Michele Deitch

Senior Lecturer Michele Deitch is one of two winners of the teaching award, which recognizes excellence and commitment to promoting meaningful service in the classroom and throughout the community. The award was presented to Deitch at the Tower Awards ceremony on April 27.

Deitch is an attorney with over 25 years of experience working on criminal justice and juvenile justice policy issues with state and local government officials, corrections officials, judges, and advocates. Her areas of specialty include independent oversight of correctional institutions, prison conditions and management, the management of juvenile offenders, and juveniles in adult court.

For more, visit: https://www.utexas.edu/lbj/news/2011/lbj-professor-michele-deitch-receives-tower-award-university

LBJ School Faculty and Student Receive CenTex ASPA Awards

LBJ School faculty members Pat Wong and Sherri Greenberg are both recipients of awards from the Central Texas Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA). Julia Burch, second year MPAff student, also received the McGrew Student Research Award for her research “Mountaintop Mining in Appalachia: A Review of Resources, Controversies, and Policy Options.”

For more, visit: http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/news/2011/lbj-school-faculty-and-student-receive-centex-aspa-awards

LBJ School Students Recognize Outstanding Professors With LBJ School Faculty Appreciation Awards

On April 18, the LBJ School’s student-run Graduate Public Affairs Council (GPAC) held its annual LBJ School Faculty Appreciation Awards ceremony. The awards recognize faculty members across six categories, including most engaging teaching style, most valuable class, and best new professor. Nominees for the awards were selected by the LBJ School’s student body, and winners were chosen by the number of nominations they received.

2011 LBJ School Faculty Appreciation Awards Recipients:

• Best New Professor: Assistant Professor of Public Affairs William Inboden
• Best Policy Research Project: Associate Professor of Public Affairs Kate Weaver; Associate Professor of Public Affairs Pat Wong
• Most Helpful: Clinical Professor in Public Policy Practice Angela Evans
• Most Engaging Teaching Style: Associate Professor of Public Affairs Pat Wong
• Most Committed to LBJ: Associate Professor of Public Affairs Pat Wong
• Most Valuable Class: Politics and Process by Clinical Professor in Public Policy Practice Angela Evans; Public Financial Management by Distinguished Teaching Professor of Business and Public Affairs Michael Granof

For more, visit: http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/news/2011/lbj-school-students-recognize-outstanding-professors-lbj-sch

LBJ School Alumnus Transports Texas Live Oak Tree to Washington, D.C. for Planting

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. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan  participated in the planting ceremony, which took place on April 26 outside of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education Building.

Rodriguez, who teaches at Knowles Elementary School in Leander ISD and was a Department of Education Teaching Ambassador Fellow in 2009-2010, says that the Texas live oak tree is depicted on the department’s official seal.

“I chose an oak tree because, after looking closely at the tree depicted on the department’s seal, I know I had seen that tree before,” said Rodriguez. “I had seen that same tree in Central Texas where our 36th President Lyndon Baines Johnson, a teacher, called home. In addition, the Texas live oak is the kind of tree that surrounded LBJ when he signed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 46 years ago outside his elementary school in Stonewall, Texas.”

For more, visit: http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/news/2011/lbj-school-alumnus-transports-texas-live-oak-tree-washington

LBJ Alumni Participate in 2011 Alumni Weekend: Courtney Brown Receives Distinguished Public Service Award

Courtney Brown and the Class of 1983

On April 15 and 16, LBJ School alumni were welcomed to the first All Alumni Weekend where they mixed and mingled with their fellow alumni, joined in a service project with students and sat in on a leadership seminar with LBJ School Assistant Dean Barry Bales.

Courtney Brown (MPAff ‘83), who worked in the LBJ School’s Office of Student and Alumni Programs (OSAP) for 19 years, received the 2010 Distinguished Public Service Award.

For more, visit: http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/news/2011/save-date-all-alumni-weekend-austin-april-15-16

LBJ School Student Natica Smith Pens Op-Ed for Austin American Statesman on the Controversy Surrounding Fluoride in Public Drinking Water

Every day, Austinites walk into grocery stores and peruse the shelves for the foods and drinks they wish to consume. Some items are naturally filled with vitamins, others are chemically enriched or fortified, and still others offer no notable health benefit. Though the Food and Drug Administration makes recommendations concerning our daily nutritional intake, consumers have the right to choose whatever they want. That element of choice is strikingly absent when it comes to tap water.

For full article, visit: http://www.statesman.com/opinion/smith-when-it-comes-to-tap-water-austinites-1424180.html

LBJ Student Research Examines Effect of Affordable Care Act on Women and Children

On Apriil 18, LBJ School students presented their research and analysis of the

(L to R) Jessica Taylor, Nivi Matsyaraja, Olivia Travieso, Courtney Weaver, Jamie Severson, Kristen Boyd, Dr. Jacqueline Angel, and Kymbat Nurgaliyeva

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (2010) during the 18^th Annual Emerging Scholarship in Women’s Studies Conference. The students examined the affect of this legislation on women and children across the country.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is the law that attempts to make health care universal in the United States. As preparations are made for implementation of this law, students from the LBJ School Women in the Changing World of Work seminar class, found it important to discuss the implications for women and children and create recommendations to strengthen the impact of the existing bill.

LBJ School Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs  Jacqueline Angel, who teaches Women in the Changing World of Work, oversaw this research and panel presentation. According to Angel, “These insightful and thoughtful essays identify some of most serious dilemmas related to the ways in which the ACA will affect women. It is gratifying to see graduate students addressing the most central issues of the day.”

For more, visit: http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/news/inthenews/2385

Aims to Reduce Terrorism and Proliferation Risks of Civilian Technology

On April 28, The LBJ School announced the establishment of the Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Project (NPPP) at The University of Texas at Austin.

Alan Kuperman

According to Alan J. Kuperman, Associate Professor of Public Affairs and the project’s inaugural coordinator, the NPPP’s mission is to conduct research and education to reduce the risks of nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism, and especially to ensure that civilian applications of nuclear technology do not foster the spread of nuclear weapons to states or sub-state actors.

Kuperman has worked on nuclear nonproliferation since 1987 – in the U.S. Congress, non-governmental organizations, and academia. Kuperman also leads the NPPP’s initial year-long Policy Research Project on the prospects and challenges of a Global Phase-Out of Bomb-Grade Uranium. In that capacity, he supervises 14 graduate students in nuclear engineering and public affairs as they conduct research in 11 countries, funded by a grant from the Nuclear Threat Initiative.
For more, visit: http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/news/2011/lbj-school-initiative-combat-spread-nuclear-weapons-aims-red

LBJ School to Generate First Texas Statewide Measure of Teacher Effectiveness

Pilot Metric for TEA will improve quality of teaching and enhance student learning in Texas

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) has contracted with the LBJ School to develop a comprehensive metric that measures a teacher’s effect on student achievement under the direction of the School’s Project on Educator Effectiveness and Quality (PEEQ). The metric will focus on teachers in their first three years in the classroom and will be used to help determine the quality of the state’s educator preparation programs.

The metric will have a statewide application and will be the first of its kind for a state as large and demographically diverse as Texas.

“There are several teacher effectiveness models being developed across the country, but few are being developed at the state level,” Dr. Cynthia Osborne, PEEQ Director. “There are things you can do within a large district or even a smaller state that will not work statewide in Texas, statistically or practically.”

For more, visit: http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/news/2011/lbj-school-generate-first-texas-statewide-measure-teacher-ef

Mexico’s Security Spokesperson Discusses Mexico’s National Public Safety Strategy

Alejandro Poiré, secretary of the National Security Council and security spokesperson for Mexico, spoke on the topic of Mexico’s national public safety strategy at the LBJ School on March 28.

Alejandro Poiré

In August 2010, Mexican President Felipe Calderón appointed Poiré to the position of secretary of the National Security Council and to the Cabinet. Prior to that, Poiré served as Deputy Secretary for Population, Migration and Religious Affairs at the Ministry of the Interior where he also was chief of staff and lead adviser to the minister.

Poiré is the author of “Towards Mexico’s Democratization: Parties, Campaigns, Elections, and Public Opinion” and “Mexico’s Pivotal Democratic Election.” Poiré holds a Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University and is a professor and chair of the Political Science Department at Mexico’s Autonomous Technological Institute.

For more, including video of the talk, visit: http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/events/2011/mexicos-security-spokesperson-discuss-mexicos-national-publi

LBJ School Publishes Report on Juveniles in the Texas Adult Criminal Justice System

LBJ School Senior Lecturer Michele Deitch has published a new report titled Juveniles in the Adult Criminal Justice System in Texas (LBJ School of Public Affairs, 2011). The report provides a comprehensive look at Texas’s methods for dealing with the state’s most serious juvenile offenders. It gathers all available Texas data with respect to certified juveniles—those youth who are transferred to adult criminal court—and compares them to the population of determined sentence juveniles who are retained in the juvenile justice system. The report also compares the significant differences in programming and services for the two populations of juvenile offenders—those who get sent to adult jails and prisons, and those who receive placements in the Texas Youth Commission (TYC).

For more and to download a PDF of the full report, visit: http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/news/2011/juvenile-justice-report

LBJ School of Public Affairs and Patient Privacy Rights Foundation to Co-Host Inaugural International Summit on Health Privacy June 13 in Washington, D.C.

“Getting IT Right: Protecting Patient Privacy in a Wired World” to Look at the Fundamental Role of a Patient’s Right to Privacy in Health Information Technology

The Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and the Patient Privacy Rights Foundation will co-host the nation’s first public summit to discuss the future of health privacy in the digital age. “Getting IT Right: Protecting Patient Privacy in a Wired World” will be held on June 13, 2011 at the Georgetown Law Center in Washington, D.C. The event is the first in a planned series of forums on this theme and coincides with the creation of the U.S. government’s plan for a new health information technology (HIT) infrastructure, which will collect personal health information. For agenda and registration information, visit: http://www.healthprivacysummit.org/

“The LBJ School has been preparing leaders for 40 years to help find innovative solutions to the most complex public policy issues and challenges of our modern world,” said Robert Hutchings, Dean of the LBJ School of Public Affairs. “Therefore, we see it as critically important to engage in this issue on every level—local, state, national, international—through research and collaborative partnerships in conferences such as this one. We are especially pleased to join with the Patient Privacy Rights and with the other conference participants on working together towards solutions to one of the greatest privacy challenges of our time.”

The summit will be interactive and audience members will be expected to contribute questions to panels and participate in work groups to identify urgent health privacy needs, along with the immediate steps needed to deliver responsible and realistic solutions.

Deborah Peel, member of the board of directors of the Patient Privacy Rights Foundation, Summit co-host, explained, “The goal of the summit is to create the world’s premier public forum on health privacy issues by uniting a ‘brain trust’ of experts - academics, advocates, government, health care, and those in the technology field - who are willing to work together to ensure health privacy is a center-piece of U.S. health care system reforms. We’re very pleased with the response to the Summit, from panelists and speakers to sponsors, which no doubt speaks to the importance and urgency of these issues today and into the future.”

For more information and to register, visit: http://www.healthprivacysummit.org/

In what will be the company’s largest cash donation to The University of Texas at Austin, Dell has committed $5 million to the RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service at the university’s LBJ School of Public Affairs.

Karen Quintos, CMO, Dell and William Powers, Jr., president, The University of Texas

The grant, which will be distributed to the RGK Center over five years, will build upon the existing Dell Social Innovation Competition (DSIC) to pioneer a new model of purpose-driven, engaged education targeting student social entrepreneurs worldwide.

“Dell’s gift is as strategic as it is generous,” said William Powers, Jr., president of The University of Texas at Austin. “The university’s mission is often referred to as having three parts: teaching, research and service. This competition and this gift are at the very intersection of those three: students, do research on problems and propose solutions, work with mentors and then harness their ideas to serve society in profound and enduring ways. This is exactly what a modern university should be doing, and Dell’s gift will make it even more robust. I’m so proud this is happening at UT.”

For more, visit: https://www.utexas.edu/lbj/news/2011/dell-s-largest-grant-university-texas-austin-5-million-will

LBJ School Launches Washington, D.C. Program

The LBJ School of Public Affairs officially opened its LBJ School Washington Program on May 16. The program will begin with two graduate seminars this summer, taught by regular LBJ School faculty and open to alumni and public policy professionals as well as the LBJ School students. The program will expand in coming years to include a larger number of summer courses and within 3 or 4 years will evolve into a full semester of courses to complement D.C.-based internships, career fairs, alumni events, and other programs.

The launch also includes a new website portal that will aggregate all of the School’s efforts in Washington, D.C. such as faculty and alumni news, D.C.-area resources, and information on upcoming events.

For more, visit: https://www.utexas.edu/lbj/washington

LBJ School Community Enjoys Day of Commencement Activities

Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Kathleen Merrigan Delivers Convocation Address

On May 21, convocation activities began in the morning with a ceremony, presided over by LBJ School Dean Robert Hutchings, where students were awarded their degrees. From the convocation address by Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Kathleen Merrigan, an LBJ School alumna, to the conferring of awards, to the student speaker’s address to her fellow graduates, the morning’s activities were all designed to honor the accomplishments of the graduating class. The day’s activities culminated with a reception hosted by Dean Hutchings that ended in a march to The University of Texas at Austin commencement ceremony.

Kathleen A. Merrigan, Deputy Secretary of Agriculture for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, delivered the

Kathleen A. Merrigan

convocation address. Merrigan graduated from the LBJ School of Public Affairs in 1987 with a Master of Public Affairs degree.

“Go out there with your dreams. Join your talented classmates. And change the world,” said Merrigan. “By the way, my chief of staff- LBJ School classmate. USDA deputy under secretary for natural resources and the environment – LBJ School classmate. The first time I had to go into a meeting in the situation room in the White House where I was flanked by generals and I was incredibly nervous, I looked up and across the table I was greeted by the smiling, reassuring face of an LBJ School classmate. Ladies and Gentlemen, you’re in good company.”

For more, visit: http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/news/2011/lbj-school-community-enjoys-day-commencement-activities

Jacqui Angel

For more than 20 years, Jacqui Angel has been a woman on a mission to explore the reasons why Hispanic and Mexican-origin communities experience such disparities in their access to healthcare and long-term care and educate the public on ways to ease this disparity.

Recently, she received more than $680,000 from the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) National Center for Minority and Health Disparity. As Principal Investigator, Dr. Angel will lead a team of researchers from The University of Texas at Austin’s Population Research Center, University of California, Los Angeles, and Florida State University to study the risk of long-term care in older Mexican-American families.

For More information, visit: http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/news/2011/jacqui-angel-receives-680000-grant-national-institute-health

Professor Robert Wilson Honored for Service as Associate Dean

Robert Wilson

Robert Wilson, the Mike Hogg Professor in Urban Policy at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, The University of Texas at Austin who has served as associate dean of academic affairs and research for the LBJ School since 2006, has taken a leave of absence to serve as a public policy scholar for six months beginning in January 2011 with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC.

Wilson will remain a member of the LBJ School faculty and will continue to oversee the School’s research areas. In the fall of 2011, Wilson will assume a Faculty Research Assignment (FRA). Associate Professor of Public Affairs Chandler Stolp officially assumed his duties as the School’s new Associate Dean in January 2011.

For more information, visit: http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/news/2011/lbj-school-public-affairs-professor-robert-wilson-honored-se

Chandler Stolp

Chandler Stolp Named Associate Dean of the LBJ School of Public Affairs

Associate Professor of Public Affairs Chandler Stolp has accepted the position of associate dean of academic affairs for the LBJ School of Public Affairs. Stolp officially began his new duties in January 2011.

Stolp assumes the position previously held by Robert Wilson, the Mike Hogg Professor in Urban Policy, who served as associate dean of academic affairs and research for four and a half years. Wilson, who will remain a member of the LBJ School faculty as well as continue to oversee the School’s research area, has taken a leave of absence to serve as a public policy scholar for six months, which began in January 2011, with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC.

For more information, visit: http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/news/2011/chandler-stolp-named-associate-dean-lbj-school-public-affair

Peter Ward Honored by Graduate School with Advising Excellence Award

Peter Ward

LBJ School Professor and Ph.D. Adviser Peter Ward has been named the Outstanding Graduate Adviser by the Graduate School at The University of Texas at Austin. Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies Victoria Rodríguez will present the award at a banquet co-sponsored by the University Co-op on May 18, 2011.

For more information, visit:http://www.utexas.edu/ogs/awards/news/pr_030111.html

LBJ School Faculty Member and Teaching Assistant Receive 2011 Texas Exes Teaching Awards

Pat Wong and Beibei Zou

LBJ School Associate Professor Pat Wong and Beibei Zou, Ph.D. student and teaching assistant, are both recipients of 2011 Texas Exes Teaching Awards. The Texas Exes Teaching Award is given to professors and instructors who have had a positive influence on the educational experience of their students. The award recipients are nominated and chosen by students in their teaching areas.

For more information, visit: http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/news/2011/lbj-school-faculty-member-and-teaching-assistant-receive-201

The Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law and the Greater Austin Crime Commission will present the Global Security Summit on March 23. The event will feature expert panelists discussing the trends and challenges on the U.S. border and new security challenges including cyber-security and terrorism. This conference is free and open to the public but registration is required.

For more information, visit: http://www.strausscenter.org/events/156

The Center for Health and Social Policy will Present Clinical Professor Angela Evans for “From Research to Practice: Informing the Policy Debate” on March 25

Angela Evans

The Center for Health and Social Policy (CHASP) will present Clinical Professor Angela Evans for a discussion on her 15 years of experience leading the research and analytic efforts of the Congressional Research Service and how to successfully engage in policy deliberations. The event will take place on March 25 in the Bass Lecture Hall at 12:15 p.m.

Careers in Politics Conference Gives Inside Look at Public Service, Electoral Politics, Lobbying and Advocacy and Political Communications March 25-26

The Center for Politics and Governance is collaborating with the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Participation and the Hatton W. Sumners Foundation on the 2011 New Politics Forum Careers in Politics Conference, a two-day conference designed to give undergraduate students the opportunity to explore various public service career options.

For more information, visit: http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/events/2011/careers-politics-conference-gives-inside-look-public-service

Joanna Schenke

The University of Texas at Austin’s Office of Graduate Studies profiled LBJ School and Middle Eastern Studies Dual Degree Student Joanna Schenke in a piece on their web site.  Complete with a video interview of Schenke, the piece delves into how Schenke became interested in foreign affairs and how The University of Texas at Austin and the LBJ School of Public Affairs have allowed her to combine her interests into two degrees that will aid her as she aims for a career at the U.S. State Department.

For more information, visit: http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/news/2011/lbj-school-and-middle-eastern-studies-dual-degree-student-pr

Students Call for Increased Government Accessibility During Two-Day TXGov2.0 Conference

LBJ School students involved in the TXGov2.0 conference in late January were profiled in a piece by The Daily Texan highlighting issues of transparency in government agencies.

For the full article, visit: http://www.dailytexanonline.com/content/students-call-increased-government-accessibility

Pat Wong's PRP Class

PRP Class Pens Article for the Austin American Statesman on Wealth Disparity

Several students in a policy research project headed by LBJ School Professor Pat Wong teamed up to write an article for the Austin American Statesman on wealth disparity in the United States.

For the entire article, visit: http://www.statesman.com/opinion/insight/austin-team-dissects-u-s-wealth-gap-1284888.html?page=2

LBJ School Launches Inaugural Alumni Newsletter

The LBJ School of Public Affairs has launched an inaugural alumni newsletter featuring notes from Dean Robert Hutchings, Alumni Affairs Coordinator Michelle Potter-Bacon, alumni events and communications from the various alumni associations. The January 2011 edition is now posted on the alumni and friends section of the LBJ School website.

For the full newsletter, visit: http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/alumnifriends/newsletter/1-2010-from-the-dean

All Alumni Weekend to be Held April 15 -16

The LBJ School of Public Affairs will host an All Alumni Weekend April 15-16 in Austin, Texas, featuring faculty presentations, an alumni career panel, the presentation of the 2011 Distinguished Public Service Award, a community service project with students, a chance to cheer the current students on against Texas A&M in the ‘Dillo Cup and many opportunities for mixing and mingling with former classmates.

For more information, visit: http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/news/2011/save-date-all-alumni-weekend-austin-april-15-16

The LBJ School of Public Affairs hosted The Fiscal Solutions Tour, presented by the Concord Coalition, in collaboration with Deloitte, LLP,  on Feb 9. This event, moderated by Dean Robert Hutchings, featured leading experts on national budget policy offering a variety of perspectives on different options, including many now under consideration by President Obama’s bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.

(L to R) Bob Bixby, David Walker, Alice Rivlin

The Fiscal Solutions Tour featured presentations by:

• Dr. Alice Rivlin — member of the Presidential Commission, Inaugural Congressional Budget Office Director, former Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve under Chairman Greenspan and Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget during the Clinton Administration
• The Honorable David Walker - former Comptroller General of the United States
• Robert Bixby – Executive Director of the Concord Coalition and member of the Bipartisan Policy Center Debt Reduction Task Force

The goal of The Fiscal Solutions Tour was to engage the public, the media and policymakers in a realistic dialogue about our nation’s future, a range of potential solutions that need to be considered, what trade-offs we need to make, and how we can leave a stronger, more prosperous nation to our children and generations still to come.

For more information, visit: http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/news/fiscal-solutions-tour

Related: U.S. Deficit debate ignores the big issues, experts say - The Austin American Statesman, Feb. 20

CPG Teams Up with the Texas Tribune for “New Day Rising,” a Day-Long Forum on Demographics and Changing Policy in Texas

The Texas Tribune presented “New Day Rising: Changing Demographics and Changing Politics and Policy in Texas” on Feb. 28 in collaboration with the Center for Politics and Governance, BP and Central Market. The event pulled together members of the media, policymakers, academics and non-profit organizations to discuss how changing demographics in Texas will affect politics and policy in the future.

For more information, visit: http://www.texastribune.org/events/2011/feb/28/new-day-rising-changing-demographics-policy-and-politics-in-texas/

Related: Texas Hispanic Lawmakers Spar Over Race, Education -  The Texas Tribune, March 1

CPG Continues to Inform Online Transparency Debate Through Multiple Spring Events

CCAPS Teams Research Climate Change in Kenya

Over the 2010 winter break,  Josh Busby and Kate Weaver, Distinguished Scholars for the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law, took the Strauss Center’s Climate Change and African

CCAPS team (from left to right): Todd Smith, Christian Peratsakis, Pace Phillips, Emily Adams, Dr. Busby and Dr. Weaver. Photo courtesy Todd Smith

Political Stability (CCAPS) program on the road to Nairobi, Kenya. They were joined by four LBJ School graduate students – Ph.D. student Todd Smith and Master of Global Policy Studies students Emily Adams, Christian Peratsakis and Pace Phillips.

The team aimed to “ground truth” or validate the climate security vulnerability maps CCAPS researchers have developed with local experts: do the places the team has determined to be vulnerable in East and Central Africa match with vulnerabilities on the ground? The research trip had other objectives as well: to find out what international organizations, national governments and NGOs are doing to adapt to the consequences of climate change.

For more information, visit: http://www.strausscenter.org/articles/87

Strauss Center’s CCAPS Program Launches New Social Conflict in Africa Database

The Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law’s  program on Climate Change and African Political Stability (CCAPS) has launched a new database and web site tool following previously untracked types of social conflict in Africa.

The Social Conflict in Africa Database (SCAD) provides information on over 6,300 social conflict events across Africa, including strikes, riots, protests, coups and communal violence from 1990 to 2009.

For more information, visit: http://www.strausscenter.org/articles/88

Strauss Center’s CCAPS Program Launches New Social Conflict in Africa Database

As North Africa struggles to deal with protests, violence and changes of government, the rest of the world looks for answers as to how and why the chaotic situation in the region has developed so quickly.

With the launch of a new database and web site tool following previously untracked types of social conflict in Africa, the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law’s program on Climate Change and African Political Stability (CCAPS) enables researchers and policymakers to get closer to the answers.

For more information, visit: http://www.strausscenter.org/articles/88

LBJ School Hosts CPM/ASPA State Conference

The LBJ School of Public Affairs hosted the Certified Public Manager/American Society of Public Administration Texas State Conference, an annual one-day conference of practitioners and academics in public administration, on Feb. 18.

The conference provided an opportunity for discussion of current events and developments in the areas of professional development and academia, as well as networking opportunities for practitioners, students and others in the field of public administration in Texas.

The conference was co-hosted by the LBJ School of Public Affairs, the William P. Hobby Center for Public Service at Texas State University, the Texas Certified Public Manager Program, and the Central Texas Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration.

Spring 2011 Notable Speakers

The LBJ School of Public Affairs Presents Former U.S. Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen

William S. Cohen

On March 3, the LBJ School welcomed former U.S. Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen for a lunch-time discussion and Q&A with the LBJ School student body. In addition to serving as Secretary of Defense, Cohen also served as a Senator (1979-1997) and Congressman (1973-1979) for the State of Maine.

For more information, visit: http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/events/2011/lbj-school-public-affairs-presents-former-us-secretary-defen

Lawrence Lessig, Renowned Attorney and Author, Takes on Institutional Corruption

On February 28, the Center for Politics and Governance, along with multiple University of Texas at Austin and

Lawrence Lessig

public sponsors, presented Lawrence Lessig, renowned author, attorney and professor.   Lessig discussed the issues of institutional corruption in a talk titled “The ‘Corruption’ of Our System of Money and Politics; A Presentation and Conversation with Prof. Lawrence Lessig, Harvard Law.”For more information, visit: http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/events/2011/lawrence-lessig-takes-institutional-corruption-part-center-p

Lieutenant General Roméo A. Dallaire Keynotes 2011 Hatton W. Sumners Undergraduate Student Leadership Conference

Roméo A. Dallaire

The LBJ School’s Center for Ethical Leadership presented Roméo A. Dallaire, Canadian Senator, former UN commander, author, and genocide prevention scholar, and retired Lieutenant General,  as the keynote speakers of the 2011 Hatton W. Sumners Undergraduate Student Leadership Conference.

The speech by Dallaire titled “Leadership Lessons and Leadership Failures” was jointly sponsored by the Center for Ethical Leadership and the Distinguished Speakers Committee of the Texas Union.

For more information, visit: http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/events/2011/lieutenant-general-rom-o-dallaire-keynote-2011-hatton-w-summ

Texas Senator and LBJ Alumnus Rodney Ellis Keynotes Barbara Jordan Week Opening Symposium

Texas Senator Rodney Ellis

To commemorate the landmark occasion of the 75th birthday of Barbara Jordan, the LBJ School of Public Affairs honored her with a week of planned activities which took place  Feb. 21 through Feb. 25.  Texas Senator Rodney Ellis, an LBJ School alumnus, kicked off the week with a keynote address during a daylong symposium hosted by the LBJ School and the Barbara Jordan Freedom Foundation.

Ellis, Barbara Jordan Freedom Foundation board member, was elected to the Texas Senate in 1990 and currently holds the same senate seat as Barbara Jordan. During his tenure, Ellis has earned praise as a leader on economic development, education, civil rights, responsible environmental policy, tax cuts for the middle class, criminal justice and workforce development.

(L to R) Lauren Burton, Barbara Jordan Forum Co-chair; Robert Hutchings, Dean of the LBJ School; Rodney Ellis, Texas State Senator; Tiffany O'Neal, Barbara Jordan Forum Co-chair

The week’s activities continued with a series of student-organized forums highlighting policy areas

championed by Jordan including environmental law, juvenile justice, disability, and women in government and equality.

Previously, LBJ School students have honored Barbara Jordan with a daylong symposium but extended the tribute to include an entire week of events to better demonstrate the breadth and depth of Jordan’s contributions to government, policy and culture.

For more information including a video of Ellis’ keynote address and a slideshow, visit: http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/events/2011/weeklong-tribute-honor-life-and-work-barbara-jordan-feb-21-2

LBJ School Washington DC Summer Program to Launch in May 2011

The LBJ School’s inaugural Washington, DC Summer Program will begin in Summer 2011 with two graduate seminars taught by LBJ School faculty and will complement the DC-based summer internships aimed at familiarizing students with federal Washington and introducing them to senior-level officials there.

For course descriptions, visit: http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/washington_summer_program