UCLA Global Advisors Council

The UCLA Global Advisors Council (GAC) was created in early 2024 to guide UCLA in expanding its reach as a global university — one of the five major goals of UCLA’s 2023–28 Strategic Plan. The 21-member council held its first meeting in early March 2024 and now meets on a monthly basis.

UCLA is a state university, but its presence is truly global. It created the UCLA Global Advisors Council (GAC) in early 2024 to guide UCLA in expanding its reach as a global university — one of the five major goals of UCLA’s 2023–28 Strategic Plan. The council held its first meeting in early March 2024 and now meets on a monthly basis. Its 21 members represent all schools and divisions on campus; they are currently serving terms that will conclude in June 2025.

UCLA’s strategic plan seeks to deepen UCLA’s impact at a moment of transformation within American society, within Los Angeles and within our university as a whole. UCLA is remarkable engine of positive change in California and across the globe. It provides an excellent education to a widely diverse student body. It produces transformative research for the public good. And it contributes greatly to the welfare of our region, state and the world.

By maximizing our contributions to the world, UCLA helps create a better future for our global society. The university considers Los Angeles to be a major fulcrum for expanding its global impact. Los Angeles is home to an amazing number of diverse communities and cultures, as well as some of the largest diasporic populations in the world. UCLA’s work is intimately bound to its home city, where countless communities maintain robust international networks. As a global city, Los Angeles and its residents are also at the forefront of multiple global challenges that require global solutions with local applications.

The Mission of the Council

The GAC is dedicated to communicating UCLA’s achievements in scholarship, education and service within a global framework. Specifically, the council seeks to broaden the global impact of UCLA, with an eye toward its relationships with local communities of Los Angeles and California as a whole. Its immediate goals are to:

showcase the global impacts of UCLA;
develop innovative ideas to expand UCLA’s global reach and engagement;
gather data on the university’s global initiatives and their impact, including on local LA and Californian communities;
identify and recommend significant partnerships on global issues; and
advise UCLA on global strategy, international education opportunities, globally engaged research, alumni engagement and related topics.

Council Members

Chair: Cindy Fan, vice provost for international studies and global engagement

Deputy Chair: Kathryn Paul, assistant vice provost, director for international collaborations, UCLA International Institute

Abeer Alwan, professor of electrical and computer engineering, UCLA Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science

Paul Barber, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, UCLA Division of Life Sciences

Wei-Ti Chen, professor of nursing, UCLA School of Nursing

Rachel Deblinger, director of Modern Endangered Archives Program, UCLA Library

Paula Diaconescu, professor of chemistry, UCLA Division of Physical Sciences

Marjorie Elaine, professor of education, UCLA School of Education & Information Studies

Lieba Faier, associate professor of geography, UCLA Division of Social Sciences

Alex Ungprateeb Flynn, assistant professor of art and anthropology, UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture

Shelleen Greene, associate professor of film, television and digital media, UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television

Veronica Herrera, associate professor of urban planning, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs

Thomas Hodgson, assistant professor of musicology, UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music

Uday Karmarkar, professor of management, UCLA Anderson School of Management

Vinay Lal, professor of history and of Asian American studies, UCLA Institute of American Cultures

Máximo Langer, professor of law, UCLA School of Law

Diana Messadi, professor of dentistry, UCLA School of Dentistry

Susie Morris, assistant dean for international programs, UCLA Division of Continuing Education and UCLA Extension

José Luiz Passos, professor of Spanish and Portuguese, UCLA Division of Humanities

Anne Rimoin, professor of epidemiology, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health

Sadath Ali Sayeed, professor of pediatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA