AUSTIN, Texas — The second of the two LBJ50 virtual forums, designed to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the LBJ School at The University of Texas at Austin will be held Oct. 12, 2020. President Lyndon Johnson’s vision to educate young people to become “bold thinkers and doers” will be commemorated with the robust Forum II, In the Arena: Defining a New Destiny. The new session, Higher Education Reimagined, will feature University of Texas System Chancellor James B. Milliken and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Lawrence Wright. Milliken will share his insights on how colleges and universities need to address new realities, reimagine the future, and reach underserved populations.
Forum II is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 12, 7 p.m. (CT) and will explore big ideas and fresh solutions around today’s most pressing issues, including racial justice and equality, voting rights, health care, jobs, education, immigration, the environment and the state of democracy — all critical issues that LBJ took on as he implemented the most ambitious legislative agenda in modern history. The forums are designed to generate hope for the future and inspire bold solutions.
FORUM II: In the Arena: Defining a New Destiny Monday, Oct. 12 at 7 p.m. (CT)
- Session I: Genius for Good— Melinda Gates, Co-Chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Founder of Pivotal Ventures, in conversation with Pat Mitchell, Chair of the Sundance Institute and Co-Chair of the Women’s Media Center, former CEO of PBS and the Paley Center for Media.
- Session II: Getting to Financial Equity— Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, interviewed by Pattie Sellers, Co-CEO of SellersEaston Media.
- Session III: Capturing the American Experience— Lonnie G. Bunch III, the 14th Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, interviewed by Soledad O’Brien, award-winning documentarian, journalist and CEO of Soledad O’Brien Productions.
- Session IV: Innovation on the Fringe— Anousheh Ansari, CEO of the XPRIZE Foundation and first Iranian woman in space, in conversation with Nina Easton, Co-CEO of SellersEaston Media.
- Session V: Higher Education Reimagined— University of Texas Chancellor James B. Milliken in conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Lawrence Wright.
- Session VI: Leadership in the Age of COVID— William McRaven, U.S. Navy (Ret.), and Professor of National Security at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, to be interviewed by Douglas Brinkley, author and Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities and Professor of history at Rice University.
- Session VII: Democracy Forward: Building a Culture of Belonging— Stacey Abrams, Founder of Fair Fight Action, and Pete Buttigieg, former presidential candidate and former Mayor of South Bend, Indiana.
- Closing: Lynda Johnson Robb
The LBJ 50th Anniversary Forum I, that aired virtually on Monday, Oct. 5, is now available on the LBJ School’s YouTube channel and at LBJ50.org.
