Santa Monica College will celebrate Women’s History Month with a discussion, “Women at the Political Table: Set It or Sit at It?” featuring former State Senator Sheila Kuehl. The free event will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 21 in Room 123 of SMC’s Bundy Campus, 3171 S. Bundy Dr.
Kuehl, founding director of SMC’s Public Policy Institute, will speak about women in politics in today’s world. Seating is on a first-arrival basis. Call (310) 434-4303.
Kuehl served eight years in the State Senate and six years in the State Assembly before leaving the legislature in 2008 under California’s term limits statute.
In spring of 2012, she was appointed Regents’ Professor of Public Policy at UCLA, teaching a class on Making Policy Through Laws and Rules in that quarter. She has produced a series of cable shows for the City of West Hollywood, drafted Model State Codes of Discrimination and Bullying for the Williams Institute at the UCLA Law School and consulted on a variety of public policy issues.
During the 1997-98 legislative session, Kuehl was the first woman in California history to be named Speaker Pro Tempore of the Assembly. She was also the first openly gay person to be elected to the California Legislature.
A former civil rights attorney, Kuehl authored 171 bills that were signed into law during her legislative career, including legislation to establish paid family leave; establish the rights contained in Roe vs. Wade in California statute; overhaul California’s child support services system; establish nurse to patient ratios in every hospital; require that housing developments of more than 500 units have identified sources of water; further protect domestic violence victims and their children; prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender and disability in the workplace and sexual orientation in education; increase the rights of crime victims; and safeguard the environment and drinking water.
Kuehl graduated from Harvard Law School in 1978 where she was the second woman in the school’s history to win the Moot Court competition. She served on the Harvard University Board of Overseers from 1998 to 2005.
In her youth, she was known for her portrayal of the irrepressible Zelda Gilroy in the television series, “The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.”
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