Gary Bess, Lecturer
B.A. Kent State University
M.A. Kent State University
M.S.W. Case Western Reserve University
Ph.D. University of Southern California

Dr. Bess' areas of teaching are community organization and development, social policy, administration, and applied research. His research and publications have included organization life cycles, specialty court programs, homeless services organizations, nonprofit organization management, and evaluation research methodology.

Dr. Bess has taught in schools of social work at California State University, Long Beach, UCLA and USC. Dr. Bess is the principal in Gary Bess Associates, a consulting firm that specializes in program evaluation, needs assessment, nonprofit management and grant writing. Recent projects have included the 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness for Los Angeles County, an assessment of a California Board of Corrections funded Mentally Ill Offender Crime Reduction Project, and participation on a planning team to develop an Integrated Behavioral Health Services Initiative for The California Endowment. Dr. Bess is also a consultant to the University of Colorado as part of its receipt of a Federal Substance Abuse and Mentally Health Services grant to provide planning assistance to Native American communities for mental health services expansion.

Dr. Bess also enjoys riding horses and tending to his pistachio orchard.