Cal State LA Experts Available for Interviews on Election Issues

Cal State LA experts available for interviews on election issues

Cal State LA has faculty experts available to discuss Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump and the upcoming presidential election. The faculty members can speak on legal and constitutional law, health policy, labor economics, community policing, political parties, and education. To schedule an interview with any of these experts, contact the Cal State LA Communications and Public Affairs office at 323-343-3050 or [email protected].

Legal and constitutional law, Supreme CourtMartin Adamian received his juris doctorate from Wayne State University Law School in Detroit, Michigan, where he worked for the Free Legal Aid Clinic practicing family law for individuals that could not afford attorneys. After graduation he became a civil rights attorney with Constitutional Litigation Associates, where he litigated federal civil rights claims against federal and state government officials. Adamian worked on federal and state, criminal and civil, trial and appellate cases including filing appeals in United States Supreme Court. He later received a Ph.D. in political science from Colorado State University, where he focused on political theory, international relations, and environmental politics. He has taught undergraduate courses in constitutional law, American government, International law, trial advocacy, and legal research and writing. He is currently working on a book length manuscript on privacy law. He is also currently the associate director of the Honors College at Cal State LA.

Labor union, political partiesProfessor Taylor Dark teaches courses focusing on political parties and interest groups, labor policy, and Congress and the presidency. He authored numerous articles on labor unions in American politics, and national electoral politics more generally (especially the Democratic Party). He published The Unions and Democrats: An Enduring Alliance, with Cornell University Press in 2001. He received his M.Sc. in government from the London School of Economics and Political Science and his Ph.D. in political science from UC Berkeley.

Education, school climate, classroom managementAlbert F. Jones is a faculty member of the Educational Administration Program in Cal State LA’s Division of Applied and Advanced Studies in Education. In this capacity, he teaches courses in educational and instructional leadership. He previously taught courses in classroom management and social studies methods in the Single-Subject and Multiple-Subject Teaching Credential programs. Jones is also a co-founder and co-director of the Alliance for the Study of School Climate. His research agenda is mainly focused in the area of school leadership and climate. His research findings have been presented at national conferences and published in nationally refereed journals. He has also provided consultation and training to schools and school districts throughout the nation in the area of school climate and classroom management. Prior to Cal State LA, Jones served in Tennessee public schools as a high school social studies teacher, elementary school assistant principal, and an assistant principal in a school for behaviorally challenged students. He holds a master's degree in curriculum and instruction and a doctorate in educational administration from Tennessee State University.

Community policing, criminal justiceElizabeth Velazquez teaches in the School of Criminal Justice and Criminalistics at Cal State LA. She has about 16 years of experience in the realm of community policing. Her experience include the promotion and organization of events to support community partnership and law enforcement. Some of these events and/or programs focused on the education of municipal code enforcement, neighborhood cohesiveness, and the creation and facilitation of education programs to address juvenile delinquency. Velazquez has worked in the treatment of duel diagnosis substance abuse patients and with the court system to create programs used by judges for diversion or sanctions.

Health policy and Affordable Care ActWalter Zelman has more than 20 years of experience working in the area of health policy. He served as a senior White House advisor during the Clinton Administration’s efforts to win health reform and universal coverage. He also served for four years as the CEO of the California Association of Health Plans, the trade association representing the managed care industry in California. His focus as a policy analyst, advocate and public health professor has been on insurance and health reform. He organized and directed a CSU-wide effort to educate CSU students about their rights and responsibilities under the Affordable Care Act. The project was funded by Covered California. Most recently, he organized an election forum with faculty members at Cal State LA. He teaches courses in the health care delivery system and health policy.

Taxes, health and labor economics, and poverty issuesXiaohan Zhang is an assistant professor in economics at the College of Business and Economics of Cal State LA and a research fellow at the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at Cal State LA. She holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California at Davis. Her research is in the field of labor and public policies, with a special interest in the formation of health capital, and the health-productivity nexus. Her teaching interests are in the fields of microeconomics and econometric methods.