Living Room Chat with Ambassador Vilma Martinez & Dr. Cindy Fan

Event Description

Join us on Tuesday July 17, 2018 from 6:30 – 9:00 PM for a special Living Room Chat with two trailblazing women in diplomacy and international affairs, Ambassador Vilma Martinez and Dr. Cindy Fan.

Ambassador Vilma Martinez, the first woman to represent the United States in Buenos Aires as Ambassador, was appointed to the Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners by Mayor Eric Garcetti and confirmed by the Los Angeles City Council on November 19, 2013.

Dr. Cindy Fan is UCLA’s Vice Provost for International Studies and Global Engagement and is the first woman and Asian to hold that position. She is also Professor of Geography, and is formerly Chair of the Asian American Studies Department and Associate Dean of Social Sciences at UCLA.

Ambassador Vilma Martinez

Ambassador Vilma Martinez, the first woman to represent the United States in Buenos Aires as Ambassador, was appointed to the Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners by Mayor Eric Garcetti and confirmed by the Los Angeles City Council on November 19, 2013.

Ambassador Martinez has been a partner at Munger, Tolles & Olson since 1982, where she specialized in federal and state court commercial litigation. In recent years, her legal practice focused on advising companied on steps to enhance their equal employment opportunity policies and build diversity and inclusion initiatives into their business plans.

Prior to Munger, Tolles & Olson, Ambassador Martinez served as president and general counsel of the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) for nine years. One of her most significant accomplishements as head of MALDEF was developing an operating framework that enabled it to grow and support a braoder array of activities. Ambassador Martinez’s previous professional endeavors also include work as litigation associate at Cahill, Gondon & Reindel in New York, as a staff attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

Enriching Ambassador Martinez’s experience is a history of continued public service on numerous nonprofit boards. She served as chairman of the Board of Regents of the University of California from 1984 to 1986, as was a regent from 1976 to 1990. She previously served as a board member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association and as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She  chaired the Pacific Council’s Study Group on Mexico and served on the advisory boards of Columbia Law School and the Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California.

Ambassador Martinez was appointed by President William Clinton to serve on his Advisory Committee on Trade Policy and Negotiations from 1994 to 1996. She was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as the United States Ambassador to Argentina from 2009 to 2013. In 2013, she was awarded the order of May (the highest honor awarded by Argentina to a foreign national) in recognition for her tenure and for her work on behalf of improving mutual cooperation and understanding.

Dr. Cindy Fan

Cindy Fan is UCLA’s Vice Provost for International Studies and Global Engagement and is the first woman and Asian to hold that position. She is also Professor of Geography, and is formerly Chair of the Asian American Studies Department and Associate Dean of Social Sciences at UCLA.

As UCLA’s senior international officer, Dr. Fan provides strategic leadership for the university’s international partnerships and education and global engagement. She also oversees the International Institute and its 30 interdisciplinary research centers and degree programs. She co-chairs the International Policy Executive Committee of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, serves on the Governing Committee of the University of California Education Abroad Program, and is on the Advisory Board of Sister Cities of Los Angeles.

Dr. Fan was born in Hong Kong and received her BA from the University of Hong Kong and her MPhil from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She received her PhD from the Ohio State University and has been a Professor at UCLA since 1989. Internationally known for her research on migration, regional development and gender in China, Dr. Fan has numerous publications, including the book China on the Move, a pioneering study on rural-urban migration in China. She has also co-edited the international journals Regional Studies and Eurasian Geography and Economics.

A regular commentator for the New York Times and China Radio International, Dr. Fan is a frequent contributor to the media, such as the BBC, National Public Radio, Hong Kong TVB, and the Tavis Smiley Show. She has delivered numerous keynotes in the US, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. Dr. Fan has received the UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award, the Distinguished Scholar Award from the Asian Geography Specialty Group of the American Association of Geographers, the American Council on Education Fellowship, and major grants from the Henry Luce Foundation, Andrew Mellon Foundation and National Science Foundation.