This year's Bellarmine Forum is presented by StudyLA, a research center housed in the LMU Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts that advocates for a better, more equitable Los Angeles through research, student mentorship, and engagement with residents and leaders.
Fernando Guerra, Founding Director of StudyLA and Professor of Political Science and Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies
Fernando J. Guerra's scholarly work focuses on state and local politics, racial and ethnic politics, and local governance reform. He has been a principal investigator in over 30 major studies on Los Angeles, including the largest general social survey of residents in the Los Angeles region. Dr. Guerra has served on standing commissions, blue ribbon committees, and ad hoc task forces for the City of Los Angeles, the State of California, and regional bodies throughout Southern California. He is a source for the media at the local, national, and international level and has been highlighted by the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Business Week, The Economist, and media outlets in Latin America, Europe, and Asia. He earned his Ph.D. and M.A. in political science from the University of Michigan and his B.A. in international relations from the University of Southern California.
Brianne Gilbert, Managing Director of StudyLA and Senior Lecturer of Political Science
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Brianne Gilbert leads a team of researchers and students in what is recognized as one of the leading undergraduate research centers in the nation. StudyLA advocates for a better, more equitable Los Angeles through research, student mentorship, and engagement with the region's residents and leaders. Over the years, Gilbert has led numerous studies involving public opinion research, voter polls, community studies, and leaders/elite surveys, and helped bring in contracts, grants, and additional funding to StudyLA.Gilbert is also a senior lecturer at LMU in the Department of Political Science, teaching courses on political internships, GIS, and geospatial research.