Appointment of Gary M. Segura as Dean of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs

UCLA Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost

To: Administrative Officers, Deans, Department Chairs, Directors, Faculty and Staff in the Luskin School of Public Affairs, Vice Chancellors and Vice Provosts

Dear Colleagues:

Chancellor Block and I are pleased to announce that Gary M. Segura has accepted our offer to serve as Dean of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, with an anticipated start date of January 1, 2017.    

Professor Segura is the Morris M. Doyle Centennial Professor of Public Policy, professor of political science, and professor and former chair of Chicana/o-Latina/o studies at Stanford University. A member of the faculty since 2008, he is a faculty affiliate of African and African American studies; American studies; feminist, gender and sexuality studies; Latin American studies; and urban studies. In addition, he is the director of the Center for American Democracy and the director of the Institute on the Politics of Inequality, Race and Ethnicity at Stanford. In 2010, Professor Segura was elected as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Prior to joining Stanford, he was a member of the faculty at the University of Washington (2005-08), the University of Iowa (2001-05), Claremont Graduate University (1996-2001) and the University of California, Davis (1991-96). 

Professor Segura received a B.A. magna cum laude in political science from Loyola University of the South, and an A.M. and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research focuses on issues of political representation and social cleavages, the domestic politics of wartime public opinion and the politics of America’s growing Latino minority. Professor Segura has published more than 55 articles and chapters, and he is a co-editor of “Diversity in Democracy: Minority Representation in the United States” and a co-author of four books — “Latino America: How America’s Most Dynamic Population is Poised to Transform the Politics of the Nation;” “Latinos in the New Millennium: An Almanac of Opinion, Behavior, and Policy Preferences;” “The Future is Ours: Minority Politics, Political Behavior, and the Multiracial Era of American Politics;” and “Latino Lives in America: Making It Home.” Active in professional service, he has served on numerous committees and editorial boards, and he is a past president of the Western Political Science Association, Midwest Political Science Association and Latino Caucus in Political Science. From 2009 to 2015, he was the co-principal investigator of the American National Election Studies. Moreover, he has briefed members of Congress and senior administration officials on issues related to Latinos, served as an expert witness in three marriage equality cases heard by the Supreme Court, and has filed amicus curiae briefs on subjects as diverse as voting rights, marriage equality and affirmative action.

I want to thank search/advisory committee members for assembling an outstanding pool of candidates and for their roles in recruiting Gary. The committee was chaired by Linda Sarna – interim dean, UCLA School of Nursing; professor and Lulu Wolf Hassenplug Endowed Chair in Nursing. Other members were: Rosina M. Becerra – professor of social welfare; Evelyn A. Blumenberg – professor and chair, Department of Urban Planning; Michael Chwe – professor of political science; Todd M. Franke – professor and chair, Department of Social Welfare; Vickie M. Mays – professor of psychology, and of health policy and management; Mark A. Peterson – professor and chair, Department of Public Policy, and professor of political science and of law; Susan F. Rice – chair, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs Board of Advisors, and senior consulting associate, Brakeley Briscoe Inc.; Daniel G. Solorzano – professor of social sciences and comparative education, GSE&IS; and Abel Valenzuela Jr. – professor and chair, César E. Chávez Department of Chicana/o Studies, and professor of urban planning.
 
I also want to recognize and thank Lois M. Takahashi for her distinguished leadership of the school as interim dean during the past year.

Chancellor Block and I are confident that Gary will provide outstanding leadership as dean of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. Please join me in congratulating him and welcoming him to UCLA.

Sincerely,

Scott L. Waugh
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost