Executive Director
Assistant Professor of Practice
Emily Bhandari serves as the Executive Director of The Patman Center for Civic and Political Engagement and as an Assistant Professor of Practice at the LBJ School of Public Affairs. Her courses include “Skills for Civic Leadership”, “Effective Advocacy for Federal Policymaking: A Maymester in Washington D.C.”, and “Skills for Winning Campaigns and Elections”. As Executive Director, Emily directs all aspects of the Center’s activities, including offering strategic leadership for speaker series events, the annual Leadership Symposium, Patman Scholarships, and the Research Award for Advancing Democracy.
Emily has been a UT Longhorn since 2003. Prior to The Patman Center she worked at the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health as their Strategic Learning and Evaluation Program Officer, helping to set organizational priorities and strategy through community-led approaches to learning and reflection. Emily has also worked at the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life in the Moody College of Communication for almost a decade, serving as their Director of Public Engagement and working to bring nonpartisan, political education programming to college-aged students across Texas.
She is a graduate of the LBJ School (MPAff) with a portfolio certificate in nonprofit studies from the RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service and has a second graduate degree in social work from UT’s Steve Hicks School of Social Work, with a concentration in community and administrative leadership. Her undergraduate degrees are in Government with a minor in Sociology. During college, she was selected as a UT in D.C. Congressman Bill Archer Fellow and won the Patricia Stephens Presidential Scholarship in Social Work.
She is the proud author of the Texas Civic Health Index publications (2013, 2018), the Austin Civic Health Index (2013), and a journal article in The Foundation Review titled “Systems Change Philanthropy: It’s Essential, and It’s Our Responsibility”.
In her free time, Emily enjoys hanging out with her two kids, Osiav and Zayla, playing with her dog, Boots, and spending quality time with friends and family.