UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs

UCLA Meyer and Renee Luskin School of Public Affairs

Former name	School of Public Policy and Social Research (SPPSR)
Type	Public
Established	1994
Parent institution	University of California, Los Angeles
Dean	Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris
Academic staff	75
Students	567 (as of Fall 2016)
Location	Los Angeles , California , United States
Website	luskin.ucla.edu

The UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs (officially the UCLA Meyer and Renee Luskin School of Public Affairs) is the public affairs/public service graduate school at the University of California, Los Angeles. The school consists of three graduate departments—Public Policy, Social Welfare, and Urban Planning—and an undergraduate program in Public Affairs that began accepting students in 2018. In all, the school offers three undergraduate minors, the undergraduate major, three master's degrees, and two doctoral degrees.

It was formerly known as the UCLA School of Public Affairs until March 18, 2011, when it was renamed after UCLA alumni Meyer and Renee Luskin.

Departments and degrees

The Luskin School of Public Affairs offers degrees in the following concentrations:

• Public policy – MPP
• Social welfare – MSW, PhD
• Urban planning – MURP, MRED, PhD
• Public affairs – BA

Joint degree programs (J.D., MBA., Latin American Studies, Architecture and Urban Design, and Asian American Studies) are offered. Consult individual departments for more information.

The following minors are offered for undergraduate UCLA students:

• Public affairs
• Urban and Regional Studies
• Gerontology

Research centers

The Luskin School of Public Affairs houses the following research centers:

• Luskin Center for Innovation
• The Ralph and Goldy Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
• Institute of Transportation Studies
• Center for Policy Research on Aging
• Institute on Inequality and Democracy
• The Latino Policy & Politics Initiative
• The Center for Neighborhood Knowledge
• Latin American Cities Initiative
• UCLA Voting Rights Project

Unique programs include a Social Justice Initiative, Senior Fellows program, and Global Public Affairs.

The UCLA Voting Rights Project

The University of California, Los Angeles Voting Rights Project (UCLA VRP) was founded in August 2019. The UCLA VRP started out as a project within the UCLA Latino Politics & Policy Institute, and as of July 1, 2024, became an independent research center housed within the Luskin School of Public Affairs.

The UCLA VRP's Faculty Director is Dr. Matt Barreto, Ph.D., and the project's Director of Litigation is Chad W. Dunn. The purpose of the UCLA VRP is to teach and train students on the history and modern application of the Voting Rights Act, and to support equal voting rights across the United States through impact litigation and the publishing of public policy research reports. The UCLA VRP maintains a two-quarter/semester sequence on teaching voting rights for undergraduate, graduate, and law students.

Notable work

The UCLA VRP is currently involved with the following: Higginson v. Poway, New York v. U.S. Dep't of Commerce, Texas L.U.L.A.C. v. Whitley, Harding v. Dallas County, Texas, and Veasey v. Perry (Abbott).

External links

• Official website