Alumni News
Two LBJ School alumnae took part in the climate change negotiations in Durban, South Africa in November and December of 2011. The Durban Climate Change Conference was held by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
John O'Brien (MPAff '81) Wins 2011 Distinguished Public Service Award
LBJ School Alumna Luz Hinojosa gives back to migrant students through her work at the K-16 Education Center’s Migrant Student Graduation Enhancement Program, a division of Continuing and Innovative Education (CIE) at the university.
It was a day of celebration for the LBJ School of Public Affairs-- a day where family and friends were invited to watch a new generation of policy leaders receive their diplomas at the 2011LBJ School Convocation Ceremony.
The Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs officially opened its LBJ School Washington Program on May 16.
LBJ School Alumnus Jose Rodriguez (MPAff, 2008), an elementary school teacher in Cedar Park, Texas, traveled to Washington, D.C. to deliver a Texas Live Oak tree to the U.S. Department of Education, which was dedicated on April 26 as the department’s official tree.
- Celebrate with Courtney Brown (MPAff ’83), who will be presented with the 2010 Distinguished Public Service Award
- Catch up with fellow alumni, faculty and students at an all-School reception
- Participate in a career panel
- Join students for a Day of Service followed by a picnic with the Austin Alumni Association
- Revisit your favorite haunts on 6th Street (and elsewhere in Austin)
The first African-American to play football for The University of Texas at Austin, LBJ Alum Julius Whitter ('76) recently traveled to Austin to speak to current Longhorn football players about his experiences as a pioneering member of the UT football program and about life after football. His visit to the university was captured in a video by Texas Sports TV.
On November 16, LBJ School Dean Robert Hutchings and Michelle Potter-Bacon, alumni affairs coordinator, hosted an alumni reception for alumni in Washington, D.C. Seventy alumni were in attendance along with special guests Lynda Johnson Robb, Former Dean James B. Steinberg, Professor Emeritus Ken Tolo and Assistant Professor Eugen Gholz.
Oct. 13 – TechNet announced an office expansion and the hiring of LBJ School alumnus John Horrigan (Ph.D. ‘96, MPAff ‘88). Horrigan will serve as the vice president for policy research for the company, whose focus is to promote the growth of technology and the innovation economy. Horrigan will leave the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), where his role centered around the National Broadband Plan, setting the research agenda for the portions of the plan that focused on how to increase the rate of broadband adoption in the U.S.
If you asked Greg Pardo (B.A. '05, St. Mary's University, MPAff '10) to sketch a map of where he thought he'd be five years after graduation, it wouldn't have included places like Bangladesh or Burma, or even Washington, D.C. But that was before he experienced the Marianist spirit that permeates the St. Mary's campus.
From Making Money to Making a Difference
Public policy contributions, community service engagement, demonstrated leadership and commitment to promotion of the LBJ School are the defining characteristics of the annual recipient of the LBJ School Alumni Association's Distinguished Public Service Award (DPSA). This year’s recipient, Courtney Brown, who graduated from the LBJ School with a Master of Public Affairs (MPAff) degree in 1983, is no exception.
The Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs is pleased to announce the appointment of Ms. Michelle Potter-Bacon as Alumni Affairs Coordinator.
Growing up, Laura Huffman spent many family vacations experiencing the beauty of state parks across the U.S., including several in her home state of Texas. She didn't know it then, but those trips helped prepare the Austin native for her current job as state director for the Nature Conservancy of Texas. Founded in 1951, the Nature Conservancy is charged with protecting the world's most precious and ecologically sensitive landscapes.
On August 26 the LBJ School Austin Alumni Association hosted a welcome happy hour which offered a chance for incoming LBJ School students to mix and mingle with area alumni, as well as current students and faculty. The happy hour festivities also provided the perfect opportunity for the Austin Alumni Association to present this year’s Spirit of LBJ Award to current dual-degree student Leah Bojo, who is seeking her Master of Public Affairs (MPAff) and Community and Regional Planning degrees.
LBJ School Alum Robert Hamilton (’02) has been named an Outstanding Young Texas Ex in honor of his accomplishments since graduating in 2002 with dual MPAff and JD degrees by The Alcalde, a publication of the Texas Exes Alumni Association.
The 2010 LBJ School Summer Speaker Series in Washington D.C. is sponsored by the Washington Area LBJ School Alumni Chapter (WALSAC) and The Archer Center. The Summer Speaker Series features five weeks of prominent invited guest speakers who engage students and alumni from the LBJ School of Public Affairs, as well as University of Texas at Austin students, alumni, and friends on issues of domestic and international policy.
LBJ School alumnus Scott Hanna (’04) is lending a logistical hand to the historic effort to drill ice cores near the summit of Puncak Jaya in Indonesia, the only place in the tropical Pacific with glacial ice.
When President Barack Obama announced his Race to the Top program in the summer of 2009, the national conversation seemed to focus solely on one issue, teacher incentive pay. Journalists, politicos and academics rushed to the podium to throw their two cents in, some asking whether there should be teacher incentive pay and others asking how to do it.
Following the LBJ School’s Homecoming and Alumni Open House held March 24 through 26, the graduating class of 2005 had their 5 year reunion in Austin, Texas.