Policy on Purpose

What does the future of clean energy in Texas look like? On January 28, 2025, the LBJ School partnered with Canary Media and David Roberts of Volts to host an afternoon of discussions about policies shaping the clean energy transition with top experts from academia, industry and media. LBJ faculty Doug Lewin and Webber Group […]

What does city governance look like across the pond? The Mayor of Greater Manchester shed alight on his experience for the LBJ School. Elected in 2017, Mayor Andy Burnham has led initiatives to transform Greater Manchester’spublic transportation, improve housing, and most recently, collaborated with Austin Mayor KirkWatson to establish a “sister city partnership” between the […]

This is the fourth installment of our four-part podcast series on our Policy Leadership in the Age of AI symposium, which was hosted at the Bass Lecture Hall on October 1st, 2024. As part of UT’s 2024 initiative, the Year of AI, we brought together public, private, and academic leaders for crucial discussions on the […]

This is the third installment of our four-part podcast series on our Policy Leadership in the Age of AI symposium, which was hosted at the Bass Lecture Hall on October 1st, 2024. As part of UT’s 2024 initiative, the Year of AI, we brought together public, private, and academic leaders for crucial discussions on the […]

This is the second installment of our four-part podcast series on our Policy Leadership in the Age of AI symposium, which was hosted at Bass Lecture Hall on October 1st, 2024. As part of UT’s 2024 initiative, the Year of AI, we brought together public, private, and academic leaders for crucial discussions on the ethical […]

This is the first installment of our four-part podcast series on our Policy Leadership in the Age of AI symposium, which was hosted at the LBJ Auditorium on October 1st, 2024. As part of UT’s 2024 initiative, the Year of AI, we brought together public, private, and academic leaders for crucial discussions on the ethical […]

Dr. Will Inboden, a national security scholar from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin, masterfully describes Ronald Reagan’s foreign policy and the role of the United States in ending the Cold War, in a discussion moderated by Bill Shute, Executive Director of the LBJ Washington Center. This is […]

Presidential historian and scholar Dr. Jeremi Suri discusses a country rebuilding itself as it wrestles with competing visions of democracy, race and freedom, in a conversation moderated by Bill Shute, Executive Director of the LBJ Washington Center. Dr. Suri shares his analysis of democracy, starting in 1865 when the Confederacy was militarily defeated and continues […]

Historian and Texas State University professor Dr. Sarah Coleman examines the history of the battles over U.S. immigrants’ rights since 1965—and how these conflicts reshaped access to education, employment, civil liberties and more in conversation with Associate Director of Research at the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at the LBJ School, Dr. […]

Historian and civil rights scholar Dr. Peniel Joseph discusses a powerful interpretation of the ongoing struggle for racial justice, calling this period as transformative as the movements post-Civil War and during the civil rights era as outlined in his new book, The Third Reconstruction: America’s Struggle for Racial Justice in the Twenty-First Century, with LBJ […]

Those that cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. In a special series titled “Policy Lessons from the Past: U.S. history with a Texas twist,” four Texas-based policy experts will discuss how our shared history impacts today’s political environment, spanning topics like racial justice, immigration, global confrontations and the very nature of democracy. […]

In this special episode of Policy on Purpose, Dean JR DeShazo recognizes the people, mission and legacy of the LBJ School in his inaugural 2021 State of the College.  Find out more at lbj.utexas.edu.

This episode, the fourth in the LBJ School’s podcast series Eye on the Lege: Inside the 87th Texas Legislature, looks at the sum total of this legislative session, from the extraordinary circumstances forced upon it by COVID-19 and high-impact social issues including abortion and transgender rights to the fight between state and local governments over police budgets, […]

This third episode in the LBJ School’s podcast series Eye on the Lege: Inside the 87th Texas Legislature assesses the measures in the Texas Senate and House to overhaul the state’s energy market, strengthen its electrical grid and address energy prices during the February Freeze. Varun Rai, LBJ’s associate dean for research and the director […]

In episode 2 of Eye on the Lege: Inside the 87th Texas Legislature, Victoria deFrancesco Soto, LBJ’s assistant dean for civic engagement, talks with former U.S. Congressman Beto O’Rourke, now an adjuct assistant professor at the school, about the restrictive voter provisions laid out in SB7 and HB6. They discuss how the bills, which would […]

In this episode of the LBJ School’s new podcast series “Eye on the Lege: Inside the 87th Texas Legislature,” Distinguished Senior Lecturer Michele Deitch, an expert on the criminal justice system, correctional oversight and juvenile justice, talks with Alycia Welch, associate director of the COVID Corrections and Oversight Project at the LBJ School and a […]

In the final episode of “From a Great Society to a Resilient Society,” host Steven Pedigo talks with LBJ School faculty experts Patrick Bixler, William Inboden and Kate Weaver about our shared future at the intersections of climate change, national security and global development. This podcast series is a continuation of a policy toolkit released by […]

General revenue sharing has been described as “paying for teachers in Manhattan and streetlights in Buffalo.” Leading economic and public finance experts James Galbraith, Michael Lind and Martin Luby join Steven Pedigo to talk flexible funding, why successful economic policies lay groundwork for future policy changes, and if a job guarantee is part of the […]

LBJ School experts Ruth Wasem and Michele Deitch join “From a Great Society to a Resilient Society” to discuss how COVID-19 has impacted two of society’s most vulnerable populations: immigrants and prison and jail populations. Host Steven Pedigo talks with Wasem and Deitch about the conditions that led to COVID-19’s impact on these populations and […]

In episode 2 of the LBJ School’s special series “From a Great Society to a Resilient Society,” host Steven Pedigo talks with the LBJ School’s Dr. Michael Hole and Professor Sherri Greenberg about resilient and healthy communities, public health and the economy, and equitable vaccine distribution. Learn more about resiliency in the age of COVID-19 at lbj.utexas.edu...

This is episode 1 of the LBJ School’s new podcast series From a Great Society to a Resilient Society: Building a resilient future in a globally connected world. In this six-part series, host Steven Pedigo engages LBJ School policy leaders on the future of our world through the lens of resiliency. In this episode, Pedigo is...

In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson shared his vision of what would become known as the “Great Society”—an America where the air and water are clean, poverty and racial injustice have been eliminated, and all its citizens can develop their full potential and share in the promise of America.  But the gap between LBJ’s aspiration and our […]

U.S. Census Director Dr. Steven Dillingham joins Policy on Purpose to discuss the 2020 census, why it counts and how students can get involved.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan visited the LBJ School on November 13, 2019, as part of the Dean’s Distinguished Leaders Series. In this episode, Mayor Duggan talks about efforts to revitalize the city of Detroit in an equitable way.

Hedrick Smith, a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter and director of the upcoming PBS documentary Democracy Rebellion, talks about grassroots efforts in Texas to combat big money politics, gerrymandering and voter suppression.