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The University of Texas at Austin

Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs

A Brief History of the LBJ School of Public Affairs

In February 1965, the University of Texas Board of Regents proposed to President Lyndon Johnson and Mrs. Johnson that the university build two different but complementary facilities. One would be a library for Johnson's presidential papers, the other a school of public affairs. Agreement between the President and the Board of Regents was reached in August 1965.

Five years later—in September 1970—the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs began classes, although its building—and the adjacent LBJ Library building—would not be completed until the following spring. President Johnson, who had left office in 1969, chose not to be part of the new School's faculty or administration, but he interacted with early students through occasional visits to campus and through informal gatherings at his ranch in Johnson City. The development of the LBJ School's academic program was left in the hands of a visionary group of administrators and faculty headed by John Gronouski, a former Johnson Cabinet member.

In many ways, the LBJ School was a maverick among public affairs schools of the day. Not only did it stray from the traditional political science and public administration models, but it introduced a highly experimental approach to training for public service. Dean Gronouski had been U.S. Postmaster General in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, U.S. Ambassador to Poland, and Tax Commissioner for the State of Wisconsin, and he also had a Ph.D. in economics and university teaching experience. This blend of the academic and the practical became a distinguishing characteristic of the LBJ School: the curriculum combined courses in theory with courses that took students into government agencies to work and conduct research; the faculty included academics from various disciplines as well as practitioners from various levels of government; public service programs included an academic publishing program as well as workshops for government officials. The School's nontraditional approach proved to be extremely effective, and today it is an accepted model for public affairs graduate programs.

The LBJ School originally offered only a two-year Master of Public Affairs (M.P.Aff.) program, adding a mid-career M.P.Aff. program and joint degree master's programs in law and engineering during the 1970s. Over the next two decades, six additional joint degree programs (now called dual degree programs) were established, offering students an increasingly wider range of study options. A Ph.D. in Public Policy was introduced in 1992.

The following links offer a more detailed account of the LBJ School's history, including a timeline of milestones and a series of stories about some of the people who have left their mark on the School.

Timeline (1965-2002)

30th Anniversary Website (2000-2002)

Faculty Memorial Resolutions

Biography: Lyndon B. Johnson

Biography: Barbara Jordan

Barbara Jordan photo archive

LBJ School Commencement Speakers, 1972-2003

History of the LBJ Library

LBJ Library site