University of California–Irvine (UCI) professor and environmental advocate Kathleen Treseder is running for Irvine City Council in the Nov. 8 election.
Two seats are up for grabs on the city council. Treseder is running against incumbent city councilmen Larry Agran and Anthony Kuo, as well as technology attorney Scott Hansen, Irvine finance commissioner John Park, and college student Navid Sadigh.
“I’m running for City Council because Irvine needs to be a truly green city that leaves no one behind … We will have a city with clear air, clean water, a stable climate, and a well-paid skilled and trained workforce,” Treseder, who did not respond to a request to be interviewed for this story, says on her campaign website.
If elected, she would work to improve traffic congestion by centering new housing near business centers, support college and career training programs, advocate for renewable energy, and build more infrastructure.
Since 2017, Treseder has been an avid environmental leader, founding OC Clean Power, a grassroots organization made up of over 30 nonprofits, businesses, religious groups and school organizations to advocate for renewable energy in Orange County.
The professor of Biology worked to convince UCI to ban another professor from campus after multiple allegations had come forth that her colleague was sexually harassing women on campus, herself included, according to her campaign website.
The university paid Treseder a settlement, which Treseder used to start the Treseder Randerson Fund—a nonprofit that would serve as a legal fund for others who experienced sexual harassment or discrimination in Orange County, according to her campaign website.
As a Salt Lake City native, Treseder went to the University of Utah for her Honours Bachelor of Science degree in Biology, and then received a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from Stanford University in 1999.
As the first in her family to attend college, whilst also financially supporting herself through her education, Treseder is a supporter of tuition-free public college, according to her campaign website.
Treseder currently lives in Irvine with her husband and twin children.
