Jennifer Poulakidas

Jennifer Poulakidas joined UCLA Government and Community Relations (GCR) as Associate Vice Chancellor in April 2019. In this position, she oversees local, state, and federal government affairs. The department advocates on behalf of UCLA, advancing the campus’ priorities and positions. Additionally, GCR connects elected and other government officials from the LA region, Sacramento, and Washington DC, as well as other stakeholders in the Southland, to UCLA programs, experts and the campus community at-large.

Poulakidas is an alumna, having earned a bachelor’s degree from UCLA in sociology with a specialization in business administration. She also has a master’s degree in public affairs from the LBJ School at the University of Texas at Austin.

Prior to joining UCLA, Poulakidas worked for APLU (the Association of Public & Land-grant Universities) as Vice President for Congressional and Governmental Affairs. In this role, she worked closely with leadership of APLU’s more than 230 member universities to promote public higher education’s positions to Congress and the Executive Branch on science and research, student affordability and access, innovation and competitiveness, and internationalization — among other issues of importance to major public universities.

Before APLU, Poulakidas was legislative director for science at the University of California’s Washington, DC office. During her 11 years with UC, she enjoyed active engagement with the federal science and research advocacy community.

A San Francisco native, her career in Washington began on Capitol Hill where she served her hometown as an aide to Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi.