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In Support New initiatives and other fundraising highlights at the Luskin School

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DEAN’S ASSOCIATES EVENT CELEBRATES FELLOWSHIP DONORS

In March, donors who contributed $1,000 or more to the Luskin School over the previous year assembled for our first post-pandemic, in-person Dean’s Associates gathering.

The event is expected to become an annual gathering to underscore the importance and impact of donations, from attracting top-tier students to funding internships at nonprofits that help the communities that have been most damaged by injustice.

Our donors span a wide range of work done at the Luskin School, and we were able to acknowledge donors to all disciplinary areas for their essential roles in investing in communities of need. We cannot emphasize the significance of those gifts enough. They help fight for social justice at the academic, professional and policy level across a range of topic areas. Our donors’ generosity is an integral part of social change through investing in the next generation of leadership.

Interim Dean Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris emphasized to the audience that during this time of change, the School will continue to stress pedagogical excellence. She emphasized the need to protect vulnerable students, and to foster faculty and staff well-being in order for UCLA Luskin to continue its upward trajectory. To advance those academic priorities, she is prioritizing development of two new master’s degrees and a new certificate in e-governance. See details on page 10.

The luncheon highlighted a gift by Ralph, Shirley and Peter Shapiro to UCLA Social Welfare that funds field placements related to special care within dental and orthodontic clinics at UCLA. The gift also supports a clinical supervisor.

The fellowships provide critical social work services to otherwise underserved patients with special needs at the UCLA School of Dentistry, UCLA’s Center for Cerebral Palsy and UCLA’s Orthopedic Clinic, while also encouraging the next generation of social workers to pursue careers working with this patient population. The event allowed UCLA Luskin’s Development staff to thank the Shapiro family, and attendees had an opportunity to learn about the tremendous impact of their gift on our students, staff and patients. This celebratory presentation and luncheon were intended to illustrate the importance of giving and giving back.

Student presentations were given by Meagan Smith-Bocanegra and Mario Rivera, interns in the clinics. Smith-Bocanegra is pursuing her MSW and focusing on social work within medical settings, including biopsychosocial impacts of social work for individuals experiencing chronic health conditions and the implementation of psychosocial supports into medical and dental settings.

“By far the most impactful experience [at UCLA Luskin] is my current internship at the UCLA School of Dentistry’s Special Patient Care Clinic, made possible by your Shapiro Fellowship,” Smith-Bocanegra said. “I am already learning so much about medical social work and gaining so much valuable experience in working with special needs populations and their families.”

Rivera, a second-year MSW student, is focusing on medical social work and plans to become a licensed clinical social worker.

“The fellowship provided me with the opportunity to intern in a hospital setting,” he said. “My internship has been a great experience so far, one that I am learning so much from. I am getting essential tools and clinical skills that are making me a competitive candidate post-program.”

Those interested in supporting student fellowships may contact Nicole Payton, senior executive director of external affairs, at  npayton@luskin.ucla.edu.

—Tilly Oren

 

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Financial support for first-year students at UCLA Luskin is made possible by a gift from Michael Mahdesian.

MAHDESIAN GIFT PROVIDES OPPORTUNITIES IN GLOBAL PUBLIC AFFAIRS

The International Practice Pathway opportunity in the Global Public Affairs program provides financial support for first-year students seeking summer placements  in low- and middle-income countries.

Such placements are made possible in  part by the generosity of Michael Mahdesian, chairman of the board at Servicon Systems and a member of the UCLA Luskin Board of Advisors.

Student recipients attest to the program’s far-reaching benefits. Writing in the GPA blog in 2020, Dan Flynn MPP ’21 credited the program for allowing him to “support the work of change agents around the world in combating corruption, gaining invaluable knowledge about the multifaceted nature of anti-corruption work, and gaining exposure to local, regional and global challenges. I am deeply grateful … for the opportunity to gain such meaningful experience and insight.”

The program is a global gatewayfor students to work with international communities whose lives are being negatively affected by political, economic  and environmental processes. The students learn through a cross-disciplinary orientation surrounding international issues in fields such as urban planning, social welfare, public policy, economics, administration, public health and environmental sciences. The goal is to prepare future practitioners for work in complex and diverse settings by providing hands-on experience in international environments.

Another aspect of the program supported by Mahdesian’s gift is an annual educational trip to Washington, D.C., during spring break. Students meet with a range of professionals working in global public affairs in and around the nation’s capital.

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Yaroslavsky fellow Nangha N. Cuadros is the chair and a co-founder of First-Gen Luskin Students.

YAROSLAVSKY FELLOWSHIP ALLOWS FIRST-GENERATION STUDENT TO  FOCUS ON LEARNING

This year’s Yaroslavsky fellow is Nangha N. Cuadros, who is one of the policy fellows for the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute, or UCLA LPPI, where she is developing a policy toolkit about past Medi-Cal expansions.

The fellowship was founded in honor of the late Barbara Edelston Yaroslavsky by her husband and UCLA faculty member, Zev Yaroslavsky BA ’71, MA ’72.

Zev Yaroslavsky is the director of the Los Angeles Initiative at UCLA and a former public official who was at the forefront of Los Angeles County’s biggest issues for many years. After the death of his wife, Barbara, in 2018, he sought to memorialize her spirit of compassionate activism and her dedication to health care for all. The Barbara Edelston Yaroslavsky Memorial Fellowship Fund supports students who demonstrate leadership in their communities, with an emphasis on health and public health policy. Stipends help cover the cost of tuition, fees and other educational expenses, freeing students like Cuadros to focus on their studies while also pursuing hands-on learning and service opportunities during their time on campus.

Cuadros is the chair and one of the co-founders of First-Gen Luskin Students. She is the public policy representative for the Social Sciences Council and is a participant in UCLA Luskin’s Senior Fellows mentoring program. She has held leadership positions with the UCLA Luskin Latinx Caucus and Public Policy Leadership Association. Her career goal is to work for a research entity as a policy research analyst.

Before coming to UCLA, Cuadros did not have health policy experience and this made it more difficult for her to land paid internships in health policy. Because of the fellowship, she was able to apply for meaningful, but unpaid, internships instead.

In summer 2022, she completed an internship with the Bixby Center on Population and Reproductive Health.

The Yaroslavsky fellowship allows Cuadros to gain unpaid experience in the health policy field while still being able to afford her rent and buy groceries. The financial freedom also provided flexibility in the types of internships she could seek, and it is allowing her to devote time toward applying for post-graduation work. She is very thankful to the Yaroslavsky family for the financial freedom to pursue experiences that will uplift her career aspirations.

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Vishal Hira joins UCLA Luskin as associate director of development after previously working in UCLA External Affairs. Photo by Les Dunseith

ANNUAL FUND IS A KEY FOCUS OF NEW DEVELOPMENT STAFF MEMBER

Vishal Hira is the new associate director of development for the Luskin School’s Development team.

Hira’s position occupies a unique intersection of external affairs, stewardship and alumni affairs, which are distinct areas of specialization at other academic units at UCLA and elsewhere. He will foster interdepartmental collaboration, working in cooperation with the School’s new director of alumni engagement, Karina Mascorro, to emphasize diverse perspectives at all organizational levels.

He is no stranger to UCLA or the Luskin School, having collaborated with his new colleagues in his previous role within the Prospect Management & Development Analytics department of UCLA External Affairs.

Hira also has been part of the university’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion efforts, making his background an ideal match for UCLA Luskin. He sees the new role as an opportunity to expand his reach, as well as a chance to work within a team to benefit a school whose mission and values closely align with his own.

Hiring managers praised Hira’s dynamic outlook and disposition, and his experience “working with stakeholders in diverse environments, ranging from grassroots to corporate, will help us build upon a strong foundation for development in these times of change,” said Ricardo Quintero, senior director of development at the Luskin School.

Upon joining the staff in mid-March, Hira began working to design and execute multichannel communications and solicitation strategies for annual giving. Colleagues expect the School to immediately benefit from his deep passion for fostering relationships, and holistic organizational and community advancement.

Hira has firsthand experience organizing grassroots efforts, including working on dozens of well-attended events for nonprofits that include amBi, Being Alive and Gathering of
the Tribes.

“I would love to bring my well-rounded skill set, passion, diplomacy, integrity and commitment to such a prestigious school,” he said in applying for the job. He also pledged to “be a valuable asset to the Development team at Luskin and continue to build upon its remarkable success story.”

Message From the Dean

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The year 2023 arrived finding me, suddenly and unexpectedly, at the helm of our School. But as the sentiments of surprise and overwhelmingness subside, I feel excitement, optimism and joy for the future of the Luskin School.

Yes, it is true that our School emerged in the new year having been hit by a triple tsunami — a global pandemic that emptied our building’s corridors and classrooms and forced us to become a “Zoom university”; a stressful labor strike that brought disagreement and tensions; and a sudden loss in leadership with the resignation of our previous dean, Gary Segura.

But it is also true that our School has been blessed throughout its 29-year history with effective, forward-looking deans, who have helped us witness a consistently upward trajectory.

Today, we have the largest and most diverse faculty in our history. We have research centers that produce and disseminate knowledge locally and globally. We have bright graduate and undergraduate students who want to improve the world around them. We have a very able and supportive staff and a well-networked advisory board, both with the good of the School as their focus. And we have alumni and other donors believing in our School and supporting it materially and otherwise, with the Luskin family at the top of this list.

The research undertaken in our School aligns extremely well with UCLA’s vision of becoming “the most impactful university
in the world.”

Our city, our region and indeed the nation and the globe are confronted with critical and, at times, interrelated challenges: deepening social inequality, housing insecurity and climate change, to name some of the most important ones. United by our mission to promote social justice in communities and cities, a lot of the work that our faculty is involved in concentrates on improving the position of vulnerable and marginalized social groups (racial/ethnic and gender minorities, older adults, immigrants, children, unhoused and disabled individuals, etc.) through sound and progressive policy and planning.

Faced with disasters such as drought and wildfires in our state, brought upon us by human action and causing uneven and adverse effects on communities, some of our faculty are also involved in studies about the sustainability and resilience of our ecosystems, our air and water, and the intersection of environmental policies with justice.

The fiscalization of land and market-driven urbanism in our cities have led to dispossession, residential and commercial displacement, housing unaffordability and homelessness, which
are particularly acute in our region. Some of our faculty and research centers are at the forefront of studying and developing policy recommendations to address these menaces.

And there are other very important issues and challenges requiring policy attention involving police brutality, mass shootings, inferior access to education or health services, voting rights — to name just a few — that my colleagues are working
on and helping to develop responses.

The portfolio of our School’s work is indeed impressive, but there is room for more. At the time of this writing, a proposal for a Master of Real Estate Development (MRED) is passing through the last round of reviews from the UCLA Academic Senate. It aspires to educate a new type of real estate professional: people who are not only technical experts in the field but also experts in the ethical and political underpinnings of development. Additionally, driven by our conviction that we should educate global citizens, and that global issues are also experienced locally, we are developing a new master’s degree in Global Public Affairs. Lastly, a faculty committee is examining the opportunity to develop a certificate program for our alumni and others who wish to learn about new technologies and digital tools for public policy — skills that we currently offer to our students, but which have changed significantly from previous decades.

So, the coming years will be busy and exciting. There is a lot to be done, but the future is bright.

Thank you very much for your support and for staying close to our School!

Anastasia

 

Alumni Accolades

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Regina Wallace-Jones MPP ’99 was appointed as the first  Black female CEO and president of ActBlue, an organization that builds tech and infrastructure for Democratic campaigns and progressive-aligned causes.

Eric Schroer MPP ’19 is now the exploratory research manager  for the California Department of Social Services, where he aids research projects.

Lys Mendez MURP ’12 and a Bohnett Fellow alumna started  a new position as communications director at the California Air Resources Board.

Hilary Stein MSW ’19 became a clinical advisor at NOCD, a telehealth provider for the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Stein started with NOCD as an associate therapist in 2022.

Christopher Mann MSW ’17 is now a child and adolescent inpatient clinical social worker at UCLA Health. Mann is also  co-founding co-chair of the UCLA Health Pride Network.

Rachel DuRose BA Public Affairs ’21 started a new position  as a fellow with Vox’s Future Perfect Team.

Michael Lima-Sabatini BA Public Affairs ’22 started a new position as grants coordinator at Food Forward, a nonprofit that brings fresh surplus fruits and vegetables to people experiencing food insecurity in California and neighboring states.

Rutik Shinglot BA Public Affairs ’22 is now an associate at  Tusk Strategies, a political, regulatory and communication advisory firm specializing in blockchain and crypto technology.

Triple Bruin Shana Charles BA Political Science ’97 MPP ’01 PhD ’09 was honored by Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva  as one of the Women of Distinction in District 67.

Ahmanise Sanati MSW ’10 received the Woman of the Year  Award from the California Women’s Caucus.

Triple Bruin Karina Walters BA Sociology ’87 MSW ’90  SW PhD ’95 was appointed to lead the NIH Tribal Health  Research Office.

Shonté Johnson MSW ’19 started a new position as associate clinical social worker at Epiphany counseling, consulting and treatment services.

Genevieve Hernandez MURP ’13 started a new position as director of land use for the San Diego Housing Commission.

Megan Miller MSW ’22 is now a social work clinician for  pediatric heart transplants at Stanford Children’s Health,  Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital in Palo Alto.

Alumni Notes Luskin School hosts in-person gatherings in Los Angeles, Sacramento

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UCLA Luskin resumed its schedule of annual alumni receptions on March 16 when, for the first time since the pandemic, alumni from all departments gathered at the Bonaventure Brewing Co. in Downtown Los Angeles.

This networking event brought together alumni from Public Policy, Social Welfare, Urban Planning and the Undergraduate Program. Joined by staff and faculty that included the current department chairs, alumni had the opportunity to connect (and reconnect) with a vibrant and diverse group of individuals committed to social change, building community and giving back to the Luskin School.

Additional alumni receptions took place April 6 in San Francisco and June 1 in Sacramento.

Alumni are encouraged to be on the lookout for future UCLA Luskin networking opportunities, including monthly Cafecito con Luskin and quarterly Luskin Aperitivos gatherings being held at venues across Greater Los Angeles.

To learn more, just search online for UCLA Luskin alumni relations or contact Director of Alumni Engagement Karina Mascorro, PhD, at kmascorro@luskin.ucla.edu.

 View photos from the Los Angeles gathering

L.A. Alumni Reception 2023

Seen & Heard

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In June 2022, graduating students from the UCLA Luskin Ph.D., master’s and undergraduate degree programs were asked to complete this sentence: “My UCLA Luskin degree means to me …”

young man in cap and gown… a pathway to achieve social justice.” —Jason A. Plummer, PhD in Social Welfare

 

young woman in cap and gown… investing back into myself so that I can help support my community.” —Samantha Guerrero, Urban Planning

 

young woman in cap and gown… I can really go out in the community and make the change that I came to this degree to make.” —Maureen Alam, Public Policy

 

young woman in cap and gown… that I will have the opportunity to help others in our community and be able to work in different settings and help various populations.” —Louisa Cascione, Social Welfare

 

young woman in cap and gown… an opportunity to change the world.” —Anette Ramirez Valenzuela, Public Policy

 

young woman in cap and gown… make a real impact on the world.” —Sarah Perez, Public Affairs

 

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… that I have the tools to go out into communities in Los Angeles and learn from community members themselves in order to create change.” —Delaney Ivey, Public Affairs

 

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… empowerment, for me and my family. I am a first-generation student, so it’s really valuable.” —Margarita Palafox, Social Welfare

 

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… liberation, hope and freedom for my people.” —Taylor Reed, PhD in Social Welfare

 

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… working together to tackle issues and, hopefully, solve them.” —Camille Schaefer, Public Affairs

 

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… a pathway to more opportunities.” —Noe Garcia, Public Affairs

 

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… being of service to others.” —Carlos Hollopeter, Social Welfare

 

young man in cap and gown… the ability to just help people. That’s the reason I got into public service in the first place.” —Rasik Hussain, Public Policy

 

All images derived from video recorded by Michael Troxell

Alumni Accolades

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Chanell Lajoi Gore BA ’06 MPP ’11 is now senior operations manager at Possibility Labs, a social change platform that envisions an economy where historically marginalized communities have the wealth, power and resources to produce clean air, water and energy for everyone.

Ashley Mashian MURP ’15 is the new planning deputy at the city of Los Angeles. She is responsible for serving the greater Western San Fernando Valley.

Ricardo Ferreira MPP ’21 is now an associate sustainability advisor at ISS Corporate Solutions, which helps companies design and manage their environmental, social and governance programs to reduce risk and address the needs of diverse stakeholders.

Jonathan Kosaka MPP ’20 is the new controller at Robert Walters in Tokyo, Japan. Based in Great Britain, the company is a worldwide specialist in professional recruitment.

Samantha Brown Olivieri MPP ’09 is now the chief executive officer at Step Up Tutoring. Olivieri has extensive experience in education policy and is one of many MPP alums working in education management, services and policy.

McKenna Morgan Christensen MPP ’20 started a new position as a policy analyst at the Utah Department of Health and Human Services with the Tobacco Prevention and Control Program.

Caitlin Thompson BA’15 MPP ’20 is the new project director at UCLA Health.

Noreen Ahmed MPP ’20 is Imagine LA’s new family team manager. She serves as a clinical case manager for families who recently exited homelessness.

Dulce Vasquez MPP ’20 is now assistant vice president at Arizona State University. She oversees strategic advancement in the Los Angeles region and reports to the Office of the President.

portrait photos of six alumni

From left, Alex Michel, Nelson Guevara (top), Khanh Phu (below), Daniela Garcia Martinez (top), Kristen Gas (below), Samantha Joanna (Sam) Guerrero.

Fresh From Luskin

Ever wonder what kind of employment opportunities new UCLA Luskin alums secure post-graduation? Look no further. In this Alumni Accolades section, we highlight a handful of ’22 grads and their current positions.

Daniela Garcia Martinez MPP ’22 is a program manager at America On Tech, which creates pathways into degrees and careers in technology to decrease the economic and racial wealth gap in underserved communities.

Nelson Guevara MURP ’22 is a transportation planning associate in the city of Los Angeles’ Department of Transportation.

Samantha Joanna (Sam) Guerrero MURP ’22 is an associate at Estolano Advisors, an award-winning and Latina-owned urban planning and public policy firm in downtown Los Angeles that currently employs several UCLA MURP alumni.

Alex Michel MSW ’22 MPP ’22 is the new senior policy analyst at the nonprofit Homebase/The Center for Common Concerns. 

Kristen Gast MSW ’22 is a youth advocate at First Place for Youth, an organization founded in 1998 to prevent poverty and homelessness among youth who age out of foster care.

Khanh Phu MSW ’22 is a clinical case manager at Angels Foster Family Network
in San Diego.

Alumni Notes Social Welfare Alumni Support Students; Cheung Takes on New Role

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A group of MSW alumni who have sustained a close bond developed during their time at UCLA Luskin turned their camaraderie into a commitment to support current students.

Nine members of the class of 2011 launched the Together Crecemos Scholarship Fund to provide financial assistance to a first-year Social Welfare student who is committed to promoting equity, championing social justice and contributing to the community. The inspiration for the fund, whose name means “Together We Grow,” came during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the group met virtually each week for support and encouragement.

They inaugurated the scholarship program in 2021, and the first award was in the amount of $2,011, a nod to their graduation year.

That award was given to Julia Cocilion, who impressed the alumni with her moving personal story and vision to engage in equitable social work practices, said Bridgette Amador, one of the alumni organizers.

“It was a joy to learn more about the first-year students from their applications and to see the high caliber of students in the UCLA MSW program,” Amador said. “We hope to continue to grow the scholarship fund for years to come.”

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Stephen Cheung. UCLA Luskin file photo

ALUMNUS STEPHEN CHEUNG TO LEAD L.A. COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

UCLA Luskin Board of Advisors member Stephen Cheung has been named the new president and CEO of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC), succeeding longtime president Bill Allen when he retires in January.

Cheung, a double Bruin who earned his master’s in social welfare at UCLA in 2007, is currently the chief operating officer at the nonprofit organization, which focuses on equitable economic growth in the region. He also leads the LAEDC-affiliated World Trade Center Los Angeles and previously managed policies and programs related to the Port of Los Angeles.

“Our staff, board and I all agree that LAEDC will be in excellent hands under the leadership of our COO Stephen Cheung,” Allen said in a news release. “Stephen has been a tremendous partner to me in leading the LAEDC and WTCLA for the past seven years, and I’m genuinely excited to see where he will take the organization over the next decade.”

Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors chair Holly J. Mitchell said, “Stephen has been a steadfast champion to crush the digital divide and to ensure an economy that works for all county residents. We are indeed grateful for Bill Allen’s 17 years of service and look forward to working with Stephen Cheung in the years ahead.” 

An active alumnus who has been a member of the Board of Advisors at the Luskin School since 2018, Cheung helped conceive the School’s annual Luskin Summit event and continues to serve on its organizing committee.

In Support A look at longtime support from Liberty Hill Foundation, plus new initiatives and an overview of fundraising goals

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LUSKIN FELLOWS AT LIBERTY HILL FOUNDATION TAKE ACTION

Thanks to the ongoing support of Stephanie ’81 and Harold Bronson ’72, Luskin Fellows have been interning with Liberty Hill Foundation since 2014, balancing their academic curricula with experiential work for a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that is “a laboratory for social change philanthropy.”

Luskin Fellows focus on building a just and equitable society, learning from and researching the efficacy of policies that are at the core of Liberty Hill Foundation’s progressive initiatives.

Luskin Fellows intern at Liberty Hill over the summer, focusing on coordinated projects that give practical application to their coursework while illuminating the grassroots efforts necessary to drive change.

Luskin Fellow Christian Lua, a second-year MPP student, had the opportunity to pivot from his work in the public sector to the Public-Private Partnerships team, exposing him to joint work.

The team has a diverse set of interdisciplinary duties with the Housing Justice team and Environmental Justice teams. “It is interesting to see how these duties and responsibilities dissect between each other,” Lua said.

Sonia Zamora, also a second-year MPP student, expressed gratitude for the opportunity to work on the foundation’s Youth Justice team.

“As someone who considers themselves a generalist in the Master of Public Policy program, I was more than delighted to undertake this opportunity,” said Zamora, who had no prior experience in either the work of foundations or youth justice initiatives.

It was a “formative and illuminating experience. I am thankful to have had this opportunity and so grateful to everyone on the Youth Justice team and the Liberty Hill staff for allowing me to be part of their important work,” Zamora said.

The Luskin School expects to continue its partnership with Liberty Hill, enabling future students to continue working on causes at the core of our shared mission.

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Dean’s Associates Giving Society

UCLA Luskin is relaunching the Dean’s Associates giving society, whose members support the School at a leadership level of $1,000 or more. Dean’s Associates receive special communications and an invitation to intimate gatherings. Members also qualify to be a part of the university-wide Chancellor’s Society, another unique opportunity to connect more deeply with fellow UCLA alumni, parents, students and friends, as well as with the university itself. Chancellor’s Society donors of all recognition levels are invited to a special event hosted by Chancellor Gene Block at the end of the academic year.

If you’re interested in learning more about how you can get involved, contact Assistant Director of Stewardship Tilly Oren at toren@luskin.ucla.edu.

GILBERT FOUNDATION FUNDS UCLA-HEBREW UNIVERSITY SCHOOL VIOLENCE COLLABORATION

A grant from the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation will support a new partnership between UCLA and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem focused on developing school violence prevention strategies to turn campuses into safe and welcoming places for children worldwide.

The Collaboration for Safe Schools is a two-year pilot program connecting scholars and practitioners globally and across disciplines
to share research and insights related to the complex underlying causes of school violence. Read more on page 11.

The Gilbert Foundation grant, awarded to UCLA and American Friends of the Hebrew University, covers half of the pilot program’s expected budget of $1.3 million.

The foundation invites other funders to “join this important initiative to create a safer and more peaceable world.”

SCHOOL SETS FUNDRAISING PRIORITIES

Faculty recruitment and retention, equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) programs, internships and partnerships are among UCLA Luskin’s fundraising priorities.

Adding more doctoral fellowships to assist in recruiting PhD students is another priority. A strategic plan to further build fundraising at the Luskin School and increase support for student fellows throughout Los Angeles County also seeks to bolster professional internships for students pursuing an undergraduate public affairs degree.

Amid concern about threats to democracy, the School expects to expand programming, outreach and educational efforts relating to fostering good government. The vision looks beyond California, and a planned expansion of the Global Public Affairs program at UCLA Luskin is on the horizon.

UCLA Luskin’s efforts to enhance partnerships with local governments and policy experts will emphasize the role of civic society institutions in making governments responsible, pushing them ultimately to do more.

The School plans to improve the reach and efficacy of its initiatives in Los Angeles at all levels, from grassroots to governmental. Such programs are a launching pad for a deeper presence and future growth of the academic community, its current students and alumni.

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Students, professionals, board members and faculty gather at a fireside chat focusing on homelessness, housing and government. Photo by Laura Scarano

THE MANY WAYS THAT EDI FUNDS SUPPORT STUDENTS

Equity, diversity and inclusion efforts have long been a priority at UCLA Luskin as departments seek to provide financial support to students from underrepresented backgrounds and diversify the fields related to the School’s degree programs in public policy, social welfare and urban planning.

Such funds provide various types of assistance:

  • internships with nonprofit community organizations that otherwise couldn’t afford to provide a paid internship. This is a double win: The student gets paid while gaining professional experience, and the community organization gets a funded temporary position.
  • fellowships, allowing students to devote more time to learning instead of having to hold down a job or being saddled with unsustainable debt. Eligible students receive $7,500 per quarter.
  • fireside chats at which students can meet in small groups with professionals in their fields of study. The goal is to discuss pressing social issues and policy implications in the professionals’ work within public affairs. Fundraising efforts so far have yielded $115,000 for these gatherings, and the primary goal is to center discussions around racial and social justice. In the 2022-23 academic year, fireside chats will look at homelessness and affordable housing in combination with another component.

    • A fall quarter session dealt with homelessness, housing and government. In winter quarter, real estate developers will be the focus. Finally, in spring quarter, the discussion will turn to the role of nonprofits in working with the unhoused.
  • bolstering a newly reorganized department of student services within UCLA Luskin.
  • supporting the Diversity, Disparities and Differences (D3) group and its activities.
  • funding new efforts such as an initiative within the department of Urban Planning that identified seven students involved with the Racial Justice Action Plan to be fellowship recipients.

The UCLA Luskin Development team continues to seek additional EDI funds to support even more students whose academic promise and career goals embody the mission of the Luskin School. An anonymous donor generously contributed $50,000 in honor of the department of Urban Planning’s 50th anniversary — the largest gift for the fund to date. We are grateful for this transformative gift that directly impacts the lives of students.

Are you interested in learning more or contributing? Contact Nicole Payton at npayton@luskin.ucla.edu.

 

Message From the Dean

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As you may have heard by the time this issue reaches you, I have stepped down as dean of the Luskin School of Public Affairs, effective at the end of 2022. [Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris has been appointed as interim dean, beginning Jan. 1.]

Serving as dean these last six years has been a profound privilege and, without exception, the best experience of my career. And part of what made that experience so wonderful was getting to meet and learn about the incredibly important and impactful work being done by UCLA Luskin alumni across Los Angeles, the state of California and beyond. The Luskin School has many things of which it can be justly proud, but none so exceptional as its more than 9,000 alumni doing good work for good purposes every day.

The last six years have been transformative.

Together, and with the magnificent foundation provided by Renee and Meyer Luskin’s amazing gift, we have expanded and deepened the impact and scope of the School. In six years, we enlarged the ladder faculty to 59 and have hired more than half our current faculty. Today, that faculty is evenly divided by gender, and a majority of UCLA Luskin ladder faculty are scholars of color.

The founding and growth of the undergraduate major in public affairs has more than doubled the student population, from 525 to more than 1,100.

We have dramatically enlarged our overall levels of extramural research and grant support. UCLA Luskin faculty garnered a record $38.3 million just last year.

The Latino Policy and Politics Institute and the Hub for Health Intervention Policy and Practice were both established and flourished. The UCLA Voting Rights Project waged judicial battle across the country to protect fair and equal voting rights. Social workers traveled to asylee detention camps at the southern border to provide support, counselling and assistance. And Luskin School faculty stepped up in a big way to help mitigate the effects of COVID-19 on Los Angeles’ most vulnerable populations.

Since my appointment, our philanthropic efforts together fundraised $39.03 million on 4,522 gifts, both big and small, ranging from 10 dollars to $3.2 million, all to enhance and deepen the teaching and research efforts of the School and its fine faculty.   

With the great times came the hard ones. We said goodbye to our friends, mourning VC Powe, Zeke Hasenfeld, Martin Wachs, Mark Kleiman and Leo Estrada, as well as earlier retirees such as Karen Lee, Leland Burns and Joel Handler.

We spent four quarters, two summers and a few additional weeks running five university graduate programs and an undergraduate major from our couches and dining tables, hoping to spare faculty, staff and students from the ravages of a global pandemic. The class of 2020 had graduation online. The class of 2021 had a distanced ceremony in the tennis stadium, without their families present.

But through it all, the Luskin School of Public Affairs persevered, stuck firmly to its mission, trained a generation of change-makers, and had an impact. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Events at UCLA have been, frankly, turbulent in the last months, as you have no doubt read. The Luskin School needs leadership that is fresh and energetic to face the challenges and opportunities to come. I look forward to supporting my successor and I hope you will too. I know you will embrace the new dean with the same warmth, help and enthusiasm from which I so richly benefitted. For my part, I look forward to returning to my first love, classroom teaching.

In the coming years, it’s my sincere hope that the Luskin School continues to make change in Los Angeles and beyond. I know that it will. Thank you for being part of that journey and allowing me to join you.

All the best,

Gary

Recalling Social Welfare’s ‘Finest Moment’ After Los Angeles erupted in racially charged violence 30 years ago, UCLA faculty and students gave people in a city under siege the chance to talk

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By Les Dunseith and Stan Paul

In 1992, four police officers were acquitted in the beating of a Black man, Rodney King, whose brutal arrest had been caught on camera. Pent-up fury from years of racial and economic inequality in Los Angeles spilled onto the streets in waves of burning, looting and violence that lasted three days and left 45 people dead.

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Distinguished Professor Emerita Rosina Becerra was dean of the School of Social Work at UCLA in 1992. Photo by Les Dunseith

Rosina Becerra was dean of UCLA Social Welfare at the time. Joe Nunn and Alfreda Iglehart were on the faculty. Laura Alongi was in her early 20s and a second-year master’s student studying to be a social worker.

What they and others did next was “perhaps our finest moment,” said Nunn, who like Becerra and Iglehart is now a professor emeritus at the Luskin School of Public Affairs.

“There were people who were afraid to leave their houses,” Becerra remembered. “A lot of people were unable to figure out where to get services. They didn’t know who to call.”

Within days of the uprising, officials at Los Angeles’ public television station, KCET, reached out seeking advice through Mitch Maki, a field faculty member at the time whose wife was a station employee. Becerra recalls sitting at a conference table with Maki and station employees eager to assist but unsure how to respond to people’s emotional turmoil. What did people need?

“Mostly, they need a chance to talk,” Becerra told them.

Three days later, UCLA Social Welfare and KCET-TV launched a crisis line during which faculty, students and other volunteers recruited by UCLA answered calls from distressed citizens via the telephones normally used during the station’s pledge drives. They called it, “A Chance to Talk: Emotional Support in Times of Crisis.”

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Field faculty member Laura Alongi was a student in 1992. UCLA Luskin file photo

Alongi was one of the student volunteers, helping to fill weekday shifts that ran for four hours each morning and four more in the evenings, plus 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. on weekends. While the crisis line was in operation, KCET viewers were encouraged by news anchor Val Zavala to call a number shown on their screens if they needed to talk to one of the people working the phones behind her.

Because of the urgency of the situation, volunteers like Alongi only had time for a brief orientation. She had never worked a crisis hotline. Moving about the city to get to the TV studio still felt dangerous. And racial tensions remained high, especially between Black residents and the Korean shop owners whose properties had been a frequent target of rioters.

Alongi remembers being filled with anxiety.

“Is this something I should be doing?” she worried. “Do I even have the right to do this, given that I’m, you know, a young white woman and not impacted in the same way?”

Her anxiety was replaced by a sense of fulfillment once she began taking calls.

“It was fantastic,” said Alongi, now a member of UCLA Social Welfare’s field faculty herself. “The people I spoke to were all just afraid and hurt and sad. They wanted to be able to talk about that with another human being.”

Alongi recalled speaking with an older woman who lived in South Los Angeles near where the unrest began.

“She was crying. And she said, ‘How did it get to this? How did we end up being these people that fight each other in this way?’”

Some calls involved directing people to services. One caller said her market had burned down and she didn’t know where to go now for food. But mostly, Alongi said, she was there just to listen.

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Professor Emerita Alfreda Iglehart helped organize the crisis hotline after the civil unrest.

“We didn’t know what to expect,” said Iglehart, who helped organize the effort and later contributed to an academic paper about it. “And you did have some angry callers.”

Volunteers were instructed to remain calm, Becerra said. “No matter what anyone ever said to you, you’re not to get mad.”

Later analysis showed the initial reason for most calls were feelings of anger and frustration (22%), followed by fear or anxiety (19%) and a desire to discuss the current situation (11%).

About 4% of the calls were racist and hateful in nature. Although relatively small in number, these calls were powerful and ended up occupying a disproportionate amount of debriefing time afterward, researchers noted.

The academic report details an incident in which a Black female volunteer received a call from an angry white male who made racist and disparaging remarks regarding African Americans.

“Both caller and listener were aware of each other’s ethnicity, and the call proceeded to last about half an hour,” according to the report, which was written by Iglehart, Nunn and Maki, with contributions from Cayleen Nakamura at KCET. “The listener validated the caller’s underlying personal feelings and carefully challenged him to reframe his thinking. The caller ended the call by stating that he realized that he had said some hurtful things, acknowledged that the listener had stuck with him, and thanked her.”

The report also mentions other callers:

  • a man who was despondent over the destruction of his business said he contemplated suicide;
  • a 10-year-old boy found it unfair that he could not go out and play because of the unrest;
  • an elderly woman spoke of her fear of waiting at bus stops;
  • a 7-year-old girl called to say that she was having problems sleeping because of thoughts that “the riots will happen again.”

“We validated people feelings if they were fearful. If they felt alone, we validated that,” Iglehart said. “We wanted people to feel that what you are going through and what you’re experiencing is not unique to you. Other people around you are feeling this way.”

Given the cultural diversity of Los Angeles and the randomness of calls, listeners fluent in Spanish, Korean
and several other languages were  always present.

man in center listens as younger people talk in a classroom setting

Professor Emeritus Joe Nunn participated in the crisis hotline and says it exemplified the ideals of social work education at UCLA.

“When people would call in, if they spoke Spanish or they spoke Tagalog or whatever language, you’d hold up a sign that said you needed someone with that language skill to come over,” Nunn said.

The crisis line started with UCLA faculty and students, but it soon expanded.

“There is a great deal of credibility that goes with the UCLA name,” Iglehart said. “With that kind of credibility and legitimacy, people say, ‘Oh, this must be a good idea. I want to be involved.’”

Soon, organizers had mobilized their contacts and recruited local professionals in the helping professions and additional student volunteers from other L.A.-area universities. In all, more than 300 volunteers took calls from about 2,000 individuals. By the 10th day of the project, the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health had established its own telephone hotline, and the UCLA-KCET project was terminated.

For those involved, the effort remains a treasured memory that exemplifies UCLA Social Welfare’s long history and tradition of providing service to Southern California.

“We’re in a university where we talk about teaching, our research and service,” said Iglehart, noting that in academia that tends to mean service to the profession, such as reviewing articles for an academic journal. “This was direct hands-on service to the community of Southern California, and I think that’s really important.”

“People from my student cohort went out onto the streets and were doing cleanup after the fires and the looting,” Alongi said. “Just literally sweeping up broken glass.”

They had listened and they had acted, doing whatever they could to help a fractured city begin to piece itself  back together.