Gabriele Magni has been named the next director of the Global Policy Institute at Loyola Marymount University, effective June 15, 2021. An assistant professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations, Magni teaches classes on comparative and European politics, political economy, and LGBTQ politics. His scholarly work explores how economic and identity factors interact to shape political preferences and voting behavior in western democracies. Magni’s research on the political consequences of economic inequality, immigration, and LGBTQ politics has been published in several top peer-reviewed academic journals including the American Political Science Review, the Journal of Politics, and the British Journal of Political Science. His expertise has been sought-out and featured recently in The Washington Post, Politico, The New Republic, and The New York Times, among other academic and non-academic venues. A first-generation college student, Magni grew up in Italy, obtained his Ph.D. from UNC-Chapel Hill, and completed a postdoc at Princeton University before coming to LMU to join the BCLA faculty in fall 2019.
Magni succeeds Professor Gene Park who served as the GPI’s director since 2019, interim director prior to that, and on the GPI faculty advisory board since its founding in 2015. Under Park’s leadership, GPI hosted more than 15 events with top experts on a broad range of global policy challenges, often featuring student-moderated panels. Highlights have included: Ben Rhodes, Steven Levitsky, Fiona Hill, Bill McKibben, Sean McElwee, and James Galbraith.
Magni looks forward to continuing GPI’s work of convening top leaders and policy experts to provide innovative perspectives on some of the most pressing challenges of our times. “We will tackle global issues such as climate change, migration, and rising economic inequality. We will discuss the retreat of democracy and the emergence of populism around the globe. We will explore the rights of racial minorities, women, and LGBTQ individuals in various countries. And we will examine the challenges and opportunities faced by the United States on the international stage, including tensions with Russia and China, a renewed partnership with Europe, and conflict in the Middle East,” says Magni.
Professor Park has also been an invaluable mentor to GPI’s undergraduate fellows, who have enjoyed meaningful, hands-on experiences as interns, research assistants, and student workers organizing and participating in these high-profile events, helping with grants, and pursuing their own research projects.
“I am deeply honored to take over the Global Policy Institute at an exciting and challenging time. Under the founding leadership of Prof. Genovese and continued under Prof. Park, GPI has become a nationally recognized Institute, and I look forward to advancing its important work,” says Magni. “In addition to live events, we will explore new formats and mediums to connect with the LMU community and reach broader audiences. I encourage all students, faculty and staff to connect with GPI!”
The Global Policy Institute at LMU was founded in 2015 to support faculty and student research, create a platform for LMU to engage more effectively in public discourse about global issues, and to position the university as a center for global policy discussions in the Los Angeles region and beyond. As president and founding director, Michael Genovese, professor of political science, also created opportunities for students to experience and engage with the world’s most pressing issues, including internships with the World Policy Institute in NYC, along with a range of internships in Washington, DC, and with the House of Commons in London. As founder and President of GPI, Prof. Genovese has become a frequent commentator on CNN and in other major news outlets, one demonstration of GPI’s role in helping LMU become known as a convener of thought leaders on global issues and policy discussions.
