• Phone: 619-594-3776
• Office: NH 112

James Ingram is a UCSD Ph.D. His research is focused on the politics of constitutional change at the local, state and national levels, and his fieldwork involved assisting in the revision of several California cities’ charters. He participated as a researcher, charter historian and associate policy analyst for the Elected Los Angeles Charter Reform Commission. In that capacity, he helped to draft and edit Los Angeles 2000 Charter enacted by the city’s voters at the polls in 1999. After that, he went on to assist in charter reform efforts in San Diego from 2000-2007, culminating in this city’s adoption of a strong mayor-strong council charter. He served as consultant and draftsperson for San Diego’s 2000 Citizen’s Committee and 2007 Charter Reform Committee. His 2008 Ph.D. thesis, “The Rules of Ruling: Charter Reform in Los Angeles, 1850-2008” won the APSA Urban Politics section’s award for best dissertation of the year. He has also consulted on charter reform efforts in the cities of Pasadena and Sacramento. The nearly 20 classes he has taught for SDSU over the past 25 years include the American Presidency, Urban Politics, State Politics, and the United States Constitution, as well as core seminars in Political Parties, and Interest Groups and Political Movements. He is a frequent contributor of editorials to the San Diego Union Tribune, and commentator on KPBS and various local news station programs.