Calendar of Events

The annual series’ aim is to bring together the worlds of academic exploration and practical politics to illuminate discussion of the broader principles and ideas of representative government. Such a synthesis is true to the spirit of the lecture’s honorees – John C. Bollens, John C. Ries, and Marvin Hoffenberg – former distinguished professors in UCLA’s Department of Political Science.Antonio R. Villaraigosa is the 41st Mayor of Los Angeles.  In 2005, Villaraigosa ran for Mayor of Los Angeles on a platform of bringing the City together to take on the big challenges.  During his first term, Mayor Villaraigosa built the police force to its largest size in history, oversaw the steepest reduction in crime since the 1950s, and developed Los Angeles’ first comprehensive anti-gang strategy.  Mayor Villaraigosa dedicated much of his first term to reforming Los Angeles’s public schools and now oversees the Partnership for LA Schools, which runs ten of the lowest-performing schools.  Within one year, test scores are already rising. With the launching of GREEN LA, the Mayor set Los Angeles on the path to becoming one of the greenest big cities in the nation.  The City has met the Kyoto targets for reducing greenhouse gases four years ahead of schedule; taken over 2,000 dirty diesel trucks off the road; met the first target of getting 10% of energy from renewable sources and is on track to reaching 40% by 2020; and put into place the most aggressive green building program of any large city.On March 3, 2009, Mayor Villaraigosa was re-elected and took the oath for a second term on July 1, 2009.  Pledging to finish the work begun in his first term, Mayor Villaraigosa laid out an agenda centered on five focused goals for four years. First and foremost of these goals, will be his effort to lead Los Angeles out of the recession and create jobs. The Mayor will also work to shut down failing schools and reconstitute them as innovation campuses, public charters or members of the Partnership Schools; set the city’s Department of Water and Power on a path to becoming coal free by 2020; oversee the largest mass transit construction program in America; and fight to keep Los Angeles one of the safest big cities in the nation by keeping the police force at 10,000 officers strong and crime at historic lows. –>