UC Berkeley authorities are available to provide expert comment for reporters on campaign issues relating to campaigning and politics, the economy and taxes, education, the environment, health care, immigration, international relations, legal issues and voting technology.
Campus experts are listed alphabetically under subject headings. Check for updates during coming months.
CAMPAIGNING AND POLITICS
Henry Brady
Professor of political science and public policy and director of the UC DATA/Survey Research Center
Phone: (510) 642-3008
E-mail: hbrady@berkeley.edu
Media Relations contact: Janet Gilmore, (510) 642-5685 or jangilmore@berkeley.edu
Expertise: Electoral politics, political participation and voting, voting systems, welfare policies, public opinion and American politics. Brady teaches courses on political participation, party systems and advanced quantitative methodology. Brady has worked in Washington, D.C., at the Office of Management and Budget and at the National Science Foundation. More information about Brady’s current research on voting systems is online, while there is additional information about Brady online.
Bruce Cain
Heller professor of political science, executive director of the University of California's Washington Center, based in the nation's capital
Phone: (202) 974-6202
E-mail: bruce@cain.berkeley.edu
Media Relations contact: Janet Gilmore, (510) 642-5685 or jangilmore@berkeley.edu
Expertise: National politics, elections, political regulation, and state and local government. He has served as a polling consultant for state and senate races and as a redistricting consultant. Cain has also co-edited numerous books, including "Developments in American Politics, Volume I - IV," with Gillian Peele; "Constitutional Reform in California," with Roger Noll; "Racial and Ethnic Politics in California, Vol. II," with Michael Preston and Sandra Bass; and "Voting at the Political Fault Line: California's Experiment with the Blanket Primary," with Elisabeth R. Gerber (2002).
Jack Glaser
Assistant professor of public policy
Phone: (510) 642-3047
E-mail: jackglaser@berkeley.edu
Media Relations contact: Kathleen Maclay, (510) 643-5651 or kmaclay@berkeley.edu
Expertise: Stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination. Glaser is interested in political decision-making and behavior and in political ideology. He was an author of a research paper on the effects of partisanship and candidate emotion on voter preference that was published in the journal Imagination, Cognition, and Personality in 2006.
Charles Henry
Professor of African American studies, former president of the National Council for Black Studies and former chair of Amnesty International USA
Phone: (510) 642-3426
E-mail: cphenry@berkeley.edu
Media Relations contact: Yasmin Anwar, (510) 643-7944 or yanwar@berkeley.edu
Expertise: Race in America, identity and black leadership. Henry wrote a book on Jesse Jackson's campaigns and teaches a course on race and public policy. In fall 2007, he taught a graduate level course on Obama and black leadership. More information about Henry is online.
Shannon Jackson
Professor of theater, dance and performance studies and of rhetoric
Phone: (510) 642-3895
E-mail: shjacks@berkeley.edu
Media Relations contact: Kathleen Maclay, (510) 643-5651 or kmaclay@berkeley.edu
Expertise: Performances by candidates in political campaigns, rhetoric, new media, art and theater. Additional information on Jackson is online.
David Karol
Assistant professor of political science
Phone: (510) 642-4648
E-mail: dkarol@berkeley.edu
Media Relations contact: Janet Gilmore, (510)642-5685 or jangilmore@berkeley.edu
David Kirp
Professor of public policy
Phone: (510) 642-7531
E-mail: kirp@berkeley.edu
Media Relations contact: Kathleen Maclay, (510) 643-5651 or kmaclay@berkeley.edu
Expertise: Law, politics, education and public policy. Kirp is the author of the 2007 book, "The Sandbox Investment: The Preschool Movement and Kids-First Politics," which explored the national movement for universal preschool and its political implications. Kirp also recently co-authored "Race-Bait '08: Lessons Learned from the Political Dirty Dozen" (PDF) with UC Berkeley School of Law Dean Chris Edley. Their research looked at the last 24 years of campaigning and examined 12 campaigns where the use of race by both Democrats and Republicans made the difference. Candidates that played the race card to mobilize or drive away voters soundly defeated their opponents, often coming from behind to win, they reported. Kirp and Edley support the Obama campaign.
Shannon Steen
Assistant professor of theater, dance and performance studies
Phone: (510) 643-4626
E-mail: steen21@berkeley.edu
Media Relations contact: Kathleen Maclay, (510) 643-5651 or kmaclay@berkeley.edu
Expertise: The intersection of race and performance, primarily in the United States and the Pacific Basin. Her research explores African and Asian American histories, globalization and American urban development. She has taught for the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco. Her blog, "Political Theater," explores politics and theatrical performance. A feature article about Steen's work appeared in the Jan. 31 issue of the Berkeleyan.
Robb Willer
Assistant professor of sociology and a social psychologist
Phone: (607) 339-6466
E-mail: willer@berkeley.edu
Media Relations contact: Yasmin Anwar, (510) 643-7944 or yanwar@berkeley.edu
Expertise: Impact of terrorism on U.S. elections, the role of masculinity in political attitudes and why Americans support war. More information is available on his website.
ECONOMY AND TAXES
Vinod Aggarwal
Professor of political science and director of the Berkeley Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Study Center
Phone: (510) 642-2817 (office) or (510) 290-9176 (cell)
E-mail: vinod@berkeley.edu
Media Relations contact: Yasmin Anwar, (510) 643-7944 or yanwar@berkeley.edu
Alan Auerbach
Professor of economics and law and director of the Robert D. Burch Center for Tax Policy and Public Finance
Phone: (510) 643-0711
E-mail: auerbach@econ.berkeley.edu
Media Relations contact: Kathleen Maclay, (510) 643-5651 or kmaclay@berkeley.edu
Expertise: Tax and fiscal policy. Auerbach is a member of the advisory committee for the Bureau of Economic Analysis in the U.S. Commerce Department and served as deputy chief of staff for the U.S. Joint Committee on Taxation in 1992. More information about Auerbach is online.
Raj Chetty
Associate professor of economics and a faculty research fellow with the National Bureau of Economic Research
Phone: (415) 568-5164 (cell)
E-mail: chetty@econ.berkeley.edu
Media Relations contact: Kathleen Maclay, (510) 643-5651 or kmaclay@berkeley.edu
Expertise: Taxation and social welfare policy. Chetty was profiled in the "Young Economist" column of The American magazine in September 2007 and is the winner of the magazine’s 2008 Young Economist Award. More information about Chetty is available online.
Robert Reich
Professor of public policy and former U.S. labor secretary in the Clinton administration
Phone: (510) 642-0560
E-mail: rreich@berkeley.edu
Media Relations contact: Kathleen Maclay, (510) 643-5651 or kmaclay@berkeley.edu
Expertise: Industrial policy, jobs and employment policy, leadership and social change, macroeconomic policy, and social and economic policy. Reich has served in three U.S. presidential administrations and is the author of 11 books, including "The Work of Nations," the best-sellers "The Future of Success" and "Locked in the Cabinet," and his most recent book, "Supercapitalism." Reich is co-founder and national editor of The American Prospect magazine. His commentaries can be heard weekly on National Public Radio's "Marketplace" show. More information is available on his website.
EDUCATION
Bruce Fuller
Professor of education and public policy and co-director of Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE), an independent policy research center based at UC Berkeley and Stanford University
Phone: (510) 643-5362 or (415) 595-4320
E-mail: b_fuller@berkeley.edu
Media Relations contact: Kathleen Maclay, (510) 643-5651 or kmaclay@berkeley.edu
Expertise: K-12 education policy, political theory and the sociology of education. His recent book, "Standardized Childhood: The Political and Cultural Struggle over Early Education" (2007), examines how elite reformers often push for state incorporation of community programs, eroding the authority and resources spread across diverse ethnic leaders.
David Kirp
Professor of public policy
Phone: (510) 642-7531
E-mail: kirp@berkeley.edu
Media Relations contact: Kathleen Maclay, (510) 643-5651 or kmaclay@berkeley.edu
Expertise: Law, politics, education and public policy. Kirp is the author of the 2007 book, "The Sandbox Investment: The Preschool Movement and Kids-First Politics," which explored the national movement for universal preschool and its political implications.
Goodwin Liu
Assistant professor of law and co-director of the UC Berkeley School of Law's Warren Institute for Race, Ethnicity and Diversity
Phone: (510) 642-7509 or cell (510) 708-4902
E-mail: gliu@law.berkeley.edu
Law school media relations contact: Susan Gluss, 510-642-6936 or sgluss@law.berkeley.edu
Expertise: Constitutional law, civil rights, K-12 education policy, and the Supreme Court. Liu served in the Clinton administration's education department and has written extensively on federal education policy. During the U.S. Supreme Court's 2006-2007 term, he filed a legal brief on behalf of 19 former chancellors of the University of California system in support of K-12 school integration programs.
ENVIRONMENT
Daniel Kammen
Professor in the Energy and Resources Group, professor of public policy; professor of nuclear engineering, and director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory
Phone (510) 642-1139
E-mail: kammen@berkeley.edu
Media Relations contact: Roberts Sanders, (510) 643-6998 or rsanders@berkeley.edu
Expertise: The science and policy of energy systems; engineering, management and dissemination of renewable energy systems; health and environmental impacts of energy generation and use, and international research and development policy and climate change. Kammen has provided commentary and research papers from his laboratory group to campaigns that have requested them. The papers are in the public domain. More information is on Kammen's website and on the NewsCenter experts’ site.
Rick Frank
Executive director of UC Berkeley School of Law's California Center for Environmental Law & Policy and a lecturer-in-residence
Phone: (510) 642-8305
E-mail: rfrank@law.berkeley.edu
Law school media relations contact: Susan Gluss, (510) 642-6936 or sgluss@law.berkeley.edu
Expertise: Environmental law and policy, energy, climate change, water and land use. In his previous role as the chief deputy attorney general for the California Department of Justice, Frank litigated many high-profile environmental cases against the Bush administration and industry polluters. Frank serves on Gov. Schwarzenegger's Delta Vision Task Force, which is drafting a strategy for managing the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta as a sustainable ecosystem.
Inez Fung
Professor of atmospheric science and co-director of the Berkeley Institute of the Environment
Phone: (510) 643-9367. If urgent, contact lab manager David Elvins at (510) 643-8336
E-mail: ifung@berkeley.edu
Media Relations contact: Roberts Sanders, (510) 643-6998 or rsanders@berkeley.edu
Expertise: Climate change and global warming. Fung was a contributor to the Nobel Peace Prize-winning international reports on the carbon cycle and on carbon-climate feedbacks that could accelerate climate change.
GENDER
Rosemary Joyce
Professor of anthropology, Anthropology Department chair
Phone: (650) 704-7860 (cell)
E-mail: rajoyce@berkeley.edu
Media Relations contact: Kathleen Maclay, (510) 643-5651 or kmaclay@berkeleley.edu
Expertise: Joyce specializes in the study of sex and gender. She says the twists and turns in the run-up to the November presidential election should remind people that cultural stereotypes are never simple.
"Hillary Clinton is not being viewed as Woman — she is being viewed as a particular kind of woman," says Joyce. "Several things that make the exercise of authority more acceptable are in play here. First and least commented on is her age; mature women, those past the phase of their lives when they were expected to raise their own children (and the presence of Chelsea Clinton in the campaign is terrifically significant), are not the same as women in the process of raising their children. Even in our society, in which we have sharp expectations of gender difference, there is a convergence of expectations of older men and women. Basically, age trumps sex to some extent."
Joyce says that class also may be at play. "The generic gender models that tend to get talked about are not those of most working class Americans, among whom adult men and women both always have worked, and the TV sitcom fantasy of 1950s/1960s stay-at-home moms was nothing but a fantasy," she says. "Again, the requirement for competent female gender performance is succeeding in mothering as well as succeeding in working."
As society broadens the scope of who can be political, Joyce says that we still are uneasy if the political actor's family acts as anything other than domestic support — character witnesses — even if the people involved are career oriented in their own right.
Robin Lakoff
Professor of linguistics
Phone: (510) 841-6269
E-mail: rlakoff@berkeley.edu
Media Relations contact: Kathleen Maclay, (510) 643-5651 or kmaclay@berkeley.edu
Expertise: How words are used, including the confusing and misleading use of words, language and feminism, and Hillary Clinton’s candidacy. Lakoff is the author of “The Language War,” “Talking Power” and “Language and Woman’s Place.” More information about Lakoff is online.
Barrie Thorne
Professor of gender and women’s studies and sociology
Phone: (510) 643-2513
E-mail: bthorne@berkeley.edu
Media Relations contact: Yasmin Anwar, (510) 643-7944 or yanwar@berkeley.edu
Expertise: Gender politics and cultural change in relation to social class, racial ethnicity, sexuality, and age in contemporary U.S. society. She is author of "Gender Play: Girls and Boys in School" (Rutgers, 1993), and has written about raising children in Oakland, based on three years of collaborative fieldwork and interviews in a mixed-income, ethnically diverse area of the city.
Robb Willer
Assistant professor of sociology and a social psychologist
Phone: (607) 339-6466
E-mail: willer@berkeley.edu
Media Relations contact: Yasmin Anwar, (510) 643-7944 or yanwar@berkeley.edu
Expertise: Impact of terrorism on U.S. elections, the role of masculinity in political attitudes and why Americans support war. More information is available on his website.
HEALTH CARE
Helen Ann Halpin
Professor of health policy, director of the Center for Health and Public Policy Studies and vice chair of the California Health Benefits Review Program
Phone: (510) 643-1675 or (510) 642-2862
E-mail: helenhs@berkeley.edu
Media Relations contact: Sarah Yang, (510) 643-7741 or scyang@berkeley.edu
Expertise: Health insurance policy, including health insurance benefit design, health care reform, access to care, consumer experiences in managed care, and disease prevention and health promotion. Halpin has been quoted extensively in the media on issues related to national health care reform, particularly for Medicare and Medicaid. She is following the proposals of 2008 presidential candidates to increase Americans' access to health insurance. She is also a member of the Obama campaign's health care policy committee and an unpaid advisor to the Obama campaign. Additional information on Halpin and her work is online and on the NewsCenter experts' site.
Ken Jacobs
Chair of the Center for Labor Research and Education
Phone: (510) 643-2621
E-mail: kjacobs9@berkeley.edu
Media Relations contact: Kathleen Maclay, (510) 643-5651 or kmaclay@berkeley.edu
Expertise: Health care coverage, low wage work, labor relations, the retail industry and public policy. He consulted with San Francisco on development of its health care security ordinance and was on the San Francisco Mayor’s Universal Health Care Council.
Stephen Shortell
Dean of the School of Public Health and professor of health policy and management
Phone: (510) 643-5346
E-mail: shortell@berkeley.edu
Media Relations contact: Sarah Yang, (510) 643-7741 or scyang@berkeley.edu
Expertise: Organized health delivery systems in the United States. Shortell has done extensive research on institutional incentives for improving quality of care and health outcomes, particularly when related to the management of patients with chronic illnesses. He can also discuss the impact of budget cuts on the delivery of healthcare services, including community services. More information on Shortell is online.
IMMIGRATION
Maria Blanco
Executive director of UC Berkeley School of Law's Warren Institute for Race, Ethnicity and Diversity
Phone: (510) 642-0322
E-mail: mblanco@law.berkeley.edu
Law school media relations contact: Susan Gluss, (510) 642-6936 or sgluss@law.berkeley.edu
Expertise: Immigrant rights, women's rights and racial justice. Blanco has provided legal counsel for students in low-performing schools and convened African-American and Latino community leaders to discuss immigration policy reforms. Blanco is a member of the California Coalition for Civil Rights, a group dedicated to building a progressive national agenda for civil and human rights. She is an unpaid advisor to the Barack Obama campaign.
Irene Bloemraad
Assistant professor of sociology
Phone: (510) 642-4287
E-mail: bloemr@berkeley.edu
Media Relations contact: Yasmin Anwar, (510) 643-7944 or yanwar@berkeley.edu
Expertise: Immigration, political socialization and civic engagement of immigrants. Her current research focuses on how immigration and diversity affects the democratic process. She is author of "Becoming a Citizen" (University of California Press, 2006). More information is available on her website.
Rachel Moran
Professor of law and executive committee member of UC Berkeley’s Center for Social Justice
Phone: (510) 643-6351
E-mail: moran@law.berkeley.edu
Media Relations contact: Janet Gilmore, (510) 642-5685 or jangilmore@berkeley.edu
Expertise: Immigration, education, civil rights, bilingual education law and policy. More information on Moran is online.
Harley Shaiken
Chair of UC Berkeley's Center for Latin American Studies, labor expert and professor of geography and education
Phone: (510) 642-2088
E-mail: hshaiken@berkeley.edu
Media Relations contact: Kathleen Maclay, (510) 643-5651 or kmaclay@berkeley.edu
Expertise: The U.S.-Mexico border and, more generally, the relationship between the United States and Latin America. He also is a source on labor and the global economy who explores globalization and its social implications. He has informally advised the Edwards campaign on labor and trade issues.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Vinod Aggarwal
Professor of political science and director of the Berkeley Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Study Center
Phone: (510) 642-2817 (office) or (510) 290-9176 (cell)
E-mail: vinod@berkeley.edu
Media Relations contact: Yasmin Anwar, (510) 643-7944 or yanwar@berkeley.edu
Expertise: The politics of trade and finance. His current research focuses on corporate strategy in a changing global economy. More information about Aggarwal is online.
Steven Weber
Professor of political science and director of the Institute of International Studies
Phone: (510) 642-8739 (office) or (415) 449-0824 (cell)
E-mail: steve_weber@berkeley.edu
Media Relations contact: Yasmin Anwar, (510) 643-7944 or yanwar@berkeley.edu
Expertise: National and international politics, foreign policy, Third World development, technology and health care. Weber has held academic fellowships with the Council on Foreign Relations and worked with the U.S. State Department and other government agencies on foreign policy issues, risk analysis and forecasting. In 2000, he was a consultant to the U.S. Commission on National Security in the 21st Century. More information about Weber is online. Additional background about him is also on the Web.
LANGUAGE
George Lakoff
Professor of linguistics, and senior fellow with the Rockridge Institute think tank
Office: (510) 643-7616
Home phone: (510) 848-7465
Cell phone: (510) 910-3397
E-mail: Lakoff@cogsci.berkeley.edu
Expertise: Language, cognitive science and politics. His work on "framing" — the use of practical applications of cognitive linguistics — has been applied by social advocates to recast social and political issues. He is author of "Whose Freedom? The Battle Over America's Most Important Idea (2006)"; "Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think" (1994), "Thinking Points — A Progressive's Handbook" (2006), and "Don't Think of an Elephant" (2004). His next book, "The Political Mind: Why You Can't Understand 21st Century Politics with an 18th Century Brain," is due out in June 2008
Robin Lakoff
Professor of linguistics
Phone: (510) 841-6269
E-mail: rlakoff@berkeley.edu
Media Relations contact: Kathleen Maclay, (510) 643-5651 or kmaclay@berkeley.edu
Expertise: How words are used, including the confusing and misleading use of words, language and feminism, and Hillary Clinton's candidacy. Lakoff is the author of "The Language War," "Talking Power" and "Language and Woman's Place." More information about Lakoff is online.
Geoffrey Nunberg
Adjunct professor at UC Berkeley¹s Information School
Phone: (510) 642-3159
E-mail: nunberg@berkeley.edu
Media Relations contact: Kathleen Maclay, (510) 643-5651 or kmaclay@berkeley.edu
Expertise: Nunberg is the chair of the usage panel of the American Heritage Dictionary and does a feature on language on the National Public Radio show "Fresh Air. " He frequently writes commentaries on language and is the author of "Speaking Right: How Conservatives Turned Liberalism into a Tax-Raising, Latte-Drinking, Sushi-Eating, Volvo-Driving, New York Times-Reading, Body-Piercing, Hollywood-Loving, Left-Wing Freak Show" (2006).
LEGAL ISSUES
Jesse Choper
Professor of law and former dean of UC Berkeley‘s School of Law
Phone: (510) 642-0339
E-mail: choperj@law.berkeley.edu
Media Relations contact: Janet Gilmore, (510) 642-5685 or jangilmore@berkeley.edu
Expertise: Constitutional law and corporation law. His other areas of interest include political parties, voting rights, presidential powers, civil liberties, civil rights, criminal law, education, and state and federal courts. His major publications include the book, "Judicial Review and the National Political Process: A Functional Reconsideration of the Role of the Supreme Court" (1980).
RACE AND ETHNICITY
David A. Hollinger
Professor of American history
Phone: (510) 642-6822
E-mail: davidhol@berkeley.edu
Media Relations contact: Janet Gilmore, (510) 642-5685 or jangilmore@berkeley.edu
*While Hollinger is on leave this semester, he does check e-mail and phone messages frequently. He will be traveling March 28-April 7 and may check messages just once a day in that period.
Expertise: Politics of race and ethnicity including what is meant by the terms "post-racial" and "post-ethnic" politics. He also is an expert on multi-culturalism and census categories. The author of the book "Post-ethnic America: Beyond Multiculturalism," Hollinger recently wrote a commentary on the Obama campaign for the Chronicle of Higher Education, which can be viewed after registering with the publication
More information on Hollinger is available online.
RELIGION AND POLITICS
Michael Hout
Professor of sociology
Phone: (510) 759-5557 or (609) 258-5875
E-mail: mikehout@berkeley.edu
Media Relations contact: Yasmin Anwar, (510) 643-7944 or yanwar@berkeley.edu
Expertise: The role of religion, class and Christian conservatism in U.S. elections. He is co-author of "The Truth about Conservative Christians" (2006), which explores the class divisions in conservative denominations. For more information, see Hout's website.
VOTING TECHNOLOGY
Deirdre Mulligan
Director of the Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic at the UC Berkeley School of Law and a clinical professor of law
Phone: (510) 642-0499
E-mail: dmulligan@law.berkeley.edu
Media Relations contact: Janet Gilmore, (510) 642-5685 or jangilmore@berkeley.edu
Expertise: Technology, privacy and free expression. She serves on the board of the California Voter Foundation and on the advisory board of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Mulligan previously served as staff counsel at the Center for Democracy & Technology in Washington, D.C.
Philip Stark
Professor of statistics
Phone: (510) 642-1430 [forwards to cell phone]
E-mail: stark@stat.berkeley.edu
Media Relations contact: Robert Sanders, (510) 643-6998 or rsanders@berkeley.edu
Expertise: Stark is available to talk about post-election audits and the accuracy of voting equipment. He was a member of the Post Election Audit Standards Working Group commissioned by the California Secretary of State in 2007 to develop standards and best practices for random hand tallies (audits) used to assess the accuracy of machine vote counts. He created a statistical method to assess the reliability of election outcomes using post-election audits, and to tell election officials how much to expand manual audits in the wake of a close election.
David Wagner
Associate professor of computer science
Phone: (510) 642-2758
E-mail: daw@cs.berkeley.edu
Media Relations contact: Sarah Yang, (510) 643-7741 or scyang@berkeley.edu
Expertise: Electronic voting, Internet and computer security, wireless networks and cryptography. Wagner led a research team that found serious security holes in the software source code for e-voting machines in California. He co-authored a report disclosing serious flaws in a federally-funded Internet voting system that had been scheduled for use in the 2004 primary and general elections. The system was eventually scrapped by the Pentagon, largely because of the security flaws highlighted by Wagner and his co-authors. More information on Wagner and about his work is online.