UCLA Anderson School of Management Blog

Eli Broad at UCLA Anderson: Lessons from an Unreasonable Man

Angélica Gutiérrez (Ph.D. '12) Named "Next Generation Latina" by Latina Magazine

About a year ago, we had the pleasure of interviewing Angélica Gutiérrez (Ph.D.'12), who was then finishing up her doctoral work at UCLA Anderson. (She received her degree in June). At the time, we discussed her research into legacy and affirmative action admission policies. Gutiérrez is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and the National Center for Institutional Diversity. 

On November 12, Gutiérrez was honored by Latina as one of 10 Next Generation Latinas.  The honor received coverage from NBC Latino here. The recognition by Latina came from a call they put out to their readers, seeking "inspirational stories of women with vigor, smarts, a passion to give back to the community and the drive to make dreams come true." 

In response, Gutiérrez told NBC Latino:

"I am deeply humbled and honored to be selected as a Next Generation Latina because to me, the "Next Generation Latina' is a woman who is driven, passionate, and committed to making a difference in her community -- even when 'making a difference' means entering uncharted territory and facing obstacles that pioneers often encounter.

"I love working with organizations that serve disadvantaged communities, because I believe in paying it forward, and providing others with the same motivation, support and opportunities that I have been blessed with. I obtained a Ph.D. and will serve as a business school professor because I would like to ensure that Latinos will see someone like me when they enter the classroom someday as MBA students. I seek to empower and instill a belief that they not only belong in the business field, but also have the capacity to serve as its leaders."

Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities profiled in Vetrepreneur Magazine

UCLA Anderson's Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV) features prominently in Vetrepreneur's October 2012 story on programs that train veterans in entrepreneurship and business ownership. The EBV program, presented by UCLA Anderson and a nationwide consortium of business schools, offers veterans--at no charge--both a course of practical training and a continuing structure of support in the form of the network of EBV graduates.

More Than Just Mentoring :: Vetrepreneur October 2012

UCLA Anderson's Danny Oppenheimer On Democracy; Electoral College

Associate Professor Danny Oppenheimer joined the UCLA Anderson faculty just recently, after making a name for himself as a faculty member at Princeton, winning several teaching awards as well as In 2006, the “’Ig Nobel Prize’ (in 2006) for research that makes you laugh, and then makes you think.”

Oppenheimer’s research focuses on human decision making, with a particular emphasis on understanding what information people attend to when making decisions. He is the co-author of the book, "Democracy Despite Itself: Why a system that shouldn't work at all works so well" along with Mike Edwards.

Oppenheimer and Edwards have also been blogging with The Huffington Post. The pair have authored four posts, perhaps the most notable (13,000 “likes” on Facebook) being “Eliminate the Electoral College” – a somewhat controversial position in this election year. In the post, Oppenheimer writes:

“The primary impact of the Electoral College is to give the citizens of some states more influence over the presidential election than citizens of other states. If you live in a Battleground State you are showered with attention. Your issues gain traction at the national level. You have political power. But if you happen to live in a Red State or a Blue State -- as do roughly 79% of Americans according to Nate Silver's electoral map -- then you are pretty much out of luck. Your vote doesn't matter. And when we say "your vote doesn't matter," we can actually quantify this. According to the Princeton Election Consortium a vote in Nevada this year (a small battleground state) is over one million times more likely to have an impact on this election than a vote in New Jersey (a large Blue state).

This is horribly unjust. It makes a mockery of the principal of "one man, one vote"; it doesn't matter if we all get one vote when some votes are worth more than others.

The Electoral College undermines our belief that the electoral process is fair. Every time that a candidate wins the popular vote but fails to win the presidency (which has happened three times so far in American history), it has caused the people to question whether the system is broken and the wrong person became president. Combined with the widespread understanding that most votes in most states simply have virtually no chance of affecting the outcome of the presidential election, the effect is to erode our collective belief that our most important political office is actually chosen democratically.

 

The UCLA Anderson blog caught up with Oppenheimer to ask him how his research led him towards his opinions on democracy and the democratic process.