Center for Politics and Governance Launch
Remarks by President Bill Powers
Thompson Conference Center
Friday, September 21, 2007
Thank you, Dean Steinberg. Your leadership in setting the course for the LBJ School has been visionary and inspiring. The new Center for Politics and Governance is a great example of your dedication to the ideals of President Lyndon Johnson, who envisioned a school that would prepare young people for careers in public service and, in his words, “build their careers around one of the most cherished principles of our democracy: the greatest good for the greatest number.”
President Johnson wanted the LBJ School to produce generations of new leaders who would have a dynamic impact on our state and nation. And not only leaders from the traditional enclaves of power in Dallas, Houston, and Austin, but from El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley and small towns like Cotulla, Texas, where he had once taught school and witnessed debilitating poverty and illiteracy among Hispanic schoolchildren. And so it is especially satisfying to see the Center for Politics and Governance include a Hispanic Policy Leadership Institute that will develop and support leaders from the Hispanic community. As today’s inaugural conference asserts, “The Future Is Now – the Hispanic Impact on American Politics and Government.” The University is proud to reflect the many voices and cultures of our state, and especially proud to provide a forum for the study and discussion of Hispanic representation in the political process, and how this rapidly expanding force continues to shape policymaking in Texas and our nation.
We thank the AT&T Foundation for their generosity in providing a gift that will launch the new Center for Politics and Governance. Thank you, Jim Cicconi, for being a great friend and ally! AT&T has been an outstanding partner with UT on a number of programs and projects across our university, most recently the remarkable AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center being built on campus. We deeply appreciate your support. Through your gift to the LBJ School and this new research center, AT&T is making possible the free and open political dialogue that distinguishes our nation and promotes governance that is enlightened and informed.
On behalf of the entire University community, I thank you –Jim Cicconi, AT&T, and Dean James Steinberg – for creating this outstanding partnership.
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