The following UC Davis faculty are available to comment on the presidential address Jan. 20.

Presidential personalities, trustworthiness, inconsistency

Steven Currall, the chancellor’s senior adviser for Strategic Projects and Initiatives, former dean of the business school (Graduate School of Management), and professor of management. He is a psychological scientist who can talk about innovation, economic development, and leadership trustworthiness. Currall was lead author of a book on new forms of collaboration among university-business-government, “Organized Innovation: A Blueprint for Renewing America's Prosperity” (Oxford University Press 2014). He has published op-eds on innovation in the Seattle Times, Huffington Post and Sacramento Business Journal, among others. Contact: Steven C. Currall, (530) 752-7272 or (530) 574-4413, scc@ucdavis.edu.

Unemployment and job loss, labor markets, poverty

Labor economist Ann Huff Stevens, professor and chair of the Department of Economics and director of the UC Davis Center for Poverty Research, can talk about issues related to unemployment, labor markets and poverty. Her research focuses on measurement and dynamics of poverty, the effect of income shocks on individuals’ income and health, and the effects of job loss and unemployment on use of medical care, insurance status and health outcomes of workers and their families. Stevens is also the interim dean for the UC Davis Graduate School of Management. Contact: Ann Stevens, (530) 752-7366, annstevens@ucdavis.edu.

Access to college

Michal Kurlaender, associate professor of education policy, can talk about issues related to college access, success and education reform more generally. Kurlaender investigates students’ educational pathways, in particular K-12 and postsecondary alignment, and access to and success in college and the labor market. She has expertise on alternative pathways to college and on college readiness, and on middle school and high school reform. Kurlaender also serves as co-director of Policy Analysis for California Education. She is a researcher with the Center for the Analysis of Postsecondary Readiness and the Center for Analysis of Postsecondary Education and Employment. Contact: Michal Kurlaender, (530) 752-3748, or mobile: (617) 359-9471, mkurlaender@ucdavis.edu.

Immigration policy and civil rights

Kevin Johnson, dean and the Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law and Chicano/a Studies at the UC Davis School of Law, is one of the nation’s leading immigration law scholars. He wrote an essay on the president's earlier proposed immigration action for The New York Times. His research focuses on immigration law and civil rights, and he can speak to the ways in which changes in immigration law and policy impact the civil rights of citizens and immigrants. He was a member of then-candidate Obama’s Immigration Policy Group, where he assisted in formulating immigration law and policy positions for the Obama campaign. Johnson was one of the attorneys who represented the State Bar of California before the California Supreme Court in the matter of Sergio Garcia, an undocumented immigrant who was admitted to practice law. His books include "Immigration Law and the U.S.-Mexico Border," “Opening the Floodgates: Why America Needs to Rethink Its Borders and Immigration Laws” and “The 'Huddled Masses' Myth: Immigration and Civil Rights.” He is co-editor of the influential Immigration Prof blog. Contact: Kevin Johnson, (530) 752-0243, krjohnson@ucdavis.edu.

Immigration policy, criminal law, immigration history and race

Gabriel “Jack” Chin, professor of law, is a prolific and much-cited legal scholar whose interests include immigration law, criminal law and procedure, and race and the law. He can speak to the ways in which criminal law and immigration law intersect, as well as the constitutional implications of immigration policy. Among his many publications, Chin is co-author of “Effective Assistance of Counsel and the Consequences of Guilty Pleas,” an article cited repeatedly by the U.S. Supreme Court in Padilla vs. Kentucky, the case that affirmed the constitutional requirement of defense attorneys to advise noncitizen clients regarding the immigration consequences of criminal conviction. Contact: Gabriel “Jack” Chin, (530) 752-3112, gjchin@ucdavis.edu.

Racial and ethnic politics, Latino voting behavior

Brad Jones is a professor of political science whose research focuses on racial and ethnic politics. He is also an expert on immigration policy and public opinion regarding immigration. Contact: Brad Jones, bsjjones@ucdavis.edu.