Diversifying LBJ's Legacy

Black Issues in Higher Education, March 18, 1999 by Jamilah Evelyn

A man who spent years during the Carter Administration at the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and later at the Department of Education, then the Brookings Institute's Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Dorn's background is not as a strict academician. Yet some at the school say that he may be even more qualified for the deanship in spite of his lack of experience with scholarly research and educational politics.

"Because of the nature of the institution -- being a state flagship school-people who end up with deanships have to be politically connected," explains Lodis Rhodes, the school's lone Black faculty member who has been there since 1973. "Ed breaks the pattern in one sense because he has no connection to Texas politics, but he's got national and international connections that could serve any dean at a school of public affairs well."

While Dorn stresses diversity and the leadership thing, he may be even more dogged about carrying on a tradition that began with one of LBJ's most celebrated scholars and public servants.

Former Texas state and U.S. Sen. Barbara Jordan, who died after 15 years on the faculty of the school, was especially dedicated to teaching ethical accountability.

"One of Barbara Jordan's legacies at this school was that she stressed instilling the students with a sense of value, a sense of responsibility, a strong sense of professional ethics," he says. "And that's something that we must carry on because we're preparing people for jobs that require the public's trust."

As far as any legacy he'd like to leave at the school, Dorn says it's still too early to think about that. He's still taking his role in stride.

"So far, it is still a great deal of fun. I'm only in the second year. I think we've defined an agenda to be carried out over the next four, five, six years," he says. "It involves developing a program in leadership. It also involves developing a program in nonprofit management. We think those programs will allow us to attract a more diverse group of students and faculty and do things that are not just interesting to other researchers but interesting and useful to the community."