Visitors Gallery

Ann Richards (right)

David Walker

Sarah Weddington

Michael Reyna

George Friedman

Carole Keeton Strayhorn

Brown Bag series draws variety of luncheon speakers
Every Wednesday during the school year, members of the LBJ School community gather in the Student Lounge during the noon hour to hear what an invited guest has to say about the issue of the day.

The series is organized by the Brown Bag Speakers Committee, a student committee headed this year by Carrie Blakeway and Kelly Ward.

This past year the speakers—and the issues they discussed—have touched on the spectrum of local, state, national, and international affairs. Some of these are highlighted here.

• Former Texas Governor Ann Richards and her former chief of staff, Mary Beth Rogers, paid a surprise visit to a “soap box” style Brown Bag talk moderated by Admiral Bob Inman. The discussion touched on topics ranging from the viability of the Department of Homeland Security to the history of women’s rights.
  
• Sarah Weddington, the attorney who successfully argued the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion case before the Supreme Court in 1973, spoke 30 years later about the current status of abortion rights.
  
• U.S. Comptroller General David Walker, who heads the nonpartisan General Accounting Office, offered his assessment of national economic trends, including the impacts of the Enron and WorldCom scandals.
  
• Farm Credit Administration Chairman and CEO Michael Reyna (LBJ Class of 1982) talked to students about the value of their LBJ School education, using his own experience as an example of the different directions a public service career can take.
  
• George Friedman, founder of the Austin-based STRATFOR policy analysis firm, offered his assessment of the al-Qaeda movement and the long-term prospects for its survival.
  
• Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts Carole Keeton Strayhorn discussed the current state budget crisis, her role in certifying the budget, and other issues

Record Home • Publications • LBJ School
May 5, 2003
Comments to: lbjwmast@uts.cc.utexas.edu