Alumni Update

If confirmed, Apfel will succeed Shirley Chater. He is currently the associate director for human resources at the White House Office of Management and Budget. From 1993 to 1995 he was assistant secretary in the Department of Health and Human Services.

Spinner honored posthumously
Steven Lowell Spinner, a job training adviser to the U.S. Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee who dedicated his career to workforce development policy, was selected by the LBJ School National Alumni Association as the recipient of the 1996 Distinguished Public Service Award. A 1984 graduate of the LBJ School, Spinner died in September 1995.

In nominating him for the award, one LBJ School graduate wrote, "If one goal of the award is to provide recognition and appreciation for the outstanding graduate, then we should join those who stopped action on the floor of the U.S. Senate to do so. If a goal is to recognize the value of public service, then we should acknowledge one who spent his career and his life in public service."

Spinner led a bipartisan staff effort to craft legislation consolidating federal training and education programs. This legislation, known as the Workforce Development Act (Senate Bill 143), was approved by the U.S. Senate two weeks after Spinner's death and was subsequently passed by the House of Representatives.

Last summer the LBJ School established the Steven Lowell Spinner Internship Fund and launched a fundraising effort, which is still underway. Income from the endowment will be used to fund the required 12-week summer internship for a student interested in workforce development policy.

Gifts or pledges to the fund should be sent to Carlton Schwab, Director of Development, LBJ School of Public Affairs, Box Y, University Station, Austin, Texas 78713-8925.

Annual alumni reception dates announced
The LBJ School's annual receptions for alumni will be held on Friday, June 20, in Washington, D.C., and Friday, August 22, in Austin.

The Washington reception takes place in the Cannon Caucus Room (Room 345 of the Cannon House Office Building) from 5:30 to 8 p.m.

The reception for Austin-area alumni will be in the Great Hall of the LBJ Library from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Visitors discuss local, federal, and international issues
Three LBJ School alumni who visited the School this year shared with students their experiences in the local, federal, and international policy fields.

• Amy Peck Abraham (Class of 1987), a senior analyst for education with the U.S. Senate Budget Committee, visited the School in January and discussed the balanced budget amendment and various education spending issues. During her visit she also made presentations to two of Professor Ken Tolo's public administration and management classes. During the presentations she answered questions about the federal budget process and its program management.

• Nancy Jackson (Class of 1992), who is a program officer for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, came in October and talked about refugees, displaced persons, and geopolitics. During the presentation she discussed some of her U.N. assignments, including her experiences in the Sudan, where she was involved in the effort to repatriate Ethiopian refugees to their mother country.

• Barry Robinson (Class of 1976), personnel director for the City of Greenville, Texas, was accompanied by Greenville City Manager Ed Thatcher in his visit to the School. Their talk, "Crisis Management: The Greenville Arsons," was a behind-the-scenes account of their experiences last summer when their small North Texas town was invaded by news media after a series of black church arsons.