Visiting Assistant Professor, Urban and Environmental Policy
A.B., Occidental College; M.S., Columbia University
Appointed In
2020
Rick Cole is the chief deputy controller for the City of Los Angeles overseeing payroll, accounting, and auditing. He has been involved in homelessness policy since he organized California's first ever "homeless count" in 1993, during his term as mayor of Pasadena. Cole has spent three decades in public service as a deputy mayor in the City of Los Angeles and as city manager in Azusa, Ventura, and Santa Monica. He was recently elected to return to the seat on the Pasadena City Council that he held for 12 years. Cole has taught homelessness policy at Pepperdine University's School of Public Policy, urban policy at Occidental College, religion and politics at Fuller Theological Seminary, and United States history at Pasadena City College.