Meet the Director

Kimberley Garth-James, DPA, is a Fulbright Specialist with 17 years of experience in policymaking and program implementation working with the U.S. Embassy (London), California Governor’s Office, and California State Legislature. She has extensive experience as a lobbyist associate and a federal and state agency policy expert.

Garth-James has conducted international workshops for the United Nations (13th UN Crime Conference, Doha, Qatar) and training in Venezuela and Canada. She has also been an expert panelist on eLearning, women of color in higher education, and partnerships at the American Association of University Professors and American Society for Public Administration conferences.

She has held appointments in the Sacramento Housing and Human Rights Commission, U.S. Sentencing Commission, and Victims Advisory Group, and served as a consultant with UNESCO.

Additionally, Garth-James has served on the faculty of The Jesuit University of San Francisco, Kentucky Wesleyan College, and Notre Dame de Namur University. She developed programs for students to sharpen their critical eye for public problems and incremental policy solutions. Garth-James has led efforts to amend the California Constitution by expanding joint ventures and shape laws for day fines, mother-infant care, and drug prevention programs.

Garth-James has been the recipient of the California Legislature Resolution (declaration of public work), YWCA Outstanding Women’s Award in Government, and student appreciations that recognize a life seeking truth through service.