This class is one of my favorite at UCLA.

Every week we had amazing guest lecturers who shared with us their recent projects and their views of leadership. After the guest lectures the professors gave thier lectures and the class was dismissed.

Throughout the quarter, we worked in groups on a research project to be presented at the end. While it was challenging to compromise about ideas during the research project, it allowed me to test out the leadership ideals we talked about in class. As a result of the group work, I better understand both my strengths and weaknesses in being a leader.

I recommend this class to those who think they are incapable of public speaking or leading a group. This class is an excellent opportunity to challenge yourself a bit and see if you really can lead a group or give a presentation to be proud of. In such a supportive environment, you may find that you have some of those seemingly unattainable leadership qualities. Remember: there are many different types of leaders with diverse qualities that make them effective.

Paula Daniels is the Senior Policy Advisor at the office of Mayor Villaraigosa and a past Public Works Commissioner for LA so she is very passionate and knowledgeable about policy issues. I didn't feel as if I was being forced to memorize information, but rather taught about relevant water issues that I may work on in the future. Whenever she gave a lecture, she was very organized and lots of fun to watch because she really enjoys teaching. She is not a permanent professor here at UCLA but she still made time to talk with us. She is very personable and will know you by name even if you only spoke to her once! I really enjoyed the privelege of having her as a professor and I advise anyone to take her if they have the chance.

In this course, I learned quite alot about where California water comes from, the current drought and water shortage issues, new sources of water, water policy, water rights, water commissions and agencies...This class was a great introduction into the world of water; something I knew very little about before hand.

It is increasingly obvious that without policy decisions to implement environmental protection, all scientific facts and research would be useless. For this reason, I highly recommend Env 166, especially to environmental science students like myself, who need much more knowledge about policy and government.