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Students Reflect on International Summer Fellowships

Global Public Affairs (GPA) at UCLA Luskin provided financial support and helped secure placements for eight graduate students to work in low- and middle-income countries this past summer. Student placements spanned the globe, from as close as Mexico City to as far as Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Olivia Miller, a second-year MSW candidate, spent the summer in Bogota, Colombia, conducting fieldwork related to transgender rights, including help in organizing the grassroots Trans Pride March. “I decidedly spent [my] first weeks dedicating myself to a contributive role, recognizing the chaos of the march preparation, and putting at the center the development of my relationships with the social justice activists on the frontlines of this movement,” she wrote on the GPA blog. Urban Planning students who participated in the summer International Practice Pathway (IPP) program gained experience in transportation and infrastructure. Liliana Morales, a 2020 MURP candidate, interned with the planning department at the Ministry of Mobility in Mexico City. “I feel incredibly fortunate to have worked with professionals that are passionate and dedicated to mobility justice,” she wrote. “Mexico City is working toward improving quality of life, reducing social inequalities, diminishing gas emissions and increasing productivity through a comprehensive system that guarantees decent and safe trips for all residents.” GPA, led by Professor Michael Storper and associate director Stephen Commins, is already getting ready for its next cohort of IPP fellows, as more than 60 new UCLA Luskin students attended the fall 2019 orientation lunch. — John Danly

Read more about students’ summer fellowships on the GPA blog.

Face to Face With Would-Be Presidents

A large UCLA Luskin contingent came face to face with a field of Democratic presidential candidates at a town hall in downtown Los Angeles that focused on LGBTQ rights. Students, faculty and staff from the School were among 160 UCLA guests invited by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, sponsors of the “Power of Our Pride” event broadcast live by CNN on Thursday, Oct. 10. Public affairs pre-major Ayse Seker was one of several students and staff selected to pose questions to the candidates. “How would you address the at times juxtaposing issues of religious freedom and LGBTQ rights?” Seker asked of candidate Cory Booker. Citing his own faith, Booker replied that he could not allow religion to be used as a justification for discrimination. Other staff and students invited to address the candidates included undergraduate Brandon Broukhim, public policy graduate student Tamera Hyatte and Kevin Medina, experiential learning advisor for the undergraduate program in public affairs. Candidates present at the forum included former Vice President Joe Biden, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former Secretary Julian Castro, Sen. Kamala Harris, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, former Congressman Beto O’Rourke, investor and activist Tom Steyer and Sen. Elizabeth Warren. The town hall, held on the eve of National Coming Out Day, marked the first time a major cable news network aired a presidential event devoted to issues of importance to the LGBTQ community.


 

Public Policy Hosts Weekend of Learning and Service

About 30 undergraduate students from California and beyond convened at UCLA for a weekend of learning and public service, part of the not-for-profit Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) program. UCLA Luskin Public Policy hosted the program, “Advancing Social Justice Through Public Service: Lessons From California,” with senior lecturer Kenya Covington coordinating a full weekend of lectures, conversations and off-campus experiences. Students ventured out to MacArthur Park west of downtown Los Angeles, the Crenshaw District and the office of Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl to hear how policymakers are grappling with homelessness and gentrification. They heard from several MPP alumni from both the policy field and academia, and learned about public service career paths from Dean Gary Segura and other UCLA Luskin staff. Several members of the public policy and urban planning faculty shared research, insights and data-gathering techniques during the Oct. 4-6 event, including Amada Armenta, Kevin de León, Michael Lens, Michael Stoll and Chris Zepeda-Millán. Public Policy Chair JR DeShazo encouraged the students to engage intellectually, socially and emotionally as they explored policy challenges and prepared to make an impact in their own careers. The students formed working groups to synthesize what they had seen and heard, and presented their findings at the close of the program. Joining the large contingent of students from four-year and community colleges in California were participants from Arizona, Illinois, Michigan and Washington. The public service weekend was one of several outreaches around the country that are coordinated through PPIA to promote diversity in public service.

View photos from the PPIA public service weekend on Flickr.

PPIA Public Service Weekend


 

We Host, We Toast, We Boast (Just a Little)

A larger turnout than anyone could remember showed up for the 9th annual Block Party in late September to help UCLA Luskin kick off another academic year. The event-filled week also included the annual Orientation for new graduate students, and an open house and information session for undergraduates. Staff volunteers from throughout the School provided helping hands and welcoming smiles to assist Director of Events Tammy Borrero in creating a Block Party to remember. Before he introduced Renee Luskin to lead a toast to the School’s 25th anniversary, Dean Gary Segura reminded the enthusiastic crowd that 2019-20 not only marks UCLA’s 100th anniversary, but it’s also a year of milestones at UCLA Luskin. “We have a lot to celebrate tonight,” Segura said. “We celebrate our founding as the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs — we’ve been in existence 25 years, but our mission has lasted a lot longer. In Public Policy last year, we celebrated some 20 years in existence. Later this year, we’ll celebrate the 50th anniversary of Urban Planning. And this is the 72nd year of operation of UCLA Social Welfare. Together, we have sent 8,000 alumni into the world to do good things.” A large contingent of those alumni were on hand at the Block Party, and you can view their pictures along with photos of the entire UCLA Luskin community on our  Flickr feed or by clicking through the individual galleries below.

2019 Orientation

Undergrad Open House 2019

Luskin Block Party 2019


 

MSW Team Hits the Streets to Support Suicide Awareness

A team of faculty, students and friends of UCLA Luskin Social Welfare took to the streets over the weekend to raise funds for the Didi Hirsch Suicide Prevention Center. The team joined the Alive & Running 5K, which took runners and walkers on a course near LAX on a cool Sunday morning. Social Welfare field faculty member Laura Alongi Brinderson, who specializes in mental health issues among children, adolescents and their families, organized the team. The race marked Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, established as a time to share resources and start conversations about the taboo topic. In addition to providing services to people across the nation who have thought about, attempted or lost someone to suicide, the Didi Hirsch Center trains more than 20,000 people each year — including LAPD SWAT teams, the FBI, firefighters and other emergency responders — how to recognize and respond to warning signs.


 

Incisive, Loyal, Droll: Remembering Mark Kleiman

Colleagues, students and friends of Mark A.R. Kleiman, professor emeritus of public policy, gathered to remember the noted educator, author and expert on drug and crime policy at a Sept. 23 memorial at the UCLA Faculty Club. Kleiman, who helped build UCLA Luskin’s Public Policy program when he joined the faculty in 1996, died over the summer after a long illness. In his 17 years with the program, Kleiman was intellectually aggressive, incredibly loyal and deeply dedicated to teaching policy analysis to the next generation, said JR DeShazo, chair of Public Policy. Kleiman was remembered as a sometimes intimidating presence known for his sly humor and ability to turn complicated ideas into “beautiful pearls.” His incisive questions cut to the heart of any issue and enlivened discourse in the classroom and at faculty gatherings, his colleagues and students recalled. “He loved learning, he loved knowing, and he loved arguing,” said Barbara Nelson, former dean of the Luskin School and professor emerita of public policy, social welfare, urban planning and political science. Brad Rowe, MPP ’13 and a lecturer in public policy, knew Kleiman as a professor, then a colleague at the drug policy consulting firm Kleiman founded. “I don’t use this term lightly,” Rowe said, “but I had a front-row seat at witnessing genius for a period of my life and I’m very thankful for that.”

A memoriam to Kleiman’s life and career can be found here.

View a Flickr album of the memorial.

Remembering Mark Kleiman

Study Co-Authored by Santos Earns Award from Council on Social Work Education

Assistant Professor Carlos Santos of UCLA Luskin Social Welfare will be honored with a 2019 Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Expression Scholarship (SOGIE) award for recent research at the 65th annual meeting of the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) this October in Denver, Colorado. Santos will share the award with co-author Rachel A. VanDaalen, a doctoral student in counseling psychology at Arizona State University, for their paper, “The Associations of Sexual and Ethnic-Racial Identity Commitment, Conflicts in Allegiances, and Mental Health Among Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Racial and Ethnic Minority Adults,” published by the American Psychological Association in the Journal of Counseling Psychology. “This study offers evidence in support of the assertion that lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) racial and ethnic minority adults who perceive a conflict between their LGB and ethnic-racial identities may experience psychological distress,” assert the authors. They add, “It shows that having a strong sense of commitment to one’s LGB identity may buffer the positive association between this conflict and psychological distress among LGB racial and ethnic minority adults.” The SOGIE award recognizes “excellent scholarship that addresses issues of importance to the LGBTQ community and has important implications for social work practice and education,” said Pam Bowers, chair of the SOGIE Scholarship Award Committee, in announcing the award. This is the eighth year that the SOGIE has been awarded by CSWE, which is the accrediting agency for social work education in the United States.

Holloway Wins Grant to Merge Technology, LGBTQ Health

Ian Holloway, associate professor of social welfare, has received an Avenir Award of more than $2 million from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to advance his research into health interventions for LGBTQ communities. Holloway leads a UCLA team that is developing a social media tool designed to offer highly personalized health information to prevent substance abuse and HIV infection among gay men. Under a previous grant, the researchers built a library of nearly 12,000 data points made up of text phrases and emojis that correlate with offline health behaviors. Holloway’s Avenir Award will be used to create a machine-learning system that will monitor social media interactions with participants’ consent, then send customized health reminders and other alerts via an app. The team’s goal is to develop a wide-reaching and cost-effective tool to promote public health, said Holloway, director of the Hub for Health Intervention, Policy and Practice at UCLA Luskin. The Avenir Awards, named for the French word for “future,” provide grants to early-stage researchers who propose highly innovative studies, particularly in the field of HIV and addiction.


 

Study Highlights Inequality for Families With Two Fathers

Same-sex male couples are losing out on paid parental leave when compared to both same-sex female and different-sex couples, according to research by the WORLD Policy Analysis Center at UCLA. The study, newly published in the Journal of Social Policy, compared labor, social security and parental leave legislation in 34 countries. Same-sex male couples received leave on par with other couples in only four of the 33 countries with national paid parental leave programs, the researchers found. Only one of the countries — the United States — offered no national paid parental leave to new birth parents. “While we didn’t find any legislation that explicitly prohibits same-sex couples from receiving paid parental leave, the way policies are structured or worded can nevertheless stop them from claiming benefits,” lead researcher Elizabeth Wong said. Jody Heymann, founding director of the WORLD Policy Analysis Center, added, “Families benefit when all parents, regardless of sex, gender identity or sexual orientation, can access paid leave to care for and bond with their children.” Heymann is a distinguished professor of public policy, medicine, and health policy and management at UCLA. The research was highlighted in a Reuters news article.


 

Grants Support Challenging Convention, Strengthening Communities

Four members of the UCLA Luskin faculty have received research grants from the Institute on Inequality and Democracy. The 2019-20 grants, among 10 awarded to faculty across the UCLA campus, support research, scholarship and teaching that challenge established academic wisdom, contribute to public debate and/or strengthen communities and movements, the institute said. UCLA Luskin recipients are:

  • Amada Armenta, assistant professor of urban planning, who will study undocumented Mexican immigrants in Philadelphia and their layered, complex relationship with the legal system in their everyday lives.
  • Kian Goh, assistant professor of urban planning, who will use the lessons of Hurricane Sandy to research the key role public housing and infrastructure play in the quest for climate justice.
  • Paul Ong, research professor and director of the Center for Neighborhood Knowledge, who will create multimedia public narratives that document the stresses of gentrification, displacement and other community changes.
  • Amy Ritterbusch, assistant professor of social welfare, who will develop a restorative justice initiative to take research to the streets, producing knowledge about historically misrepresented communities beyond the confines of academic publication traditions.

In addition to awarding faculty grants of up to $10,000, the Institute on Inequality and Democracy supports research by graduate student working groups. The six groups announced for the 2019-2020 academic year include several urban planning and social welfare students from UCLA Luskin.