April 7th, 2015- Speaker – Mary Walshok

Mary Lindenstein Walshok Ph.D.

She is the author of more than 100 articles and reports on regional innovation, the role of research institutions in regional economies and workforce development. She has authored and co-authored numerous book chapters and articles on the world of work, including: Blue Collar Women (1981), Knowledge Without Boundaries: What America’s Research Universities Can Do for the Economy, the Workplace, and the Community (1995), Closing America’s Job Gap (2011) and the forthcoming book for the Stanford University Press, Invention and Reinvention: The Evolution of San Diego’s Entrepreneurial Economy.

As an industrial social scientist studying the dynamics of regional economic development and transformation, Walshok has studied various communities across America. She has evaluated 13 WIRED regions funded by the U.S. Department of Labor, studied three innovative regions for a National Science Foundation-funded project, and assessed one region’s efforts to grow an industry for a Lilly Foundation-funded endeavor.

As head of the continuing education and public programs arm of UC San Diego since 1981, Walshok oversees programs that educate more than 55,500 enrollees annually, which translates to more than 26,000 students in over 4,900 courses. She oversees a staff of 230 employees and an annual budget of more than $35 million. Walshok has developed outreach efforts to help accelerate the San Diego region’s economic vitality, assure a globally competitive talent pool and help college graduates transition to employment areas that are in higher demand. She also helps provide access to a vast array of regional intellectual resources through the award-winning UCSD-TV and nationwide through UCTV, which reach over 22 million households and millions more around the globe through on-demand Internet downloads.

During her tenure Walshok has played an active part in helping the University expand its local impact, national reputation and global reach. UC San Diego — one of the ten campuses in the world-renowned University of California system — has rapidly achieved the status as one of the top 50 institutions in the world for higher education and research.

Walshok is the recipient of numerous awards including the Kellogg Foundation’s Leadership Fellowship and induction into Sweden’s Royal Order of the Polar Star. Active on boards of a number of arts and philanthropic organizations, Walshok chaired the boards of the San Diego Community foundation during 2002-2004 and the International Community Foundation during 2007-2009. She is currently serving on the boards of San Diego CONNECT (which she helped found in 1985), the La Jolla Playhouse, the United States-Mexico Foundation for Science, International Community Foundation, and the Girard Foundation.

A native of Palm Springs, California, she received her bachelor’s degree in sociology from Pomona College in 1964, her master’s degree in sociology in 1966 and her Ph.D. in sociology in 1969 from Indiana University. She has been a visiting professor at the Stockholm School of Economics for many years and in 2004 held an international appointment in the department of continuing education at Oxford University in England.

March 31st, 2015- Speaker- Christopher Yanov & students from Reality Changers – How $300 Became $100,000,000 (and What’s Next)

Recently named one of the most-admired CEOs by the San Diego Business Journal and one of San Diego’s new civic power brokers by San Diego Magazine, Christopher Yanov raised and awarded over $1,000,000 in scholarships to inner-city students before turning 30 years old. Mr. Yanov earned four college degrees in just five years. He graduated in two-and-a-half years from both UC San Diego (with Bachelor’s degrees in Political Science and Spanish Literature) and the University of San Diego (with Master’s degrees in Peace & Justice and International Relations).

Previously, Mr. Yanov worked with gang members for five years before starting Reality Changers in May 2001 with just $300, yet now the program’s students will have earned $100,000,000 in scholarships from all sources by 2016. He credits his appearance on Wheel of Fortune in late 2001 for providing the initial financial support for Reality Changers to truly become a bona fide program.

Mr. Yanov has also served on the San Diego Commission on Gang Prevention & Intervention as well as the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Education & Workforce Development Committee. Currently, Mr. Yanov serves on the Tijuana Innovadora Binational Committee, the University of San Diego’s Emerging Leaders Council, the Voice of San Diego Member Council, and the Federal Employees Scholarship Foundation. He is also putting the finishing touches on his book, “The Tightrope Theory: Why Prevention Programs May Do More Harm Than Good.”

 

www.RealityChangers.org

www.Facebook.com/RealityChangers

March 24th, 2015- Speaker – Steven Schick- Conductor – La Jolla Symphony

Percussionist, conductor, and author Steven Schick was born in Iowa and raised in a farming family. For forty years he has championed contemporary music by commissioning or premiering more than 150 new works. He was the founding percussionist of the Bang on a Can All-Stars (1992-2002) and served as Artistic Director of the Centre International de Percussion de Genève (2000-2005). Schick is founder and Artistic Director of the percussion group, “red fish blue fish.” Currently he is Music Director of the La Jolla Symphony and Chorus and Artistic Director of the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players. He will also serve as music director of the 2015 Ojai Music Festival in June. In 2012 he became the first Artist-in-Residence with the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE).

 

Schick founded and is currently Artistic Director of “Roots and Rhizomes,” a summer course on contemporary percussion music held at the Banff Centre for the Arts. He maintains a lively schedule of guest conducting including appearances in this season with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Nova Chamber Ensemble and the Asko/Schönberg Ensemble. Among his acclaimed publications are a book, “The Percussionist’s Art: Same Bed, Different Dreams,” and numerous recordings of contemporary percussion music including a 3 CD set of the complete percussion music of Iannis Xenakis (Mode). Mode released a companion recording on DVD of the early percussion music of Karlheinz Stockhausen in September of 2014.

 

In 2014, Schick received two notable honors: he was named Champion of New Music by the American Composers Forum and he was inducted into the Percussion Hall of Fame. Steven Schick is Distinguished Professor of Music at the University of California, San Diego.

 

 

 

 

March 13th. 2015 Speaker – Gary London – The London Group Realty Advisors- A status report on the San Diego Economy, Real Estate and Resources and will include topics on water, Paseo and Qualcom

 

Gary London is President of London Group Realty Advisors, providing market analyses, economic and financial analysis, strategies and capital access to investors, lenders and developers. Mr. London is well known as counsel to many of the nation’s successful real estate players and entities holding real property assets. He has been utilized as an expert witness on numerous real estate cases over his 30 year career. Mr. London is an Instructor at the University of San Diego. He received his formal education at the University of California, Berkeley (AB) and at San Diego State University (MCP).

 

Vist Gary’s Website