By Mary Braswell

There’s change at the top in five of the Luskin School’s key academic programs. Faculty members Poco Kernsmith of Social Welfare, Robert Fairlie of Public Policy, Michael Lens of the Undergraduate Program, Michael Manville of Urban Planning and Vinit Mukhija of the new Master of Real Estate Development degree are now in the first or second years of their leadership roles — a good time to catch up with what’s ahead for each of the programs.

SOCIAL WELFARE

Poco Kernsmith earned her PhD at UCLA Social Welfare in 2002 and returned to campus in fall 2024 as chair of the department. She arrived at a time of significant expansion, including the addition of 50 master’s students over two years as part of a state-funded program to grow California’s behavioral health workforce. Kernsmith comes from the University of Texas at Arlington where she served as director of the doctoral program in the school of social work. She took a break from packing up for her drive from Dallas to Los Angeles, son and two cats on board, to share her vision for Luskin Social Welfare.

On what drew her back to UCLA

There are a lot of great thinkers here and a lot of opportunity for innovation to do some new and different things. I’m coming from Texas, which is battling with some really difficult legislation around academic freedom, about what can and can’t be taught in classrooms. At UCLA, there is greater freedom to address some of the really important issues and to try and think about how we can support other places in the country where they’re facing challenging legislative and political environments.

And Southern California has always felt like home to me. There’s my childhood home in Minnesota, where I grew up, and then there’s my heart home. And this has always felt like my heart home.

On the evolution of DEI and anti-racism efforts

We’re seeing across the country, and on campuses specifically, that what DEI means is changing, and it’s important for us to be able to have really difficult conversations with people who don’t agree with us on things, who might have different perspectives.

In the field of social welfare, we don’t necessarily have a great history of always being on the right side of racism, but in general we tend to agree on social justice and equity and inclusion. Now we’re in a different environment where it’s nuanced and it’s complicated. With all that is happening in the Middle East, people are experiencing pain and trauma in different ways.

One of the things I want to do is to help grow that intellectual curiosity and capacity for dialogue among students and faculty, to address these really challenging issues that are facing our communities and our world. We might feel uncomfortable because these conversations are hard, but we grow through uncomfortable conversations. The question is how do we do that in a way that’s empathetic and respectful?

On her initial contacts with UCLA Luskin students

I’ve had several meetings with students who’ve just reached out and wanted to have a conversation. They’re brilliant. I love their passion. They are so eager to learn, and their intellectual curiosity just oozes out of them. And I love that when I work with this caliber of student, it helps me to be a better thinker.

PUBLIC POLICY

Economist Robert Fairlie arrived at UCLA Luskin in summer of 2023, taking over as chair of Public Policy after nearly three decades of teaching and research in the University of California system. As he prepared to welcome the newest MPP students in fall 2024, Fairlie was also busy working on a new book about the lasting impacts of COVID-19’s economic shocks and compiling data about the health of the nation’s small businesses at the request of Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign.

On what draws public policy students to UCLA Luskin

Our MPP program is known for quantitative research. It’s a niche that we have, and we’re on the cutting edge. A lot of policy schools have been stuck in the old world, too slow to adjust. But the new reality is that there is so much data being collected on literally everything, and our students need to learn how to use it. And certainly, a lot of students are attracted to the fact that we are in Los Angeles. It’s such an amazing place, so diverse and with so much going on. And then of course we are UCLA, a top-ranked university with such an incredible reputation.

On curriculum changes amid a changing policy landscape

We have pretty extensive stats requirements, and a lot of the classes use data sets. Programming is tricky. It’s not math, it’s really a language — a very basic language, but you still need to learn syntax and how to put code together. So instead of just throwing our students into this, we instituted a two-unit programming class this year, something totally new. We’re making it optional, but everyone signed up immediately. And some of the second-year students want to take it, too, so we let some of them in. It’s a skill that is very marketable.

On campuswide resources available to students and researchers

Our students have these incredible opportunities to take law classes, business classes, econ, political science, social welfare. That’s pretty unusual and it’s a huge advantage that UCLA offers. A lot of people here are doing number crunching on policy issues, and there are so many resources that are right next door. I do a lot of work with the California Center for Population Research and the California Policy Lab and the UCLA Anderson School of Management. There’s a federal research center right on the second floor of our building, where I can tap into restricted-access data not available to the public. I’m also working with a doctor and a post-doc over at the medical school on racial inequality in health care.

On the importance of creating networking opportunities for policy students

I would really like to get more people connected, in person. More seminars and professional development opportunities for students and for alums. We regularly take our students to professional conferences around the country, so they can experience what it’s like. Some of the talks are very statistical, with nitty-gritty detail, and some are more “big idea.” But it’s all going to be policy relevant.

UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM

Michael Lens wears many hats at UCLA Luskin. He is a professor of urban planning and public policy, serves as associate faculty director of the Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies and, since 2023, has directed the Public Affairs undergraduate program. As the fall quarter began, Lens was preparing to teach an undergrad survey course in U.S. urban history and social theory, and making final edits on his just-released book, “Where the Hood At? Fifty Years of Change in Black Neighborhoods.”

On the BA in Public Affairs’ growth since its 2018 launch

The undergraduate program is absolutely a big new thing at the Luskin School. I was on the committee that designed the major, and we’re pretty much on target with the kind of growth trajectory that we set out, with more pre-majors, minors and majors coming into the program. The core curriculum is solid, and there is a changing lineup of electives that reflect faculty interests and expertise.

On the impact the undergraduate program has had on the School

Since I came to Luskin in 2011, the handful of deans we’ve had have always rightfully tried to find different ways to create synergy across the three graduate departments, to create more opportunities for the sum to be greater than the parts. The undergraduate program shows the promise and challenge of that. The promise is that we’re all under the umbrella of the School when we teach, not in our silos, and the curriculum draws from a diversity of faculty and departments. One thing that our undergraduate students are craving more and more is a deeper connection to the School and a greater potential to be mentored or at least get to know some of the graduate students on a more informal basis.

On differences between teaching students at the undergraduate and graduate level

It can almost surprise you how sharp and curious our undergrads are. Coming from high school, you don’t get into UCLA without a pretty strong academic record. Many of our graduate students have often worked in different fields, looking for solutions to urban poverty or segregation, for example. They’ve been studying these issues for longer and are now seeking some additional training to round that out. Compared to the master’s students, the undergraduates are often a little more adaptable to different ways of thinking. They haven’t been convinced that a particular problem is caused in a certain way, or that a particular problem requires a specific solution.

URBAN PLANNING

Michael Manville earned his master’s and PhD in urban planning at UCLA, then returned to join the School’s faculty in 2016. In the summer of 2023, mere days before he assumed the role of chair, some exciting news broke: UCLA Luskin Urban Planning was ranked No. 1 in North America by the planning and development network Planetizen. Manville took a few minutes away from his academic duties to speak about the outlook for UCLA Luskin Urban Planning.

On key factors behind the program’s success

Candidly? We’re big. Over the last 10 years, we have been very fortunate to have added a lot of faculty who are well-known in their field, who are good teachers, who publish a lot. For some students, there may be all sorts of great reasons to go to a smaller program, but ultimately, larger programs can offer more things to the typical student.

We’re also very well-rounded. We have multiple people working really at the top of their game in a number of different subfields of planning. In transportation, we have a great cluster of people doing research that I would say is unmatched by any other program in the country. On top of that, you’ve got faculty doing cutting-edge stuff on urban theory and social justice planning, and you’ve got a collection of really great housing scholars.

This year, we ended up ranked No. 1, but I think the more important fact is we have an excellent program year in and year out. Whether we’re ranked 1 or 3 or 7, people who come here can get a great education.

On the launch of two ambitious programs, a dual-degree partnership with the French university Sciences Po and the new Master of Real Estate Development

I was fortunate to have taken the reins to programs, and an entire department, that were already on the right track. The Sciences Po program is a great opportunity for people who are interested in an education that spans two different continents. A benefit for us is that by taking in students from Sciences Po for a year, just by default we get a bigger international student body. And the students we send from UCLA are very interested in international planning and comparative work, and they get that in a number of ways by being at Sciences Po. We’re super excited to have this partnership with a really prestigious school in Paris.

The MRED will give us a presence in this growing field of real estate programs, and we want to put our own spin on it. A lot of what’s out there looks a little more like business school. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I think there’s a place for one that comes at it more from the planning side.

On how urban planning education at UCLA has changed since Manville earned his master’s in 2003 and PhD in 2009

The department, and the whole field of planning, has changed quite a bit. We’re better endowed and better staffed and, as a result, the volume and quantity of the research that we do is substantially larger. But of course, we’re now in an environment where Los Angeles is obviously a very expensive place to live. The cost of supporting PhD students in particular, especially if they are from outside California, is higher.

When I came to UCLA from Massachusetts, it was partly out of curiosity — I had always lived on the East Coast — and partly because, back then, the tuition was very cheap. One of the initial ideas behind the UC was that if you could lure someone out here and educate them, California’s climate and natural environment would keep them here, and you’d have an educated workforce. I think that that was a bet that paid off very well for California, and it certainly worked for me.

REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT

In his role as founding director of the new Master of Real Estate Development (MRED) housed at UCLA Luskin Urban Planning, Vinit Mukhija draws on decades of scholarship and professional experience. Mukhija has advanced degrees in urban planning, urban design and architecture, and worked on renewal strategies for cities in Asia, the Middle East and the United States before arriving at UCLA in 2001. The professor and former chair of UCLA Luskin Urban Planning spoke as recruitment for the inaugural MRED class, arriving in fall 2025, was just getting under way.

On what sets the UCLA MRED apart from other programs

Real estate development is tremendously impactful, one of the most powerful forces shaping buildings, neighborhoods, cities and regions. So it was a necessity for us, with our mission here at Luskin, to be involved in that sphere. We believe that financially successful, innovative real estate development goes hand in hand with socially responsible, environmentally sustainable development.

With our MRED, real estate development is a lens that can lead to any of a number of careers that meet a real need in the industry right now. We have worked closely with real estate industry leaders who understand what proficiencies are in demand so that our curriculum ensures that our students will be competitive in the marketplace. They’ll be adept at finance, technology, including the latest construction technologies. And most of our courses are taught by the industry experts themselves, from real estate law and asset management, from finance and investing, from all aspects of the field. Day-to-day management of the program will fall under our new executive director, Greg Morrow, who comes to us with extensive experience launching a similar program at the University of California, Berkeley.

On the significance of Los Angeles as a home base for the program

In many ways, Los Angeles has been a bellwether for other cities and regions — and not just in this country. We see patterns of development, as well as their drawbacks, across the world. Take the affordable housing crisis. In California, we have shown how development is necessary to expand the supply of housing, and it will be so while meeting significant environmental regulatory requirements. As a tremendous global laboratory, we are well-positioned to find solutions.

On how the UCLA MRED is primed for growth

We plan to offer our students the opportunity to earn a certificate in affordable housing, and we are also exploring potential dual degrees with other programs at UCLA Anderson and UCLA Luskin. The MRED is a transformative opportunity to train our students to be visionaries and change makers in an exciting industry.