Inaugural State of the College 2021 from LBJ School Dean JR DeShazo

This is policy on purpose, a podcast produced by the LBJ school of public affairs at the university of Texas at Austin. Today, we are sharing a special episode featuring the school’s new Dean Jr. Deshayes. As he delivers the 2021 state of the college.

Hello, my name is Jr . It’s my pleasure to address you all today. As Dean of the LBJ school of public affairs. In the few months I’ve been here, I’ve had the privilege of experiencing how truly special this place is here. We offer a first-class education, a spirit of public service leadership, and a culture of discovery.

And most importantly, we have the unmatched strength of the people, mission and legacy of the LBJ. Let me share something important about the people at the LBJ school. They come here because they care about advancing the well-being of society. This year, the LBJ school was proud to welcome its largest, most diverse, incoming class.

This incoming class includes more than 250 new master’s degree students and nine PhD students, students from historically underrepresented communities make up nearly half of the master’s cohort, along with 21 international and 26 first-generation students. Imagine all the good they will. But it’s not enough that these students have come to the LBJ school.

We have to make sure they thrive as your new Dean. I’m committed to creating a student experience full of opportunities to learn opportunities, to grow professionally and contribute to policy development and reform. And our world-class faculty are critical partners in. Yes, our faculty are world changing researchers and internationally sought after practitioners.

Recent examples include Dr. Cynthia Osborne, who is translating the science of the developing child into the most effective policies and actions and public investments for states. Another example is Dr. Josh Busby, who is now serving as senior advisor for climate at the U S department of defense. I’m delighted to welcome several new teachers to the LBJ school, including fall and adjunct faculty across a variety of disciplines.

And while we welcome new colleagues, it’s bittersweet to also say goodbye to. We’ll soon be parting ways with the school’s chief diversity officer, Dr. Victoria differential, Wesco Soto, who has been named Dean of the Clinton school of public affairs in little rock Arkansas, Dr. De Francesco Soto has been a dynamic and proven leader in civic engagement, policy, curriculum, and diversity.

At the LBJ school, I look forward to working with her as a fellow. Rehiring for her critical role is one of my top priorities. And Dr. Deferential SESCO Soto has been an important partner in these efforts. Now we can’t talk about the people of the LBJ school without talking about our staff from tireless, dedication, to our people and mission to vibrant talent and daily responsibilities to excellent customer service.

The contributions of our dedicated staff have helped keep the doors open and create transformation that benefits our society. So I think we all know how greatly the school will feel. The absence of recently retired staff, Karen Troutman and Lena Chung contrail. Karen who led information, technology services and Laina who led human resources have been with the LBJ school since the 1980s, their combined impact is a measurable and their combined institutional knowledge is unparalleled.

Karen and Lena. Congratulations, and thank you for dedicating your talent and time to the LBJ community. I wish you the best of luck in your future. In addition to our people, the LBJ school’s unmistakable character is rooted in our mission to improve the quality of public service in the United States and abroad at all levels of governance and civic engagement.

We embody it in our world-class scholars, dedicated students and impact making alumni. And we create new pathways for serving this mission through research strength and fundraising power. Our faculty recently launched a new prisons and jails innovation lab, which expands our capacity to improve criminal justice reform.

Our experiential learning program, which connects students with nonprofits has expanded to serve the city of hue. Students are also bringing knowledge and training from the classroom into the real world, through their policy research projects, these projects, address challenges like building smart and resilient cities exploring the role of anchor institutions in small and rural communities.

Creating a new U S food policy cooperative missile defense with Russia and investigating foreign threats to the U S election until. These projects, aim to sharpen skills while making real world impact. We are also attracting research dollars across a variety of policy issues. LBJ school researchers have recently secured nearly $1 million to conduct urgent research on greenhouse gas emit.

The prenatal to three policy center, which we’ll convene at second annual conference. This October has recently brought in millions of dollars to support research and policy development. And now more than ever before LBJ school, alumni, friends and donors are stepping up to fund fellowship opportunities for our study.

With this generous support, we’ve shattered this year’s fundraising goals by nearly double reaching nearly $9 million. As for our longterm goals, we’re on track to reach $70 million by 2025. Exceeding our original goal of $50 million. It’s clear, we’ve got one of the most generous and loyal alumni communities on campus.

And that’s impressive. Given the dedicated Longhorn community across the 48. And this year is 44 40 campaign. We ranked third among all schools and colleges at UT raising nearly $400,000. This generous support has resulted in many student enhancements, including the creation of a new fellowship through the LBJ foundation.

This fellowship helps us build a more diverse public service pipeline as it creates opportunities for historically underrepresented students to earn their graduate policy degrees. This truly special place is grounded by president Johnson’s legacy, which demands a firm commitment to social justice, a restless urgency to get things done and a responsibility to solve problems here.

And in the world. An example of this is the success of the LBJ women’s campaign. I am proud to say another campaign school graduate to Nissa. Jeffers has announced her candidacy for office making her the seventh LBJ women’s campaign school student, or graduate to run for office. Perhaps our greatest legacy is our esteemed alumni.

Many of whom I’ve recently had the pleasure of meeting for the first time two weeks ago. It was my great pleasure to recognize their accomplishments at our annual alumni award. The school’s highest alumni honor. The distinguished public service award went to Shamina Singh, who is the founder and president of the center for inclusive growth.

That philanthropic hub of MasterCard, our rising leader award went to arrow Yabuki who is the director of the project on fragility and mobility at the center for strategic and international studies. In closing, I want to make a special nod to Dr. David Springer, who served as interim Dean through the spring and summer of 2021.

Thank you, David, for your leadership. And I personally thank you for the wisdom you’ve shared with me as I step into this role to members of the LBJ school community. I know the last couple of years have been challenged. And I commend you all for the way that you have approached changing circumstances with courage.

As we began exiting in our homes and reentering the world around us, know that when you enter the LBJ school, you are entering a place where you belong, where we expect you to lead and where we strive for excellence. It’s our legacy. And our blueprint. Thank you. And hook them.

This is policy on purpose, a podcast produced by the LBJ school of public affairs at the university of Texas at Austin. For more policy on purpose, subscribe to the podcast and follow the LBJ school on Twitter. Instagram and Facebook. Thanks for listening.