The Ray Marshall Center selects the David Fellow every two to three years to work half-time on education and workforce related research. Funding for the fellowship is generously supported by the endowment of Bryna and Henry David. Henry David taught at the LBJ School in the 1970s; both he and his wife Bryna were nationally recognized researchers in career-related education.

Deeds is seeking a masters degree in Public Affairs at the LBJ School, with a focus in Education and Social Policy. She expects to complete her degree in spring of 2015.

Prior to coming to the LBJ School and the Ray Marshall Center, Carinne worked as Education Program Coordinator at the Boys and Girls Club of North Lake Tahoe, in Kings Beach, California on Lake Tahoe. In Tahoe she also worked as Outreach Coordinator for the Tahoe Institute for Natural Science.  Previously, Carinne taught English to Thai kindergartners and then high schoolers in Bangkok, Thailand, and the surrounding areas.  She also taught English to a group of Turkish students who could not speak Thai or English at the time.

Carinne received her Bachelors Degree in Communication Studies from the University of Texas at Austin.

Center Researchers Traveled to Washington, DC for APPAM Conference  

The week of November, 4th, the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) held its annual research conference in Washington, DC.  APPAM is a professional association of graduate schools of public policy and management, which brings top policy researchers, policymakers and practitioners together to share information about emerging issues in policy and practice. The Ray Marshall Center's work speaks directly to the issues that are central to APPAM's mission. This year, Dr. Christopher King, Director at the Ray Marshall Center and LBJ faculty member, participated as a discussant in a Saturday panel titled, "Financial Incentives for Economic Development." Also traveling with Dr. King were Center Associate Director Dr. Heath Prince, Research Scientist Dr. Daniel Schroeder, and Research Associates Dan O'Shea and Ashweet Patnaik.

Washington, DC. Photo credit: Trevor Udwin

Dr. Prince was a presenter on the panel titled, "Child Poverty Around the World: Measurement, Interventions, and Policies." The panel, which included researchers from UNICEF and Fordham University, served as a platform for Prince to present his research on macro-level drivers of multidimensional poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Dr. Schroeder, together with research partners from four other states in the ADARE  group, met with officials from the USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) to discuss plans for the final year of the SNAP-UI project, including ensuring standards for uniform research products from each state, and potential topics to add to common deliverables.

From research on Africa to two-generation strategies across the USA, the Center's mission is grounded in the belief that public service to those in need will improve society at large. Speaking about APPAM, King notes, "APPAM's annual conference is a gathering of savvy policymakers, practitioners, funders and researchers. We make a point of being part of it every year without fail. Not only have we learned powerful lessons from ongoing research being conducted by the best in their field, we have often established collaborations and relationships and developed new research initiatives with real impacts on policy and practice."

Ruth Ellen Wasem Presents Book at LBJ Brown Bag Series

On Friday, November 22nd, Director Dr. Chris King introduced Ruth Ellen Wasem, guest speaker at a LBJ School's Brown Bag series event sponsored by the Ray Marshall Center.   Ms. Wasem is a Specialist in the Domestic Social Policy Division of the Congressional Research Service and Adjunct Professor of Public Policy at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, Washington Program.  Wasem's talk, " Tackling Unemployment: Lessons for Today from the Employment Act of 1946", drew from her recently published a book titled, "Tackling Unemployment; the Legislative Dynamics of the Employment Act of 1946."

In her presentation, Wasem spoke to how the sweeping legislation that resulted from a post-war consensus surrounding the belief that full-employment was the central piece to achieving the American dream was passed through congress and signed by the president. She then went on to tie comparisons between the issues that American society grappled with then to those that we face today. 

The Student Futures Project and the Austin Chamber of Commerce Work to Raise College Enrollment in Central Texas

Following up on the article mentioned in the first part of this newsletter, the Austin American-Statesman has produced two more pieces about college enrollment in Central Texas. 

The first follow-up article places special emphasis on the fact that college enrollment for lower-income groups is on the rise, increasing by six percentage points in the last four years. The second follow-up, an editorial piece, cites RMC data and analysis, the piece praises the Austin Chamber of Commerce for its role in supporting education in the area. "The Austin chamber has the right idea in using its own resources to help Central Texas schools. In all, the chamber has steered $1.5 million to schools to help boost graduation and college enrollment rates. It has paid for the new Counselors Portal program for area districts that help counselors track high school students in a similar way as Austin's Project Advance program does. The chamber's funding also goes toward tutoring graduating students who are not college-ready and last summer's pilot, Summer Melt, which paid high school counselors through the summer to help students, particularly those who are first-generation college-goers, to finish the application process." 

Increasing interest in the Student Futures Project points to the fact that Central Texas and other parts of the country are taking a closer look at how they can mold policies that will help high school students in their transition from high school to college.