The Graduate School
Lillian J. Davis
Texas executive and civic leader for higher education
M.A. & Ph.D., UT Austin
You might suspect that Lillian Davis is one of the few Texas graduate students who can boast that she has worked for the same company in all the 25 years since her graduation. That said, Davis reflects upon her work at IBM in Austin as holding many different jobs, and even many different careers. It is her graduate study, she believes, that has provided all these opportunities. "Since communication is so essential for all jobs, my graduate degree in communication gave me more mobility than any other degree I can imagine. Plus the Ph.D. set me apart; it increased my visibility in this huge company I work for."
In addition to Davis's professional work at IBM, she has served in a number of civic leadership positions promoting higher education in central Texas: Officer on the Austin Community College Board of Trustees, Chairman of the Women's Resource Center Advisory Board (Texas State Technical College), The University of Texas' College of Communication Advisory Council.
Davis cites her graduate education as "vital" in her civic work as well. "In graduate school, I made lifelong friends who are an important personal and professional network for me. Additionally, my experience as a teaching assistant taught me a great deal about adult education, on which I continue to draw today."