When I got the recent email from the Texas Tribune announcing the inaugural TEXAS TRIBUNE FESTIVAL, a “weekend of debate, discussion and dialogue, featuring some of the biggest names, and the biggest brains, in the world of politics and public policy,” I laughed out loud. I This special event will take place on September 24th and 25th on the University of Texas at Austin campus.
The weekend-long event will bring together the state’s and the nation’s most distinguished thought leaders in the areas of health and human services, energy and the environment, public and higher education, and race and immigration.
Confirmed participants include former U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro, former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza, U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess of Lewisville, Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Cecile Richards, energy magnate T. Boone Pickens, Texas Commissioner of Education Robert Scott, Texas Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Tom Suehs, former U.S. Census Bureau Director Steve H. Murdock, and Public Utility Commission Chairman Barry T. Smitherman, along with several chairs of major committees in the Texas House and Senate.
We are proud to announce our line-up of participants as of June 20, 2011:
Jose Aliseda – State Representative, R-Beeville
Dan Branch – State Representative, R-Dallas; Chairman of the House Higher Education Committee
Michael Burgess – U.S. Representative, R-Lewisville
Meria Joel Carstarphen – Superintendent, Austin Independent School District
Julián Castro – Mayor, San Antonio
Garnet Coleman – State Representative, D-Houston
Curtis Culwell – Superintendent, Garland Independent School District
Dianne White Delisi – Former State Representative, R-Temple
Anne Dunkelberg – Associate Director, Center for Public Policy Priorities
Rob Eissler – State Representative, R-The Woodlands; Chairman of the House Public Education Committee
Steven Farr – Chief Knowledge Officer, Teach for America
Jessica Farrar – State Representative, D-Houston
Mike Feinberg – KIPP Co-Founder and Superintendent, KIPP Houston
John M. Folks – Superintendent, Northside Independent School District
Chad Foster – Former Mayor, Eagle Pass; Former Chairman, Border Mayors Coalition
Tony Garza – Former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico
Jeanne Goka – Principal, Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders
Veronica Gonzales – State Representative, D-McAllen
Laura Huffman – Executive Director, the Nature Conservancy of Texas
Amy Myers Jaffe – Director of the Energy Forum at the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University
Alejandro Junco de la Vega – Publisher, Grupo Reforma
James L. Keffer – State Representative, R-Eastland; Chairman of the House Energy Resources Committee
Renu Khator – Chancellor, University of Houston System; President, University of Houston
R. Bowen Loftin – President, Texas A&M University
Dee Margo – State Representative, D-El Paso
Thomas G. Mason – Former General Manager, Lower Colorado River Authority
Don McLeroy – Former Chairman, State Board of Education
Kathy Miller – President, Texas Freedom Network
Steve H. Murdock – Former Director of the U.S. Census Bureau; former Texas State Demographer; Allyn and Gladys Cline Chair in Sociology at Rice University
Diana Natalicio – President, the University of Texas at El Paso
T. Boone Pickens – Chairman, BP Capital Management
Thomas Ratliff – Member, State Board of Education
Richard M. Rhodes – Incoming President, Austin Community College
Cecile Richards – President, Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Allan Ritter – State Representative, R-Nederland; Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee
J. James Rohack – Former President, American Medical Association
Jonathan Saenz – Director of Legislative Affairs, Liberty Institute
Andrew Sansom- Executive Director, River Systems Institute; former Executive Director, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
Robert Scott – Texas Commissioner of Education
Florence Shapiro – State Senator, R-Plano; Chairwoman of the Senate Public Education Committee
Bryan W. Shaw – Chairman, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
Tom “Smitty” Smith – Director of Public Citizen’s Texas Office
Barry T. Smitherman – Chairman, Public Utility Commission of Texas
Margaret Spellings – Former U.S. Secretary of Education
Tom Suehs – Executive Commissioner, Texas Health and Human Services Commission
Doug Ulman – President and Chief Executive Officer, Lance Armstrong Foundation
Michael Webber- Associate Director, Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy at the University of Texas at Austin
Judith Zaffirini – State Senator, D-Laredo; Chairwoman of the Senate Higher Education Committee
John Zerwas – State Representative, R-Simonton
Tickets will go on sale Monday, July 11, and are $125, $100 for Texas Tribune members and $50 for students. Sign up for regular e-mail updates at www.texastribune.org/festival, or visit us Facebook and on Twitter.
The Texas Tribune is dedicated to advancing the public interest through not just journalism but also in-person events. The Texas Tribune Festival is the logical next step in realizing our mission. I hope you will mark your calendars and plan to join us for a full weekend of debates, discussions, and dialogues featuring some of the biggest names, and the biggest brains, in the world of politics and public policy.
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