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15 Seconds

Catherine Showalter

Director, Public Policy Program, UCLA Extension

One of 11 children raised in Bellflower, Calif., Showalter attended California State University, Long Beach, and received a B.A. in home economics in 1980 and an M.S. in industrial psychology in 1985. She served as executive director of RIDES for Bay Area Commuters, Inc., a nonprofit organization in the San Francisco Bay Area, before coming to UCLA this past Valentine’s Day.

What is your favorite type of music?
Homegrown. Each child in our family had music lessons from an early age. My instrument is the tenor sax and I played music with my father, older sister, uncles and aunts at Dutch wedding receptions and New Year’s Eve parties. The “Beer Barrel Polka” is great fun!

If you hadn’t chosen your current occupation, what would you have been?
Family law attorney.

What is your favorite journey?
Walking on Seal Beach Pier, seeing the vast ocean in one direction and the mountains just opposite. That is a little bit of heaven for me.