The State of the School
by Edwin Dorn
March 22, 2000
Introduction
The LBJ School is a strong institution, and we have the potential to make it even stronger. I want to spend part of my ten minutes saying thanks to two groups of people who contribute to the school's strength. I'll then make a few observations about the state of the school, including some challenges that we'll need to confront.
Thanks
First, the students. Thanks for being here and for the hard work you do while you're here. Most of you were in high school or college during our most recent wave of anti-government sentiment, during the 1980s. The fact that you determined to pursue public service in spite of all that rhetoric is a tribute to your commitment and your courage.
Second, our donors. As you know, the money we get from the state legislature doesn't pay for the high quality education that the LBJ School provides. Legislative support is sufficient to operate a mediocre program. The quality increment comes from the contributions we have received over the years from a large number of donors. Some of it comes in the form of major contributions -- such as the millions of dollars that Lew Wasserman has contributed to the LBJ School and Library. Much of it comes in the form of hundred-dollar or thousand-dollar contributions from our alumni and friends. Tomorrow and Friday we're hosting the LBJ School advisory council meeting, and you'll see some of our major supporters there. Let me mention some of them:
- B Rapoport established the chair that Ray Marshall occupies. He also is supporting our effort to develop an endowment for the Ray Marshall Center.
- B also is supporting a brand new project -- the Ben Barnes Fellowships in Public Leadership. With help from B, Ben Barnes, Larry Temple, George Christian and several other people, we hope to raise a million-dollar endowment for new fellowships.
- Tom Luce is chair of our advisory council. Last fall, he also made a significant contribution to the LBJ School.
Joe Youngblood will talk later about our fund-raising efforts. But I want to mention that during the past year we have made huge progress in fund-raising for the new Center for Philanthropy and Community Service. The Center has been named the RGK Center, because the foundation established by George and Ronya Kozmetsky and now run by their son Greg is the major donor.
The State of the School
The new RGK Center is good news, because it will enable us to expand what we offer our graduate students and also to serve a large market of nonprofit professionals. However, the process of getting this project to the launch pad also was instructive. Discussions about a program in nonprofit management started years ago. The lesson is that it can take a long time to get something done in a university, even when you know what you want to do.
Two other examples of this problem spring to mind. First, we need major capital improvements; this building is 30 years old, and is past due for a life-cycle renovation. We've had an architect working up plans. Don Wallace will talk about those. But the bottom line is that we need $30 to $50 million for capital improvements, and that money won't come quickly or easily.
Second, we need to fill some faculty vacancies. One of our highly desirable applicants, Frank Gavin, will come aboard in the fall. That's the good news. The less good news is that we still have several high-profile chairs to fill. We have a process for doing that -- Max Sherman is chairing the committee -- and from time to time we invite in candidates for you to meet. One candidate will be in town at the end of the month. We have feelers out all over the place. Max and I are always eager to receive suggestions. But again, one of the things I have learned during the past couple of years is that even some obvious steps can take a long time.
And perhaps they should take a long time, because they involve significant commitments. In order to decide which direction to move, we need the best information and advice we can get.
The Next 30 Years
That's why we established an advisory council -- to enrich our perspective and help us identify opportunities for growth. At its last meeting, the advisory council asked one of its members, LBJ School alumnus James Taylor, to undertake a systematic survey of our graduates. James, assisted by Marissa Solis, will brief the council on the survey results. After that, theyšll share their findings with you. However, I don't think the council chair will mind if I share a couple of the findings with you today.
- First, the respondents -- and we're talking about 300 respondents -- were overwhelmingly positive about the LBJ School. They thought it was one of the nation's best public affairs programs when they were enrolled here, and years later they believe that it remains one of the best. They were particularly high about the quality of the teaching they received here.
- That's one of several pieces of good news. Now, let me give you one piece of less good news: the respondents don't think wešre having much of an impact on the outside world. Our graduates probably watch the LBJ School much more closely than do members of the general public. And when they say that they don't hear much about us, we need to take heed. Is it that few of us are involved in significant public policy issues, or is it merely that we haven't been good at tooting our own horns?
The survey is one of many pieces of information that we'll need to weigh as we think about the future of the LBJ School. Next fall, we'll begin to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the LBJ School. Former deans Elspeth Rostow and Max Sherman, who are overseeing the planning for ourcommemoration, have conceived it as a two-year endeavor -- beginning with the 30th anniversary of the first entering class, and ending with the 30th anniversary of the graduation of that class.
We'll be doing some celebrating over these two years, because we have much to celebrate. The LBJ School is, after all, one of the best programs in graduate public policy education in the country.
We also will use this period to assess our course, and alter it a bit, if necessary. Each of us can think of ways we might improve the LBJ School. Over the next couple of eyars, we'll seek input from a variety of sources -- alumni, current students, faculty, thoughtful people from the worlds of business, politics, academics and the nonprofit sector. We should emerge with a plan that will serve us well for the next decade or so.
Of course, some things don't need to wait for two years. There are some things we know we need to do -- fill the chairs, for example -- and those things will continue apace.
I am very proud to be associated with the LBJ School. I hope you are, too. (The prouder you are, the more likely you will be to respond to our fundraising appeals.) But -- and this is another message from our alumni survey -- the things that have made us successful will not necessarily guarantee our success in future. The world has changed a great deal in the past 30 years. Our market has changed. We need to anticipate the future and prepare our graduates to deal with it.
