Gary Orren is a Visiting Professor at the School of Law during the 2023 Spring Semester. At UCLA he will teach the half-semester course Persuasion: The Science and Art of Effective Influence. He also is the V.O. Key, Jr. Professor of Politics and Leadership Emeritus at Harvard University where he has taught for the past 53 years.

A leading expert on public opinion, politics, and persuasion, he has published five books and scores of academic and popular articles. He serves as a consultant on strategy and communications to corporations, government agencies, and non-profit organizations, and has worked as a political adviser in election campaigns. Over the years, Prof. Orren has conducted and analyzed opinion polls for many clients including the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Boston Globe. At the New York Times he played a leading role in the creation of the first national news media poll, the New York Times/CBS News Poll.

On leave from Harvard, he worked for three years at City Year, the premier youth service program in the U.S. He also served on City Year’s National Board of Trustees, helping to expand the program throughout the U.S. and internationally.

Born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, Gary Orren graduated summa cum laude from Oberlin College. As a Danforth and Woodrow Wilson fellow, he continued his studies at Harvard where he received a Ph.D. in Political Science.