Congresswoman Jackie Speier Meets UCSF Alumni

On September 1, Congresswoman Jackie Speier spoke to 70 alumni and campus leaders at the Faculty Alumni House. A stalwart supporter of UCSF, this was Congresswoman’s Speier’s first visit to UCSF since being elected to federal office in 2008.

AAUCSF President, Gordon Fung M’79, welcomed alumni from the Schools of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy and the Graduate Division to the event. Chancellor Desmond-Hellmann introduced Congresswoman Speier.

Speier represents California’s 12th Congressional District, where she has lived her entire life. The district encompasses the southwest quarter of San Francisco, including UCSF’s Parnassus campus, the Sunset District and most of adjoining San Mateo County.

Born in San Francisco’s Sunset District, Speier attended public schools in South San Francisco before she entered Mercy High School. While at the University of California, Davis, she interned for Assemblyman Leo J. Ryan and, upon graduating, joined Ryan’s Washington, D.C. staff when he was elected to Congress. She returned to San Francisco for her law degree from UC’s Hastings College of the Law, then rejoined Congressman Ryan as his Legislative Counsel.
In 1978, Jackie Speier accompanied the Congressman to Jonestown, Guyana to investigate claims that constituents were being held against their will by Reverend Jim Jones. While escorting defectors out, their group was ambushed by gunmen who killed Congressman Ryan and four others. Speier, then 28, was shot five times and left for dead.

Sworn into Congress on April 10, 2008, Jackie Speier continues the work she did for 18 years in the California State Assembly and Senate. The reception was co-sponsored by the Alumni Association of the University of California, San Francisco and UCSF Community and Government Relations.

This article appeared in the October 15,2009 issue of Synapse.