By Texas Southern University
The Executive Master of Public Administration program (eMPA) at Texas Southern University has announced a new multi-year partnership with the Texas Lyceum. The partnership includes fellowships for graduate student recipients ($5,000 per annual fellowship), stipends for faculty advisors, and funding to support programming and research.
For more than 40 years, the Texas Lyceum has served as a forum for collaboration to identify and address complex issues the state of Texas is facing. The organization is committed to identifying and developing the next generation of top leadership in the State of Texas and promoting an appreciation of the responsibilities of stewardship of the values, traditions, and resources in the state. Texas Lyceum acts as a catalyst to bring together diverse opinions and expertise to focus on national and state issues and seeks to emphasize constructive private sector, public sector, and individual responses to the issues. The Texas Lyceum fellowship program supports this mission by identifying graduate students and supporting fresh research that helps Texans and decision makers address the most pressing issues of our time.
As Houston’s only historically black university, serving an urban and significantly diverse campus and city, TSU considers the partnership essential for creating opportunities for education and networking, and for fostering graduate student leadership skills. This is Texas Lyceum’s first HBCU partnership in its history.
This effort was made possible by the support of Texas Lyceum President Sarah Jackson and Texas Lyceum Executive Committee member Terry Bruner.
“They understand that our students need to sit at tables outside of the classroom to ensure that the brilliance they possess is front and center at shaping a brighter future for all,” said Dr. Michael O. Adams, founding director of TSU’s eMPA program. “Partnerships that call us all to be change agents and more thoughtful public servants is what I hope to bring more of to our university, students and faculty.”
The graduate student selected for the inaugural Texas Lyceum Fellowship will be expected to work with a supervising professor as he or she synthesizes research on the key policy areas affecting the State of Texas. Tasks assigned during the fellowship will include analyzing and interpreting statistical tests and trends from original data, culminating in the production of a high-quality written policy brief. Additionally, the student selected for the fellowship will share their research at the Texas Lyceum conference in Longview, TX, from November 3-5, 2022 – a unique opportunity to represent TSU and network with Texas Lyceum directors, alumni, and guests.
“These are exciting times in our state,” said Sarah Jackson, Texas Lyceum President. “The electoral and demographic landscape of Texas looks even more different and diverse than it did a hundred years ago in 1922. With this evolution, Texas Lyceum continues to be well-positioned to play a pivotal role in convening diverse stakeholders. Our partnership with TSU is a perfect partnership leveraging both our strengths and is an innovation of our statewide fellowship program that was established in 2018.”
