edward Soja received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of American Geographers during the group’s annual meeting in April. Soja has spent the past two decades focusing his research and writing on restructuring Los Angeles and, more broadly, on the critical study of cities and regions. His work in L.A. included six visions he introduced for the city: Flexicity (deindustrialization alongside reindustrialization), Cosmopolis (the primacy of globalization), Expolis (no more traditional qualities of a city), Metropolarities (increasing social inequalities), Carcereal Archipielagos (a fortified city with bulging prisons) and Simcity (an electronic generation of hyper reality). Soja, who teaches in the Regional and International Development area of Urban Planning, began his academic career as a specialist on Africa. “Soja has motivated and provoked students and colleagues through his passion and enthusiasm for theory, criticism, cities and social justice,” the Association wrote on its website. “His influence in reshaping human geography and urban studies is international, multidisciplinary and enduring through his students at UCLA, his guest lectures, and the translations of his work into many languages. He has been one of the great advocates for geographic ideas across the social sciences and the world.”
Looking Back ... Looking Ahead The Public Policy department celebrated its 15th anniversary this spring at the Tom Bradley Tower atop Los Angeles City Hall. The event brought together alumni, current students and a handful of incoming students. The celebration’s highlight was the department naming Rusty Bailey, a 1999 graduate of the department and now the Mayor of Riverside, its Alumnus of the Year. Having grown exponentially since its first graduating class in 1998 — pictured above — the department now boasts close to 60 students and is lauded for its diversity.
“We’ve grown our class from 18 students to 58 students this year, which is our largest academic class,” said Michael Stoll, chair of the department. “A lot of the class sizes have changed, a lot of our faculty have changed, but what hasn’t changed is our commitment to academic excellence and our commitment to being the best professional development of students. What hasn’t changed is our desire for our students to be the best change agents we all hoped they can be when they entered our program.”
Top row, left to right: Mary (Koukhab) Cohen, Adam Haber, Paul Weinberg, Daniel Frakes, Rachael Berger, Tenny Issakhanian-Avenisian, Dylan Presman, Jill Cannon, Charisma Acey, Leila Espinosa, Laurie (Palmer) Spivak. Bottom row: Steven Callaghan, Jonathan Blakeslee, Michelle Marsh, Emily Williams, Marion Walsh, Jennifer Henderson-Frakes.
THREE STUDENTS RECEIVE NATIONAL FELLOWSHIPS A trio of Urban Planning students were awarded with Dwight D. Eisenhower Transportation Fellowships for the 2012-13 school year. Benton Heimsath and Chelsea Richer, both currently first-year Urban Planning master’s students, and Carole Turley, an Urban Planning Ph.D. student, were granted fellowships to study areas of transportation. Richer, a native of New York, worked for the Department of Transportation in Chicago and interned in Holland before coming to UCLA Luskin. Her experience with transportation in these different areas sparked her interest in studying it further. Heimsath says “I want to learn how to make what we have work better,” after working on transportation policy as a legislative analyst for the Washington DC City Council.
Benton Heimsath
Chelsea Richer
Carole Turley
Turley, who has an engineering degree from BYU and an MBA from Notre Dame, is researching the relationship between transportation accessibility to schools, school choice policies and household school and residential choice.
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seen & heard
This is the civil rights issue of our time. It’s the democracy issue of our time. It’s the economic issue of our time.” Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on a quality education system in L.A. during the Luskin Lecture Series event, “Partnering for Schools: Building the Future of Education” on March 6, 2013
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Every individual should have the opportunity to achieve the American Dream, whether they are young or old.” A. Barry Rand, CEO of AARP, at the Luskin Lecture Series event “The Future of Aging in America” on March 21, 2013
We have an economy built on the exclusion of people, and leaders need to think about the real consequences.”
I learned we didn’t have a drop-out problem. We had a push-out problem. We were forcing these kids out.” Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy on LAUSD students at the Luskin Lecture Series event “Partnering for Schools: Building the Future of Education” on March 6, 2013
Anita Hill during her “Reimagining Equality” lecture as part of the Social Welfare Speaker Series on Feb. 14, 2013
I am reminded that when a door is opened for me, I must walk through, then hold it open for the folks coming in after me!” Chloe Green, Urban Planning, 2013, at the Luskin School’s first-ever Career-Networking Night on Feb. 12, 2013
This sort of clustering tends to promote excellence.”
We did do a lot of things and we did transform this country, but this new generation is going to transform the world, thanks to tools like the Internet.” Governor Howard Dean at the Luskin Lecture Series event, “Campaigns Matter!” on Jan. 23, 2013
Patrick Adler, Ph.D. Urban Planning, to the NFL Network on Jan. 28, 2013 about his study showing a large amount of NFL players coming from the New Orleans area
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by the numbers
Plug-In Electric Vehicles If you could drive each one of the plug-in electric vehicles in the U.S. in succession, you could go to the moon and back 12 times without recharging — and still have enough juice left to drive around the Equator 10 times.
Different vehicles let you drive different distances on electric miles on a full charge: Toyota Prius Plug-in
11 miles (540 miles including gasoline)
Ford Fusion Energi
21 miles
(620 miles including gasoline)
Chevrolet Volt
100,000
38 miles
(380 miles including gasoline)
Nissan Leaf
plug-in electric vehicles have been sold in the U.S. If you parked them end-to-end, they’d go from UCLA to Las Vegas.
73 miles
Ford Focus Electric
76 miles
Toyota RAV4 EV 103 miles
Tesla Model S
265 miles
Electric vehicle battery capacity is advancing rapidly. Depending on what kind of equipment you find at a charging station, the size and state of charge of your electric car’s battery, there are three different ways to charge your plug-in electric vehicle: MAX. TIME REQUIRED FOR FULL CHARGE 17 hours
3.5 hours
20-30 minutes Type of plug
L.A. SOLAR POWER Put solar panels on just the 20 largest roofs in L.A. County and you’ll generate enough power to run California homes during peak times of the day.
159,000
Level 1
Level 2
If rooftop solar panels were installed across all of L.A. County, the total electrical output on a typical Southern California sunny day would be 19,113 Megawatts — enough to replace 83 coal-fired plants.
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DC Fast charge
Megawatts
donor spotlight
G IVI NG R EASON S FOR G IVI NG BACK
UCLA Luskin counts on its alumni and supporters to help pave the way for the next generation of leaders. Three members of our community share what got them involved.
CREATING OPPORTUNITIES | Ruth Sugerman MSW ’67 has seen a lot change in Los Angeles. When she was a student — first at Hamilton High School, a public school nestled between Culver City and Cheviot Hills, and then later studying social work at UCLA — paying for higher education was easy to manage, if you planned the right way. Today, though, after a long career as a social worker in communities across Southern California, she knows that high costs put graduate school out of reach for many who would like to help make the world better. If we don’t invest in education now, Sugerman says, we’ll be paying the price later. “What made this state great was the colleges and universities, and the opportunity that they presented,” she says. Sugerman and her husband, Jay, haven’t always been supporters of education. But they started giving back at all levels — from high school to UCLA Luskin — because they felt that the cuts to the system had gone too far. “I feel very strongly that we’re shortchanging our children,” she says. “We’re not giving them the kinds of opportunities that I was fortunate to have.”
BUILDING PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE | The first time that Larry Sauve UP ‘78 went to the annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board, he had already been working as a transportation planner for Parsons Brinckerhoff in Orange County. “It can be a somewhat overwhelming conference,” he says, with a registration list that includes government officials and high-ranking professionals from around the world. The benefits of attending can be huge, however — giving a talk or presenting a paper at TRB is a major achievement in any planner’s career. Sauve, who works on transit projects in Parsons Brinckerhoff’s Seattle office, wanted to help enhance the education of students who are driven to study transportation, so he made an implicit deal: Get a paper accepted for presentation at trb, and the School, through Sauve’s support, will cover conference registration and travel expenses for up to four students. “I felt that money should not hold you back” from this professional opportunity, Sauve says. “I didn’t get a chance to go to TRB until I was actually working, but if I had the chance as a student it would have made me even more enthusiastic about going into my career in transportation.”
BROADENING HORIZONS | If there’s anyone who should be championing UCLA Luskin’s international ambitions, it’s Jonathan Beutler MPP ’09. The young alumnus and newly established supporter of the school has lived on four continents and currently resides in Tokyo, where he is a foreign service officer stationed at the U.S. Embassy. He gives back to UCLA Luskin so that other students can follow his footsteps across the globe. “It’s so important that our students have a strong understanding of international policy and foreign affairs,” Beutler says. He most recently helped build this understanding by sponsoring a networking event that brought together Japanese officials and a group of UCLA Luskin students that had traveled to the country to learn about policy responses to the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Beutler sees an international perspective as a key ingredient in a modern graduate education, and his recommendations echo the School’s strategic plan — an enhanced international curriculum and global mentorships. These programs help UCLA Luskin “remain relevant in the 21st century,” he says. “Los Angeles is one of the world’s most important metropolitan regions and its flagship public university should reflect that.”
What’s your reason? Tell us what makes you want to give back to UCLA Luskin. Contact us at advancement@luskin.ucla.edu or 310-206-7949.
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Cover feature
Leading b example UCLA Luskin has built a reputation of training leaders. See who they are, and see what the next crop looks like.
Stephen Cheung, a 2007 graduate of Social Welfare, was appointed as the Director of International Development at the Port of Los Angeles last August. He is a worldwide ambassador for the nation’s largest and busiest port, which receives over 44% of all cargo shipped to the U.S. Last year, the Port had $283 billion in imports and exports. “We have to be more strategic and look at new partnerships and commodities to attract and retain business,” he said. “Before the rest of the world can catch up we still have the opportunity to market ourselves and look at new areas, including Vietnam and Brazil as potential trading partners.”
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BRANCHING OUT For Cecilia Stamp, leadership means being willing to sacrifice. It means sleeping just a few hours each night so she can balance school with time with her family. It means commuting from Lancaster to UCLA for her Social Welfare classes. It means raising three kids during the week while her husband works from the afternoon until midnight, being sure to get them from T-ball to piano lessons to Bible study, along with their normal duties of school and homework — not to mention completing some homework of her own. “I rarely let them see me studying,” explains Stamp, 32, who also works at the Antelope Valley Alliance to End Homelessness and the Antelope Valley Homeless Coalition. “I need time to study without sacrificing sleep and sometimes it was getting dangerous driving and doing that commute on three hours of sleep.” Operating effectively under pressure is just something Stamp is used to. She joined the Air Force after 9/11 because she felt an obligation to her country. That’s the pride one has after growing up on Camp Pendleton to immigrant parents from the Philippines, with her father in the Navy. She used her time while stationed in Nebraska and Texas to get an undergraduate degree, meeting her husband in the service and having three sons — twins, now seven, and a three-year old. The Stamps moved to California when her husband got a job at Edwards Air Force Base. She found the purpose for her sacrifice in the Golden State, discovering that she wanted to help military veterans after working at the VA in Los Angeles. With her education she hopes to do more to help her fellow veterans and others that need support. Between the commute and the fieldwork, the schoolwork and raising a family, Stamp found the adjustment difficult. But she has operated in difficult for so long — beginning with working two jobs out of high school while attending a community college prior to the Air Force — it was almost normal. “Managing my time has been my biggest challenge,” she says, but “it’s an honor to be here.”
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The Luskin School should b of its work — an investment all of its students. The inves human capital always go far the investments in physical
Rusty Bailey, a 1999 graduate of Public Policy, was elected Mayor of Riverside last November. The native of California’s 12thlargest city used a door-to-door walking campaign to win over 58% of the votes, as some of his Luskin School graduates joined him on the campaign trail. A former intern to Public Policy professor Michael Dukakis, a fellow at the White House and a graduate of West Point, Bailey was a high school teacher and said of his campaign: “Going door-to-door made the difference in connecting the voters and informing me of the issues out there. They appreciated that the candidate came out to the individual doors, and I gained important local knowledge as well.”
be proud in me and tments in r ther than capital.
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There are a lot unknowns about sexual exploitation in Los Angeles. Once we have determined the scope of the problem then it is important to determine the best way to intervene.
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Social Welfare field faculty member Michelle Talley works with the L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services to help some of Southern California’s most vulnerable victims: foster children that have been pulled into the sex trafficking industry. Talley brings together former victims, law enforcement, social workers and Social Welfare students to find justice for the young girls in the system — most of whom live below the poverty line and have suffered abuse. “We need to be genuine, caring and willing, and display a non-judgmental attitude when working with others,” she says. “Understanding and empathy are essential skills to have in working with youth.”
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CHANGING COMMUNITIES Rachel Miers doesn’t tiptoe around anything. She’s a jump-in-with-both-feet type. Which has served her extremely well in a fastpaced city for a Public Policy student cramming two years worth of work into a single flip of the calendar. The Berkeley native transferred to UCLA Luskin after an uninspiring first year as a policy student at Duke. The reason? Her thinking is that students working towards a graduate degree in policy need to actually get outside and do work. “It was not a program that was focused on social justice,” says Miers, 27, who had previously taught Spanish in America and English in Mexico. “It didn’t have a good connection with the community. It felt disconnected, like I was in an ivory tower and as a student of Public Policy, I felt I should be engaged with the community.” Jumping in with both feet since arriving in Westwood, Miers (pronounced Myers) became the Public Policy department’s Outreach Coordinator, selling the program to potential students by writing first-person blogs for the School’s website and selling the overall experience. “This School has so much to offer,” she says. “It is very active in producing leaders and activists.” She holds an internship in the Los Angeles Mayor’s office, helping make the transition from Antonio Villaraigosa to Eric Garcetti as seamless as possible. Furthermore, she made sure to join the Senior Fellows program and it took her to Sacramento sparking her interest in a career in politics. “I knew I was interested in getting involved,” Miers said, “but the opportunities this School has afforded me in the community has given me a lot of confidence.” Not that she needs much more, but it will only help when she makes that jump into politics. With both feet.
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BUILDING SOLUTIONS A glance at a recent day in the life of J.R. DeShazo conjures up the word “busy.” But a deeper look highlights why “leader” best describes the director of the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation, professor, and vice chair of the Department of Public Policy. 7:00 a.m. – Write paper to help local governments prioritize investments in electric vehicle infrastructure. 9:00 – Advise lawmakers on ways to maximize benefits of Proposition 39’s $2.5 billion in energy efficiency investments. 10:30 – Present research findings to hundreds of leaders at the Los Angeles Business Council’s Sustainability Summit. 12:30 p.m. – Discuss collaboration opportunities with foundation representatives. 3:00 – Moderate a panel at the Southern California Microeconomics Conference. 6:00 – Meet with UCLA Luskin alums at a Public Policy Department 15th anniversary celebration at City Hall. Why the busy schedule? Because, as DeShazo explains, Luskin Center research is vital to addressing some of today’s most pressing challenges. “It’s important to build bridges between academia and the community to inform policy decisions and organizational innovations,” DeShazo says. Doing so means balancing more than a dozen research projects at one time. The projects involve collaborating with scholars ranging from environmental economists, urban planners, chemical engineers, air quality researchers, sociologists, geographers and more. Cross-discipline and cross-sector partnerships both on and off campus can come with their inherent challenges. But DeShazo appreciates their importance. This focus on collaboration is underscored by the Luskin Center’s benefactor: “New knowledge and solutions have to come from a comprehensive viewpoint,” states Meyer Luskin. DeShazo is often noted for his communication and collaboration skills, capacity to instill confidence and inspire action, and his competency and commitment to his work. Four years after his appointment as Luskin Center director, the Center is an established resource that community and state leaders look to for problem solving and policy recommendations. DeShazo will keep working those busy days, collaborating both inside and outside the School, to help address the enormous challenges of climate change and sustainability. If leadership is defined by the problems tackled, then DeShazo is leading in a big way.
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L.A. is often thought of as capital of the country — it’s many measures — but its c is certainly the most sever
the auto not, by ongestion re.
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Brian D. Taylor leads the Institute of Transportation Studies and the Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies, in addition to serving as an Urban Planning professor at UCLA Luskin. If the measure of a professor is the success of those he has taught, Taylor is an undisputed leader in his field — his students have won dozens of awards for their work and today hold positions at the highest levels of planning analysis and practice. As L.A. builds out a transportation network beyond its famed freeway system, research by Taylor and his colleagues will help ensure a smooth road ahead.
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At Home in It’s not big enough. Not by a long shot. But, what it does is open a door when the inevitable question follows. “What exactly does ‘Field Education Faculty’ mean?” It’s a question that Gerardo P. Laviña often gets when he hands over his business card because it encompasses everything the Social Welfare faculty member does. Even if it doesn’t tell the person much of anything. For each field faculty member at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, their title is different. For Laviña, who goes by his full name on his card but is known to everyone as Gerry, it gives him an opportunity to discuss all
during their first year at UCLA Luskin. He teaches a couple of Social Welfare classes per year inside the Luskin School. He advises the Latino/Latina caucus, the diversity caucus and the men’s caucus. He is the Mental Health Project Coordinator and the co-coordinator for UCLA Luskin’s School Social Work program. He is the Project Coordinator for the CalSWEC Mental Health Education Stipend Program. He is the Los Angeles regional representative for the California Association of School Social Workers. “None of that fits on the card,” he says, laughing. “That’s why I just put ‘field education faculty.’” Laviña is one of eight field faculty members in the Social Welfare department and one of five UCLA Luskin alumni in that group. Perhaps that’s why he pours so much of his energy into the program, yet that’s hard to say with full certainty since he pours all of his energy into everything he does.
training the next group of practitioners and leaders. “And it’s a great team.” It’s a team he nearly didn’t join. He was working at Didi Hirsch Community Mental Health Center when he first received a phone call to come back to UCLA Luskin in 1993. He declined, saying he was “perfectly happy.” A few months later, the phone rang for him again. “I thought, ‘I’d better not turn this down twice,’” he says. Laviña is still the same person now, at 50, than he was as an intern with a chair as an office right next to his preceptor’s desk at Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital in South Los Angeles: delighted to be in the mix of everything and helping whomever needs a hand. That’s why he is involved in — and leading — so many different projects. Whether he’s driving around Los Angeles County and visiting three different agencies in one day to check in with his stu-
All you have to do is go to one of our alumni functions and everyone gravitates toward him. He provides mentorship long after the students leave. he does in leading Social Welfare students along the right path. He is a liaison between the School and social work organizations. He places students in the appropriate off-campus areas where they intern
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“Field faculty members are involved in every aspect,” Laviña says. “Committees, recruiting, finding jobs in the field, teaching. Myself and all the field faculty are extremely committed to this program and
dents, or presenting UCLA Luskin to potential students as coordinator of the annual diversity fair, or going to board meetings, or collaborating with students and their groups, “No day is typical,” he says.
the Field
Gerry Laviña, center, works with first-year Social Welfare students like Maritza Sandoval, Brie Ortega and Daniel Cha, who intern at places like The MHA Village in Long Beach. Opposite: Laviña as a first-year grad student in 1986. What hasn’t changed, however, is the role UCLA Luskin’s field faculty plays in placing first year Social Welfare students in agencies around Southern California. Laviña’s story from his first year as a student is similar to the stories his students tell now. “I wrote down on a three-by-five card who I was, my goals and my expectations,” he says, chuckling at the memory. “I wrote what sort of placement I wanted to be in. I was pretty green so I said I was open to anything except a hospital. I had a fear of hos-
pitals — my dad had been in one, my grandma had died in one. And where do I end up? A hospital. And it was one of the best experiences of my life.” Led by Rosina Becerra, the Director of Field Education, the program has, at one time or another, been involved with nearly 800 agencies. The strategy behind the field education is to place first-year students in an agency that they are either unfamiliar with or is outside of their realm of expertise, with the aim to create a more wellrounded social worker that is working outside of his or her comfort zone.
Becerra, now in her 38th year in the Social Welfare department, worked with Laviña when he was a student and now as one of the faculty members. “He’s instrumental in providing leadership,” she says. “To have someone like Gerry, both as a mentor and as a model, for them is very important. All you have to do is go to one of our alumni functions and everyone gravitates toward him. He provides mentorship long after the students leave. He relates very well to them both inside and outside of the classroom.” luskin.ucla.edu
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Cover feature
Working for Results As a member of the California State Assembly representing the northeastern San Fernando Valley, Raul Bocanegra knows a thing or two about leadership. But this knowledge didn’t come easy.
a tale of two cities,” says Bocanegra, who represents the 39th District, which encompasses large parts of the San Fernando Valley. “We started to question things like a lack of public infrastructure. Why don’t certain
get after college — but he liked that urban planning had the power to get at the heart of the problems that he saw. “It’s great for us to create more parks and quality housing and great
My style of leadership is about following through, rolling up your sleeves and getting things done. I set out to achieve what I say I’m going to do. Bocanegra was born the son of a gardener in the district he would go on to represent, attending public high school in Pacoima and eventually enrolling at UCLA. It was during his undergraduate years that he began to understand that some things in the world needed to be changed — and, more importantly, that he had the power to change them. The 1997 Urban Planning graduate joined a program that took Bruins back to their high schools to encourage the next generation to stay in school and go on to college. “When we started going from Westwood to Pacoima and San Fernando, we started seeing that L.A. is
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neighborhoods have streetlights, or the sidewalks are broken? “It was just a matter of being outside of our neighborhood, seeing the parts of West L.A. where our campus was at, and then coming back home to see the difference was clear,” he continues. “This isn’t Brentwood or Holmby Hills. Why is there this different allocation of resources?” The experience showed Bocanegra the importance of urban planning, so when graduation came along he started looking into master’s degrees in the field. He felt a little guilty — as the son of a gardener, he had always expected that he would take the first middle-class job he could
jobs,” Bocanegra says, “but unless we have the institutions that serve people operating efficiently and adequately — education, health care, economic development — we’re not going to be able to make a substantial change. “It’s not just the built environment,” he adds. “It’s the human capital.” Bocanegra’s unique perspective on the topic goes beyond his humble beginnings. Toward the end of his studies in UCLA’s urban planning department — he easily shares fond memories of Ed Soja, Leo Estrada and other luminaries of the field — he took an internship with the City
of Los Angeles right after the 1992 riots. The experience had him hooked on the potential of local government. From there, he began working for then-City Council President Alex Padilla, applying the skills he learned at UCLA to build the economic base of the Valley. When Padilla went to the
always liked to talk and dominate the discussion in class. When it came time to run a group project, I wasn’t the one who was vocal or raising his hand — I would do the work. We were the workhorses that got those projects done.” In Sacramento, Bocanegra is currently applying this workhorse ethic
residency in Baltimore, 70 percent of the time they stay there. We need to keep these doctors in California and practicing in underserved areas.” As he navigates the bill through the legislative process, Bocanegra will rely on his experience and instincts, driven by his belief in his ability to
Before he was elected to the California Assembly, Raul Bocanegra MA UP ‘97 taught urban planning at California State University, Northridge. State Senate, Bocanegra went Planning department at Cal State Northridge, although his duties at the State Capitol have since taken him out of the classroom, after winning his election this past November Bocanegra sees his experience at UCLA as a valuable asset for his students. “I always believe in leading by example,” he says. “When I was in college, I had a lot of colleagues who
to promote legislation that would encourage medical students to conduct their residencies — and ultimately practice — within the state. Assembly Bill 1176 would assess a $5 fee on private health insurers for each person they cover to provide funding for grants to graduate medical residency training programs. “Right now, wherever these students perform their residence, they tend to stay there,” he explains. “If they do their
make the state — and the world — a better place. “I think a leader has to be somebody that can not only define a vision on how to achieve something, but can move the agenda to get there,” he says. “My style of leadership is really about following through, rolling up your sleeves and getting things done. I set out to achieve what I say I’m going to do.”
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Cover feature
Rewriting Education It’s a sad day when the teachers in this country feel helpless. After all, these are the people most responsible for shaping the minds of the future. Two UCLA Luskin Public Policy students, who have seen more valleys than peaks in America’s education system during their time in front of a classroom, want to prevent it from getting there. This isn’t some pie-in-the-sky, glamorous and idealistic feeling of a single person rebelling against the educational landscape. Annie Blomberg and Emily Scheines want to be leaders to a change — a change that they both know is necessary. They have been in the trenches of the educational system. Both signed up — from different corners of the country — for the Teach for America program, which places recent college graduates in under-resourced classrooms around the U.S. “There was this kind of sense that all the laws and policies and rules were holding me back,” says Scheines, 27, who joined the program straight out of Cornell. “There are very few things that make my job easier or better. I can think of
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10 things before 8 am of how things could be better. It’s a mess, and it’s a mess that is hurting the youth of America.” Blomberg was in a different classroom — a different city — but she saw the same issues. “I started to get frustrated with seeing how systematically wrong things are there,” said Blomberg, 28, who entered Teach for America after finishing her undergraduate degree from the University of Oregon. It wasn’t that Scheines and Blomberg were disillusioned during their two-year commitment in Teach for America. They each stayed on longer. They yearned to make a difference, to lead the youths they were overseeing to new heights. Each of them, speaking separately, echoed the same feelings. To properly lead the way inside the classroom, they needed to change the way the system worked. Their path to doing that began when they enrolled in UCLA Luskin’s Public Policy program. “We know what makes great teachers and what students need to learn — that’s been done,” says Blomberg, who already has a master’s
degree in education. “What we don’t have any success in doing is instituting policies to make it reality. I am interested in the human capital of teachers. They are the biggest lever of student achievement, so why aren’t we focusing more on why they’re in classrooms; hiring strategically, firing strategically. “I want to make teaching a profession again as opposed to a weird, unionized embarrassment.” Says Scheines: “It’s about magnifying the impact — how many kids can you help? — and it’s about changing the paradigm of public education. We’re using too many old, broken systems and we’re setting people up for failure. The status quo has got to be re-written.” Her frustrations come through in something as simple as a piece of paper. Teachers in her old district would hoard paper because they knew the supply might not keep up with the demand, leaving their colleagues to suffer without adequate materials. “We wouldn’t have paper in the copy room for two months,” Scheines says, her exasperation still apparent at the memory. “But we
Emily Scheines, left, and Annie Blomberg are both Public Policy students, drawn to the program to learn how to make changes in education after their experiences as teachers. had brand new lights on the football field — and they hadn’t been to the state playoffs in 30 years.” Experiences like that — and there were many — led to a shift in philosophy. “I started thinking of classroom teaching as a bottom-up approach and government as a top-down ap-
When I have a conversation with her, I feel that I’m heard. Emily is always like ‘Where did that come from? Why did you think that?’ She really cares.” Blomberg saw the system from two angles — first as a teacher and school director in New York City, and then from the other side when she was recruited to the role of Teacher Leader-
Blomberg intends to stay in Southern California, with the ultimate postgraduation goal of making change at the Los Angeles Unified School District. Scheines, due to finish at UCLA Luskin in the same 2014 graduating class, aims to be an education policy advisor for a high-level elected official. Both have the experience of how the
I want to make teaching a profession again as opposed to a weird, unionized embarrassment. proach,” continues Scheines, who taught in Hartford and New Haven, Conn., and then Santa Barbara before coming to UCLA. “I was having a big impact on the kids in front of me, but I felt so micro. I wanted to attack from a macro level.” “Emily is incredibly thoughtful,” says Blomberg, “the way she listens to other’s ideas and builds upon them.
ship Development in a new Teach for America region in Providence, R.I. “When you have a startup region, you have to build the plane while it’s flying,” she says. “There is a fire under her about education,” Scheines says. “She deeply, deeply cares about the kids in our country. It’s cool to see. She is a really positive force.”
system currently works but, more importantly, ideas about how to correct things from what they’ve seen. “Let’s change the equation and make it so these kids don’t need a different life trajectory in high school,” Scheines said. “Let’s make it so these kids don’t have to be saved, so they have a shot from the beginning. It’s like the band aid versus the cure.”
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All the Answers
Franklin D. Gilliam Jr.,
Dean, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs
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On the eve of his second term, Gilliam answered questions about taking over as dean, his first five years and the road ahead. My first impressions of the School formed years before I arrived. At the School’s inception, I was an early faculty member in the department of Public Policy. I had a good working knowledge already. That being said, I was impressed
Like with most things in life, this is a combination of hard work, talented people and luck. Some of it’s hard to calibrate. What I would have done earlier is build our international engagement and focus on global affairs. I don’t know
by several things: The School had an excellent student body; the staff was strong; particularly when it came to the budget, there was a good foundation. The question was: Could we now stabilize the foundations, and move it to the next level of accomplishment? I believe we’ve accomplished several things: > We’ve made significant progress with the culture of the organization and getting people pointed in the right direction — towards excellence.
if we can truly be a great school without getting a handle on the global academic marketplace — we have to be a player somewhere, somehow. We need to ask ourselves: are the faculty members knocking down barriers and are the students doing what they need to do and getting great jobs after graduation? We want to continue doing all of that as a state university. We are obligated to be responsible stewards of public money, and to utilize funds on an efficient and high level. We want to continue our commitment to making sure deserving students have access to our programs and that we’re able to provide support for them. We need to think about areas of inquiry and discovery that are likely for the future, and how that will change the manner by which city leaders distribute good services and opportunities to people. We are getting ahead of the curve with some of these issues. This position is like being a coach — at some point, people get tired of hearing the same voice. At some point, there needs to be a change. There is a reason why there are term limits to being Dean. That being said, we have a few years left to go. There is a sense that we are having a great deal of success with things, so we are optimistic that the future will be bright for us. I’m not quite ready to ride off into the sunset, but my horse is getting new shoes.
> We’ve built the infrastructure of the school. > We have been able to utilize the endowment effectively. > Our faculty has been very productive, evidenced by the surge of grants and student applications to our programs. > We’ve extended our reach in both campus and community life, evidenced by high-profile national and local speakers that we have had. With the Luskin gift, we have been able to provide support to high-quality graduate students. We have also been able to recruit faculty. These initiatives are very important for development of schools. The Luskins’ generosity created the opportunity for us to make sure we could keep good faculty and students here even in a time when people were abandoning the University of California, and to build the capacity to pursue excellence in innovative and novel ways.
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Alumni notes
ON THE FOREFRONT OF CHANGE While working for the aid organization Innovations in Poverty Action, Chris Odell MPP ’11 provided technical assistance to the Kenyan government on a program to treat schoolchildren for intestinal ailments. “People deserve a better life,” he says. “I am dedicating my career to developing information for policy makers so they can make the best decisions about how international aid is dispersed.”
alumni honored
Thomas Brock MSW ’92 was appointed Commissioner of the National Center for Education Research, an arm of the U.S. Department of Education that delivers data on what methods and techniques deliver educational results.
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Will Dominie MURP ’12 earned a Parker Award for his research into L.A. transit-oriented development. The award, given by the Council of University Transportation Centers, honors the best transportation capstone project in the U.S.
Governor Jerry Brown named Katherine Perez-Estolano MA UP ’96 to the board of the California High Speed Rail Authority, the governing body responsible for planning, building and operating the rail network approved by voters in 2008.
USING INFORMATION TO LOWER HEALTHCARE COSTS In the world of medicine, there’s nothing better than an informed consumer. Andrea Sorensen MPP ’12 is at the heart of efforts to increase patient engagement in healthcare decisions. Last July, Sorensen was named a Fellow at Dartmouth’s High Value Healthcare Collaborative, a group of 15 of the best healthcare systems in the U.S. Its mission: improve healthcare and outcomes while reducing costly variations in practice. “The idea is that through sharing institutional-level data in areas of cost, care and outcomes, we can reveal best-practice models currently in place at these health systems,” Sorensen says. The
As I would tell anybody, I’m living my dream. I don’t know how long I get the chance to serve my community, that’s up to the voters, but I am absolutely living my dream. Andre Quintero MA UP ’01, who has served as mayor of the city of El Monte since 2009.
Collaborative will apply the lessons learned at one hospital across all of its locations. Last July, the Collaborative got a boost in the form of a grant from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. By encouraging patients to become active participants in their healthcare decisions, the grant is predicted to save member hospitals as much as $64 million over three years. “Patients who are more informed about treatment options and engaged in their care will not only improve care and better align with patient values and preferences, but also potentially lead to reduced utilization” of healthcare resources, Sorensen explains.
FROM DROP-OUT TO DROP-OUT PREVENTER Debra Duardo MSW ’96 only made it a week in high school before she decided that earning money at Kentucky Fried Chicken was more important than an education. Fast-forward to 2013. She is Executive Director of Health and Human Services at the Los Angeles Unified School District, helping today’s high schoolers avoid the wrong turn she made in her own education career. She is studying for her doctorate in educational leadership at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. And in April she was named “Alumna of the Year” by UCLA Luskin’s Department of Social Welfare. She credits her return to higher learning to an unlikely source: a birth defect that struck her first child, Bruce. Born with spina bifida, Bruce spent much of his early years in doctor’s offices. The visits sent Debra a message. “I was a teen mom and I was in the hospital and all these specialized doctors kept coming to see me,” Duardo said. “I didn’t understand everything they were saying and I thought ‘This child will have a lot of needs. I need an education.’” To those students she encounters in her work at LAUSD, she has some simple advice. “If I can do it with four kids, then anyone can do it.”
CREATING SAFE SPACES Taking public transportation with an energetic, rambunctious child is hard enough. Now, imagine that child has autism. The condition brings another set of challenges for caretakers, many of which are not understood. Lisa Schweitzer UP Ph.D. ’04 has spent much of her career researching what barriers the built environment creates for parents of autistic children. “[Autistic] kids either love buses or struggle on them,” Schweitzer said. “Some get excited on the bus and are always touching people and things which can make some [riders] uncomfortable, and it’s exhausting for caregivers to constantly monitor and control.”
In addition to transit, her research looked at other aspects of the built environment, including parks. Schweitzer suggested a simple fence or enclosed space within parks would improve safety and greatly benefit caregivers. Schweitzer has always been focused on promoting greater social justice and inclusion. Since autistic children and their caregivers are examples of excluded groups, her research will shed light on how policy makers and planners can do a better job to accommodate these populations. “Parents don’t have a lot of time or the know-how to address these kinds of issues,” she said. “This research provides the foundation to begin the dialogue needed to help these underserved communities.” luskin.ucla.edu
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lasting image
Every Thursday, a group of students explores the streets of Los Angeles in what has become known as “the Urban Spelunkers.” The group, which began as a cluster of Urban Planning students, now includes those from each of UCLA Luskin’s three departments. Meeting on the the School’s rooftop, the team of spelunkers, which organizes its outings through their Facebook page, traverses such areas as the Hollywood Hills, the ghost town of Surfridge near LAX, and Chinatown. To learn more about the group and its activities, check out the “Did You Know?” section of UCLA Luskin’s YouTube page at youtube.com/uclaluskin
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GIVE BACK TO THE NEXT GENERATION Join the Dean’s Associates! Friends of UCLA Luskin who contribute annually with gifts totaling $2,500 or more are enrolled in the Dean’s Associates, an exclusive group of the School’s closest allies supporting student fellowships and other critical needs. Dean’s Associates members receive: >>> Invitations to special events and networking opportunities >>> Recognition in School publications >>> Personal assistance with campus needs >>> Complimentary parking for select campus events >>> Additional benefits available through the UCLA Fund For more information, contact the development department at (310) 206-7949.
Are You Part of Luskin Online? Join the online professional networking site for UCLA Luskin graduates! To register, go to LuskinOnline.ucla.edu and enter your Alumni or Student ID number. Your Alumni ID is on the mailing label of this magazine.
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