Lynn Schenk ’70 JD, Reappointed to the California High Speed Rail Authority

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (December 14, 2012) - California Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced that University of San Diego (USD) School of Law alumna Lynn Schenk, ’70 (JD), has been reappointed to the California High Speed Rail Authority, where she has served since 2003.

“We greatly appreciate Governor Brown reappointing Lynn Schenk to the Authority’s Board,” said California High-Speed Rail Authority Board of Directors Chairman Dan Richard in a written statement. “Lynn is much more than a stalwart member of this Board. It was Lynn Schenk who originally proposed the high-speed rail network in the 1980’s when she was the Secretary of California’s Business, Transportation and Housing Agency during Governor Brown’s earlier tenure. As a member of Congress she authored legislation signed by President Clinton establishing high-speed rail corridors across the nation. Lynn Schenk is known as the ‘Mother of high-speed rail’ for very good reason. I am so pleased that she will continue to provide her guidance and leadership as we move forward.”

Schenk served as chief of staff to Governor Gray Davis from 1999 to 2004 and in the United States Congress from 1993 to 1995, where she authored the High Speed Rail Development Act of 1994—the first federal law authorizing high-speed rail.

Schenk was commissioner and vice chair of the San Diego Port District from 1990 to 1993. She served as deputy secretary and later as secretary at the California Business, Transportation and Housing Agency from 1977 to 1983 and was a special assistant to Vice Presidents Nelson A. Rockefeller and Walter F. Mondale from 1976 to 1977. Schenk has been an attorney in private practice since 1984 and was an attorney for the San Diego Gas and Electric Company from 1972 to 1976.

About the University of San Diego School of Law

Recognized for the excellence of its faculty, curriculum and clinical programs, the University of San Diego (USD) School of Law enrolls approximately 900 Juris Doctor and graduate law students from throughout the United States and around the world. The law school is best known for its offerings in the areas of business and corporate law, constitutional law, intellectual property, international and comparative law, public interest and taxation.

USD School of Law is one of the 81 law schools elected to the Order of the Coif, a national honor society for law school graduates. The law school’s faculty is a strong group of outstanding scholars and teachers with national and international reputations and currently ranks 23rd worldwide in all-time faculty downloads on the Social Sciences Research Network (SSRN). The school is accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools. Founded in 1954, the law school is part of the University of San Diego, a private, nonprofit, independent, Roman Catholic university chartered in 1949.