Nov. 18, 2014 Speaker: Jodi Waterhouse, USD, University of the 3rd Age

Jodi Waterhouse began her career at USD 18 years ago when she joined the USD Professional and Continuing Education Department.  During her tenure at USD she has directed many types of programs simultaneously to include Business and Corporate Education (18 years), Family Business Forum (16 years), Event Director of the Kyoto Laureate Symposium (10 years), Business Development, and University of the Third Age (18 years).  Her passion for University of San Diego and bringing USD to the community and the community to USD is her greatest professional joy!

She’s married to her wonderful “British” husband Steve, has 2 amazing kids, Ian – 16  and Elyse 14, and a golden retriever, Simon.  Beyond promoting USD in the community, she loves watching her kids who are amazing athletes compete in their various sports.  She is truly a sideline mom!

Follow Jodi (@USDCorpEd) on Twitter

 

Oct. 28, 2014 Speaker: Carmen Chavez, Casa Cornelia – Central American Refugee Children

Beginning last year and specifically in the last few months, there has been an overall increase in the apprehension of Unaccompanied Children from Central America at the Southwest Border.  You may have seen it in the news. An experienced attorney, whose organization provides needed services to these children going through the legal process, will provide an informational overview and background on the issue of children traveling alone to the U.S. from Central America.  Come learn about this current issue regarding unaccompanied children at our border.

Biography

Carmen Chavez was born and raised in San Diego. She graduated from San Diego State University with a B.A. degree in Political Science. While in college she became very involved in community service, especially in the area of human and civil rights.  She continued her dream to service the community through public interest law by attending Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, CA graduating in 1999.  While at Loyola she participated in Moot Court, Public Interest Law Foundation and La Raza Law Students Association.

After passing the California Bar Exam, she began working at Casa Cornelia Law Center fourteen years ago and currently serves as the Executive Director overseeing a staff of 17 and a volunteer base of over 300.  Casa Cornelia is a non-profit law firm in San Diego providing quality pro bono legal representation to victims of human and civil violations eligible for humanitarian protection under the law.

She started her service at Casa Cornelia as the recipient of the Equal Justice Works Fellowship, which allowed her to provide legal services to indigent victims of abuse and those seeking refuge from persecution and torture in their home countries.  As a Staff Attorney and then Associate Director, she handled VAWA, U Visa, T Visa, NACARA, Naturalization, and asylum cases affirmatively and defensively (Immigration Court and Board of Immigration Appeals), Special Immigration Juvenile Status (SIJS) for children and has argued successfully before the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals several times.  During this time, Carmen has given numerous presentations and trainings to the legal community, social workers, law enforcement, students, community groups, faith community, parents and clients in San Diego County and elsewhere. She is a member of the American Bar Association, Lawyers Club and the San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association.

Nov. 11, 2014 Speaker: Gregory R. Hillgren, Patriots Initiative – Embracing America’s Armed Forces Community

Are you ‘Answering the 21^st Century Call’ to support our nation’s armed forces community?  Are you giving time, treasure… or both?  Are you doing so wisely and effectively?  Are you making a difference?  Let’s find out.

Mr. Hillgren was a founder and serves as the Chairman of The Patriot Initiative (‘TPI’), the nonprofit outreach program of the Rancho Santa Fe Foundation located in the San Diego region, the home of America’s largest military service population.

Since 2008, The Patriots Initiative has driven philanthropic support to active military service members and their families, the wounded and fallen, and veterans by identifying, evaluating and underwriting the very finest nonprofit service providers serving that space.  Greg also founded the Endowment Leadership Initiative at the Rancho Santa Fe Foundation which supports the Navy SEALs Foundation through TPI.  He is the past-Chair of the Rancho Santa Fe Foundation (2005-2006) and served as a Director for nine years.

Mr. Hillgren’s professional career has focused on real estate investment and development, overseeing a range of successful commercial, residential and mixed-use projects throughout California, including several complex property repositionings.  His privately held firms also make strategic investments in emerging California companies and their technologies.

Greg earned his undergraduate and MBA degrees from the USC Marshall School of Business where he remains actively involved.  For the past decade he has served on its Board of Leaders and is the Co-Chair for Marshall’s $400 Million Capital Campaign.  Greg’s support for USC includes the endowed Hillgren Scholarships for Global Studies.  In 2013 Greg was the recipient of the USC President’s Award from the University’s Alumni Association.

Greg and his wife, Nancy, are active in their community of Rancho Santa Fe where they were the recipients of the RSF Community Service Award in 2002.    Greg’ recreational pursuits focus on golf, and he’s served multiple terms as President of the Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club (2002-2004).

Nov. 4, 2014 Speaker: Casey B.K. Dominguez, USD – 2014 Midterm Election & Its Aftermath

Casey B. K. Dominguez is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of San Diego. She received her Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2005. Her research specialties are congressional elections, political parties, and the presidency. Dr. Dominguez has published articles on presidential elections, congressional elections, and political parties. Her ongoing research focuses on the development of presidential war powers.

Scholarly and Creative Work

Dominguez’ Ph.D. dissertation examined congressional primary elections, and found that the political party establishment attempts to stack the deck in favor of a particular primary candidate under predictable conditions. Her current research focuses on the institutional and financial relationships between political parties and interest groups. In 2009, she co-authored a paper, published in the journal American Political Research, identifying legislative and electoral interest group coalitions.

She has also published work on the presidential honeymoon period in Congress and the Presidencyand in The Forum, and is currently researching congressional responses to presidential assertions of expanded war powers.

Teaching Interests

Dominguez’ teaching interests include a wide range of topics in American politics. She teaches the introductory American Politics class, as well as upper division courses on the presidency, parties and interest groups, and campaigns and elections. She has also taught classes incorporating research methodology, including the Political Science/International Relations research Capstone, and an interdisciplinary honors course in Social Network Analysis.