The University of Texas at Austin

Edwin Dorn served as Dean of the LBJ School from 1997 to 2004. Before coming to the LBJ School, he held a number of senior posts in the federal government. In 1993, he was confirmed by the Senate to serve as an Assistant Secretary of Defense. The following year, he was confirmed as the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. He was responsible for policies governing recruitment, pay and benefits for DoD’s total force of more than three million military personnel and civilians. He also exercised authority, direction and control over the Defense Health Program, the Dependent Schools System, the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute and the Defense Manpower Data Center. His innovations included new systems to monitor military readiness and new mechanisms to coordinate legislative proposals.

Prior to his presidential appointment in the Department of Defense, Dorn was a senior staff member at the Brookings Institution, where he developed executive education programs for government and private sector managers. From 1981 to 1990, he served as Deputy Director for Research at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. He created the Joint Center’s military affairs program. He initially went to Washington in 1977 to serve in the Carter administration.

A native of Houston, Dorn graduated Phi Beta Kappa from UT Austin and completed his Ph.D. in political science at Yale. He was named a Distinguished Alumnus of UT in 1998. His major publications include Rules and Racial Equality (Yale University Press) and Who Defends America?, ed. (Joint Center Press). He also is the author of dozens of articles, reports, and opinion pieces.

Dorn is chairman of the board of the Kettering Foundation and chairman of the visiting committee of the Institute for Defense Analyses. Other nonprofit involvements include the United Way, the Children’s Defense Fund, and the Atlantic Council.

Archive of Selected Speeches and Articles

Education

Ph.D. in Political Science, Yale University; MA, Indiana University; B.A. (Phi Beta Kappa), University of Texas at Austin; Fulbright Scholar, Centre for West African Studies, Birmingham, England

Current Positions

Chairman of the Board, Kettering Foundation; Chairman of the Visiting Committee, Institute for Defense Analyses; Board Member, Atlantic Council; Advisory Committee Member, Children's Defense Fund

Previous Positions

Dean, LBJ School of Public Affairs (1997-2004); Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness (1994-1997); Assistant Secretary of Defense (1993-1994); Deputy Director for Research at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies (1981-1990); Senior Staff Member, Brookings Institution; Deputy Director for Research, Joint Center for Political Studies (1982-1990)

Rules and Racial Equality (Yale University Press, 1979); editor, Who Defends America? (Joint Center Press, 1989)

Civil Rights
Defense
Human Resources