The Patman Center for Civic and Political Engagement develops the next generation of public leaders.
The Center’s mission is to strengthen our democracy by cultivating skilled leaders who exemplify an ethos of civility, service, and bipartisanship.
The Center achieves this mission by providing students with extensive leadership training in a bipartisan environment, a working knowledge of our democratic government and opportunities for experiential learning, internships, and political mentoring.
Founders
Ambassador Carrin F. Patman and James V. Derrick, Jr. made the largest ever gift to UT’s LBJ School of Public Affairs to establish The Patman Center for Civic and Political Engagement, which aims to strengthen democracy by training public service leaders and creating opportunities for civic participation through a big-tent approach to dialogue and debate. This is a historic $10M investment in The University of Texas at Austin and the next generation of civic leaders.
Carrin F. Patman
Carrin graduated from Duke University (B.A. 1978, with honors) and The University of Texas School of Law (J.D. 1982), where she was a member of the Texas Law Review. For three decades thereafter, she was a litigator at Bracewell, LLP, concentrating on high-stakes litigation, and was the first woman elected to Bracewell’s management committee. Carrin was the first woman chair of the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, a role she held for six years. In 2022, President Biden nominated Carrin to be the United States Ambassador to the Republic of Iceland, and she was confirmed the same year.
Carrin grew up in a political family. Her maternal grandfather, Fred Mauritz, served in the Texas State Senate, and her maternal grandmother, Carrin Foreman Mauritz, was a superintendent of schools. Her paternal grandfather, Wright Patman, served for 47 years in the United States Congress, where he chaired the Banking and Currency Committee, and was supported in all his endeavors by Carrin’s grandmother, Merle Connor Patman. Her father, Bill Patman, served in the Texas State Senate and the United States Congress. Her mother, Carrin Mauritz Patman, was active in the Democratic Party, serving on the State Democratic Executive Committee and on the Democratic National Committee and managing Bill’s many successful elections.
Carrin’s involvement with UT includes serving as president of the Law School Alumni Association, president of the Texas Law Review Association, Trustee and Senior Trustee of the Law School Foundation, and founding board member of the Center for Women in Law. She is a recipient of the Law School’s Distinguished Alumna for Community Service.
Carrin has served on numerous non-profit boards and chaired multiple fundraisers for good causes. She has received multiple awards recognizing her professional achievement combined with community service, including The Anti-Defamation League Southwest Region’s Karen H. Susman Jurisprudence Award.
James V. Derrick, Jr.
Jim, a sixth-generation Texan, graduated with honors from both The University of Texas at Austin (B.A., 1967) and The University of Texas School of Law (J.D., 1970), where he was a member of Chancellors and of the Texas Law Review. After serving as law clerk to the Honorable Homer Thornberry of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Judicial Circuit, he embarked on his career as a deal lawyer, concentrating on United States and international business, energy, and real estate matters.
Jim’s involvement with UT includes having served as President of the Law School Alumni Association, as a Trustee and a Senior Trustee of the Law School Foundation, as a life member of the UT Student Unions Advisory Committee, and as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Law School.
He has served as Chairman of the Houston Bar Foundation, as Trustee of the Center for American and International Law, as Vice Chair of the Southwestern Legal Foundation Oil and Gas Education Center’s Advisory Board, and as a director of numerous business enterprises and nonprofit organizations.
He is a Life Member of the American Bar Foundation, the Houston Bar Foundation, and the Texas Bar Foundation, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a recipient of The Anti-Defamation League Southwest Region’s Karen H. Susman Jurisprudence Award.
Mostly retired from his law practice, Jim manages his family’s business interests and investments while remaining actively engaged in non-profit endeavors. He is an avid golfer, a novice ukuleleist, and, with Carrin, the parent of two very beloved Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, Reddington and Trevor.
Team
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Emily Bhandari
Executive Director
Assistant Professor of Practice
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Mia Abbe
Administrative Program Coordinator
Faculty Affiliates
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The Honorable Sherri Greenberg
Assistant Dean for State and Local Government Engagement
Professor of Practice; Fellow of Max Sherman Chair in State and Local Government
LBJ School of Public Affairs
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Dr. Becca North
Lecturer, LBJ School of Public Affairs
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Evan Smith
Founder and former CEO, The Texas Tribune
Professor of Practice, LBJ School
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The Honorable Mark Strama
Director, Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life
Moody College of Communication, UT-Austin
Advisory Committee
Friends of The Patman Center will serve as advisory committee members, helping to guide programming and activities.
Linda Addison
Linda Addison is Past US Managing Partner and Chair of the Management Committee of Norton Rose Fulbright, one of the world’s largest law firms. For more than three decades, she represented some of the world’s largest companies in their most significant matters, and built close relationships with CEOs, corporate boards, and corporate executives across multiple industry sectors.
Linda is Lead Independent Director of Globe Life Inc. (NYSE: GL), an S&P 500 company, and a director of Lexitas, an Apax Partners private equity portfolio company. She previously served as an independent director of KPMG, on the board of a NASDAQ-listed SPAC, and on the Advisory Board of Northern Trust Bank.
Linda was named one of the “50 Most Powerful Women in New York” by Crain’s New York Business. She has been named one of the “50 Most Influential Women Lawyers in America” and one of the “100 Most Influential Lawyers in America,” both by the National Law Journal. The Texas Lawyer honored Linda with its Lifetime Achievement Award. She was named a “Distinguished Leader” by the New York Law Journal. Linda is Founding President of the Center for Women in Law. The American Bar Association
Scott Atlas
Mr. Atlas graduated from Yale University (B.A. 1971) and The University of Texas School of Law (J.D. 1975) and served as a judicial clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Austin. He was a corporate litigation partner at Vinson & Elkins and Weil, Gotshal & Manges before serving as the finance chair of Bill White's campaign for Governor of Texas in 2009-2010. He currently assists businesses and individuals seeking outside legal counsel.
From 2002 to 2003, Mr. Atlas chaired the American Bar Association’s 70,000-member Section of Litigation. He was appointed by Governor Rick Perry as an ex-officio member of the Texas Criminal Justice Advisory Council.
From 2014 through 2018, he chaired Texas Law’s scholarship campaign, which has raised almost $53,000,000 in endowed scholarships and $3,000,000+ in current use scholarships. From 2015 to 2017, he served as President of the Texas Law Alumni Association.
Mr. Atlas was named Distinguished Alumnus for Community Service by the TLRA and an outstanding Young Texas Ex. He received the Distinguished Service Award from the Fifth Circuit and the Karen Susman Jurisprudence Award from the Anti-Defamation League. He has received local, state, national, and international awards for his pro bono service, including the ABA Pro Bono Award.
John Beckworth
John Beckworth is an attorney and faculty member at The University of Texas School of Law. He practiced law for thirty years in Houston, first as an associate and partner at Fulbright & Jaworski, and subsequently as a founding partner in his own law firm, Watt Beckworth.
In 2013, Mr. Beckworth joined the School of Law in Austin as associate dean for administration and strategic planning and as a member of the faculty. He is a recipient of The University of Texas School of Law Honorary Order of the Coif and the Texas Journal of Oil, Gas, and Energy Law Ernest E. Smith Lifetime Achievement Award.
Mr. Beckworth serves as a director of a publicly traded company, and he is of counsel at Jackson Walker LLP. He is a member of the Federal Judicial Evaluation Committee.
Mr. Beckworth is a trustee of the LBJ Foundation, and he is a director of the Texas Cultural Trust.
Julián Castro
Julián Castro serves as Chief Executive Officer of the Latino Community Foundation, the nation’s largest Latino-serving foundation.
Julián was elected to the San Antonio City Council in 2001 at age 26, then was elected Mayor of San Antonio in 2009. The youngest mayor of a Top 50 American city at the time, Julian revitalized and transformed San Antonio into one of the country’s leading economies. In 2014, President Barack Obama appointed Julián U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, where he served until the end of the Obama administration.
In 2020, Julián ran for the Democratic nomination for President.
Julián earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford University and a law degree from Harvard Law School. His memoir, An Unlikely Journey: Waking Up From My American Dream, was published by Little Brown in 2018.
Julian is the proud father of a daughter, Carina, and a son, Cristián. Julián’s brother Joaquin currently represents Texas’ 20th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. In his free time, Julian loves spending time and traveling with his family.
Bruce Cohen
Bruce served as a top lawyer in the Senate for almost two decades working for Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont. As Chief Counsel and Staff Director for the Senate Judiciary Committee, he coordinated the Democratic staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee and worked with his Republican counterparts, Senate leadership, the House, and the administrations of Presidents Clinton, George W. Bush and Obama. Bruce graduated from Stanford University, and from the University of California, Berkeley, school of law where he was editor-in-chief of The California Law Review.
Bruce, and his wife, Mary Louise Cohen, were 2014 Fellows with the Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative. Based on their work at Harvard, they founded Talent Beyond Boundaries to develop a new labor mobility solution for refugees by connecting skilled refugees with global talent gaps.
Since 2023, they have been working with the IRC Denver Survivors of Torture Program to represent asylum applicants.
Bobby Chesney
Bobby Chesney is the Dean of Texas Law and holds the James A. Baker III Chair in the Rule of Law and World Affairs.
He was previously the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs (2011-2022) and director of the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law (a University-wide research unit bridging across disciplines to improve understanding of international security issues). He has served the university in a variety of other capacities, including co-chairing several university-wide strategic planning processes.
In 2021, Dean Chesney was appointed to the Cybersecurity Advisory Committee for the U.S. government's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. In 2009, Dean Chesney served in the Justice Department in connection with the Detention Policy Task Force created by Executive Order 13493. He also previously served as an associate member of the Intelligence Science Board and as a member of the Advanced Technology Board, both of which were advisory to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. He has been a member of the American Law Institute since 2007.
Dean Chesney is a magna cum laude graduate of both Texas Christian University and Harvard Law School. He is from San Antonio.
J.R. DeShazo
As the 12th dean of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin, J.R. DeShazoleads one of the nation’s premier public policy schools, ranked No. 1 in Texas and uniquely positioned within a top-tier research university in one of America’s most innovative hubs of government, commerce and technology.
A distinguished scholar and public policy expert, DeShazo specializes in clean technology policy, environmental equity and environmental economics. His expertise has made him a sought-after advisor for prestigious international organizations, including the World Bank and the United Nations, as well as U.S. federal agencies like the National Science Foundation and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Before joining UT Austin, DeShazo spent two decades at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he led both the Department of Public Policy and the Luskin Center for Innovation, a research center dedicated to addressing challenges local to California through actionable research in collaboration with impacted communities and policymakers.
DeShazo holds a doctorate in Urban Planning from Harvard University, a Master of Development Economics from Oxford University and a bachelor’s degree from the College of William & Mary, where he was the first-ever Rhodes Scholar for America’s second oldest university.
Justin Dyer
Justin Dyer is dean of the School of Civic Leadership, professor of government, and Jack G. Taylor Regents Professor at The University of Texas at Austin. Dyer writes and teaches in the fields of American political thought, jurisprudence and constitutionalism, with an emphasis on the perennial philosophical tradition of natural law. He is the author or editor of eight books and numerous articles, essays and book reviews. His most recent book, with Kody Cooper, is The Classical and Christian Origins of American Politics: Political Theology, Natural Law, and the American Founding. Previously, he was professor of political science at the University of Missouri, where he served as the founding director of the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy, a signature academic center for the study of American political thought and history. After attending the University of Oklahoma on a wrestling scholarship, he completed his M.A. and Ph.D. in Government at The University of Texas at Austin.
Ward Farnsworth
Ward Farnsworth is W. Page Keeton Chair at the University of Texas School of Law, where he served as Dean from 2012 to 2022. Dean Farnsworth is the author of many books, including The Legal Analyst, The Socratic Method, and his latest, Farnsworth's Classical English Argument. More information about his work can be found here and here.
Ambassador Kay Bailey Hutchison
Kay Bailey Hutchison served as the United States Ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) 2017 - 2021. During her term, she focused on the importance of U.S. leadership in the Alliance and strengthening the transatlantic bond that provides the security umbrella for Europe and North America. From 1993 to 2013, Kay represented the State of Texas in the United States Senate. She was elected, by her peers, to chair the Republican Policy Committee. Kay served two terms as Chair of the Board of Visitors at The U.S. Military Academy at West Point. She is the author of three books, including the bestseller, American Heroines, (William Morrow, 2004). In 2013, the Dallas City Council named the City’s Convention Center in her honor. Her alma mater named its Energy Center, The Kay Bailey Hutchison Energy Center at The University of Texas at Austin. Kay is the recipient of The University of Texas Presidential Citation Award, the highest honor bestowed by the University. She earned a B.A and J.D. from the University of Texas at Austin.
Ambassador Ron Kirk
Ron Kirk is Senior Of Counsel in Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s Dallas and Washington, D.C. offices. He is Leader of the International Trade Practice Group and a member of the Sports Law, Public Policy, Crisis Management and Private Equity Practice Groups. Ambassador Kirk focuses on providing strategic advice to companies with global interests.
Amb. Kirk has had an extensive career in Public Service. Prior to joining Gibson Dunn in April 2013, Amb. Kirk served as United States Trade Representative (USTR) and was a member of President Obama’s Cabinet, serving as the President’s principal trade advisor, negotiator and spokesperson on trade issues. He also served as Mayor of Dallas from 1995 – 2001, and as Texas Secretary of State in 1994 appointed by Gov. Ann W. Richards.
Amb. Kirk serves as a Corporate Director for Texas Instruments, and Macquarie Infrastructure Corp, and previously as a Director for Brinker International, Dean Foods, and PetSmart. He serves as a Trustee for Austin College, the LBJ Presidential Library Foundation, and on the Board of the Dallas Citizens Council. Ron also is a Board Member of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund.
Roxann Neumann
Roxann S. Neumann has spent more than three decades guiding corporate clients in strategic public relations and government affairs. Most recently, she served as senior vice president for Silver Eagle Beverages, one of the nation’s largest Anheuser-Busch distributors. In this role, she led the company’s corporate social responsibility and education initiatives, philanthropic and community involvement, internal and external communications, government affairs and media relations. In the community, Neumann volunteers her time to various community initiatives and non-profit organizations. Her current involvement includes Texan by Nature Board of Directors Vice Chairman, George & Barbara Bush Foundation Board of Trustees, Houston First Corporation Board of Directors, Theatre Under the Stars Board of Directors and Executive Committee and Associated Republicans of Texas Vice Chairman. She also serves on Kinder Foundation Board of Directors and is on the Advisory Board of Catholic Charities and DePelchin Children’s Center. In addition, she is actively involved in local, state and federal political campaigns. A native of south Texas, Neumann received a degree in Journalism from The University of Texas at Austin and a Juris Doctorate from South Texas College of Law in Houston. She resides in Houston with her husband, Tim Neumann.
Ambassador Lyndon Olson
The Honorable Lyndon L. Olson, Jr., former United States Ambassador to the Kingdom of Sweden, today serves as Chair of Hill+Knowlton Strategies for Europe and USA and is Former Chair of the Board for the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute.
After his appointment by President William J. Clinton as United States Ambassador from 1997 to 2001, Ambassador Olson served as a senior advisor to the chairman of Citigroup in New York. Prior to his appointment as ambassador, Mr. Olson served as chairman and CEO of Travelers Insurance Holdings in New York City. Preceding Mr. Olson’s time at Travelers Insurance Holdings, he served as president of the National Group Corporation and as CEO of its National Group Insurance Companies. In addition, Ambassador Olson served as chairman and a member of the Texas State Board of Insurance and served as president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners from 1982 to 1983.
Currently, Ambassador Olson serves as vice chairman of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation in Austin, Texas; he is also a member of the advisory board for the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas in Austin. He is a former member of the Texas House of Representatives.