Key Programs and Initiatives

Academy for Local Elected Officials (ALEO)

The Academy for Local Elected Officials (ALEO) at SDSU’s Institute for Innovative Governance offers a collaborative forum where regional elected leaders build skills, exchange insights, access expert-led training, and strengthen governance strategies to more effectively address community challenges and enhance public service.

Explore the Academy for Local Elected Officials

Conference for Newly Elected Officials

The inaugural ALEO Conference was held in January 2025 with two half-day modules of sessions and networking events. More than 72 leaders from 12 local governments participated in the conference. Presentations and panel discussions featured over 30 former elected officials, chiefs of staff, city managers, nonprofit organization leaders, executives from regional agencies, and SDSU faculty. The next ALEO conference will be held in Spring 2026 and will be titled Navigating Our Budgets During Volatile Times: Best Practices and Adapting to Funding Shifts. For more information, please contact ALEO Director Dominika Bukalova at [email protected]

Photojournalism Professor, SDSU School of Journalism and Media Studies

Dr. Peggy Peattie

Action Research to Address the Specific Health, Healthcare, and Safety Needs of Women on the Street in San Diego, California

Director, Institute on Sports Wagering and Gaming and Assistant Professor in the L. Robert Payne School of Hospitality and Tourism Management

Dr. Brandon Mastromartino

Attitudes, perceptions, and intentions toward sports betting legalization among California residents

Assistant Professor, School of Public Affairs

Tereza Trejbalová

Continuity Case Management and the Impact of Instant Placement with Access to Treatment and Housing

Lecturer and Institute for Innovative Governance Research Fellow | School of Public Affairs

Dr. Anthony Triola

Research Areas: Legal Reasonableness, Sociolegal Theory, Use of Force Jurisprudence, Theories of State Violence

Assistant Professor, School of Art and Design, School of Journalism and Media Studies, San Diego State University

Ava Aviva Avnisan

Switchboard: Supporting Incarcerated Trans* Folx via Relationship Building and Artistic Collaboration

Professor, MPA Nucleus Faculty Member, School of Public Affairs

Dr. David Janciscs

Corruption, Good Governance, Transparency, Compliance, White-Collar Crime

Professor, City Planning and Urban Design, School of Public Affairs, SDSU Director of The Center for Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety

Dr. Bruce Appleyard

Transportation, land use/housing, urban design, place making, designing for pedestrians and bicyclists, transit oriented development (TOD), travel behavior and the built environment

Assistant Professor of City Planning, San Diego State University

Dr. Valerie Stahl

Affordable Housing, Zoning and Land-Use Policies, Place-Based Health Disparities

Associate Professor Criminal Justice, School of Public Affairs

Dr. Kim Kras

Institutional and community corrections, prisoner reentry experiences and processes, evidence-based practice and evaluation research, sex offense policy and practice

Associate Director of the School of Public Affairs, Associate Professor of Public Administration

Dr. Mounah Abdel-Samad

Legislative decision-making, Legislature-Civil Society interaction in the Middle East and North Africa, Homelessness

Professor, School of Public Affairs

Dr. Shawn Flanigan

service provision and vulnerable populations, nonprofit organizations (NGOs) and non-state service providers, challenges with state institutional capacity, natural resources and social-ecological dynamics of social problems.

Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, School of Public Affairs

Dr. Tereza Trejbalová

My governance interests focus on how education, research, and community partnerships can shape fairer and more effective justice systems, especially as they relate to prisons. I specialize in correctional education, reentry programming, and the use of data to inform community-based policy decisions. I’m also passionate about inclusive governance, ensuring that people directly impacted by the system have a voice in how it evolves.

Institute for Innovative Governance