Advisory Boards & Leadership
“We need to research, educate, listen to, and understand each other. It is hard to imagine social progress anywhere that wasn’t dependent on freedom of speech.”
Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of UC Berkeley School of Law
The National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement at the University of California is chaired by UC President Napolitano and governed by two advisory boards.
The National Advisory Board is responsible for providing guidance to the Center’s Executive Director and UC senior officials overseeing the work of the Center, to ensure that it is advancing its mission with high quality and high impact programming and activities. It is co-chaired by UC Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky and UC Irvine Chancellor Howard Gillman.
The Academic Advisory Board includes professors representing a variety of disciplines across all ten UC campuses. They will assist in the creation of the Center’s project priorities and future selection of fellows. Members will serve as liaisons between their university and the fellow that is in residence for one week on their campus.
National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement Chair
Janet Napolitano
President, University of California
National Advisory Board Co-chairs
Erwin Chemerinsky
Dean, UC Berkeley School of Law
Howard Gillman
Chancellor, University of California, Irvine
Executive Director
Michelle Deutchman
Executive Director
Executive Assistant
Brenda Pitcher
Executive Assistant
National Advisory Board
Barbara Boxer
Former U.S. Senator
Harvey Brody
UC Regent Emeritus
Vijaya Gadde
General Counsel, Twitter
Tamara Keith
White House Correspondent, NPR
John King
President and CEO, The Education Trust; Former U.S. Secretary of Education
Anne Kornblut
Director, Strategic Communications, Facebook
Avi Oved
Student, UCLA Law School
Bret Stephens
Columnist, New York Times
Geoffrey R. Stone
Professor, University of Chicago Law School
George Will
Columnist, Washington Post
Academic Advisory Board
Ahmad Atif Ahmad
UC Santa Barbara - Professor, Religious Studies; Chair of the Council on Faculty Welfare, Academic Freedom, and Awards
Gerardo Aldana
UC Santa Barbara - Professor, Anthropology and Chicana/o Studies; Chair of the Department of Chicana/o Studies
Amy Binder
UC San Diego - Professor, Sociology
Simone E. Chambers
UC Irvine - Professor, Political Science
Michael Mark Cohen
UC Berkeley - Associate Teaching Professor, African American Studies & African Diaspora Studies
Lee G. Cooper
UC Los Angeles Anderson School - Professor Emeritus
John Ganim
UC Riverside - Distinguished Professor, English
Jody Greene
UC Santa Cruz - Associate Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning; Director of the Center for Innovations in Teaching and Learning; Professor of Literature
David Kaye
UC Irvine - Clinical Professor, Law
Suneil K. Koliwad
UC San Francisco - Associate Professor, Medicine, Diabetes Center; Gerold Grodsky, PhD/JAB Chair in Diabetes Research
Dana Nelkin
UC San Diego - Professor, Philosophy
Tung Nguyen
UC San Francisco - Stephen J. McPhee, MD Endowed Chair in General Internal Medicine; Professor of Medicine
Constance Penley
UC Santa Barbara - Professor, Film and Media Studies
Mary Beth Pudup
UC Santa Cruz - Director and Associate Professor, Community Studies Program
Nella Van Dyke
UC Merced - Professor, Sociology
John Villasenor
UC Los Angeles - Professor, Public Policy, Electrical Engineering & Management
Eugene Volokh
UC Los Angeles - Gary T. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law
Keith David Watenpaugh
UC Davis - Professor and Director, Human Rights Studies