The Barbara Jordan National Forum Honorary Ceremony is a meaningful celebration of legacy, leadership, and the lasting impact of Barbara Jordan. As we mark the Forum’s 30th anniversary, this historic evening will celebrate a first-of-its-kind milestone with multiple Barbara Jordan Public Service Award recipients—reflecting three decades of excellence, influence, and student leadership.
This year, we proudly recognize the Forum’s founding leaders: the first student chairs Burt Edwards, Patricia Osorio-O’Dea, and David Marshall, along with the Forum’s first advisors, Ms. Stephanie Hill-Townsend and Ms. Sherri Greenberg, whose vision and guidance helped shape what the Forum has become today. We will also honor Mrs. Jacquelyn K. Edwards Hawkins for her exceptional and steadfast dedication to mentorship, innovation, and excellence in public service.
Together, these honorees embody the integrity, courage, and dedication to justice that characterized Barbara Jordan’s life and work. This inspiring program will showcase her bold vision for the future and motivate attendees to carry on her legacy of civic leadership and principled service. The evening will encourage meaningful dialogue, foster deep connections, and build community in the true spirit of Barbara Jordan. A reception will immediately follow the program.
The Barbara Jordan Public Service Award honors a trailblazer whose leadership reflects Barbara Jordan’s voice, values, and unwavering commitment to community building through activism and public service. Recipients demonstrate a distinguished history of promoting civic virtue and social justice while strengthening democracy, governance, and civic engagement at local, national, and global levels. Like Barbara Jordan, honorees lead with courage, integrity, and moral clarity. Award recipients are carefully chosen by the student leaders of the Barbara Jordan National Forum carefully choose award recipients.
Barbara Jordan Public Service Award Winner Bios
Assistant Dean Sherri Greenberg
Sherri R. Greenberg is a professor of practice and fellow of the Max Sherman Chair in State and Local Government at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, and she is a professor of practice at the Steve Hicks School of Social Work. Additionally, she is the LBJ School Assistant Dean for State and Local Government Engagement. She is a primary researcher for, and past Chairperson of, Good Systems, Ethical AI at UT Austin. Greenberg serves on the Austin Forum on Technology & Society Advisory Board and the Austin AI Alliance Board. Previously, she was a member of the Central Health Board of Managers, and a member of the City of Austin Housing Investment Review Committee.
Greenberg has served as a senior advisor to Austin Mayor Steve Adler. She was a Texas state representative from 1991 to 2001, and she chaired the House Pensions and Investments Committee and the Select Committee on Teacher Health Insurance. She also served on the House Appropriations, Economic Development, Elections, and Science and Technology Committees. Previously, Greenberg was the City of Austin capital finance manager, and a public finance officer at Standard & Poor’s.
Her teaching and research interests include technology and AI policy, state and local government, housing, homelessness, transportation, healthcare, public finance, and campaigns and elections. Recently, she has had funding from the National Science Foundation, the City of Austin, UT Good Systems, the IBM Center for the Business of Government, the Cisco Foundation, Microsoft, MITRE, and the State of Texas.
Mrs. Jacquely K. Edwards Hawkins
Jacquelyn Edwards grew up in Freeport, Texas, less than an hour from Barbara Jordan’s hometown of Houston, Texas. Frequently featured on the evening news, Ms. Barbara Jordan quickly became a household name and a role model early in the life of Jacquelyn Edwards. Ms. Jordan’s oratorical skills and inspirational messages left a lasting impression on many young individuals, instilling in them the importance of standing up for what is right and pursuing their dreams. After graduating from Brazosport High School, Jacquelyn enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin in the Fall of 1971. She completed her Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics, and married her college sweetheart, Albert Hawkins III in 1976. Desiring to further her education, Jacquelyn began to explore career offerings that would complement the math degree.
She soon discovered that the University of Texas offered several certifications in the field of Information Technology. She was accepted into the year-long Women in Science (WIS) Career Development Program in UT’s Computer Science Department in 1979 (the same year that Barbara Jordan joined UT’s LBJ School faculty as a distinguished professor). Completion of the WIS program equipped Mrs. Hawkins to build a 30-year career in Information Technology that included Application Programming, Systems Programming, Project Management, Quality Assurance, Database Administration, and other components of Information Technology. Mrs. Hawkins’ employment positions would grow to include TX State Agencies in Austin, Texas (the Teacher Retirement System (TRS) and Texas Youth Commission (TYC); U.S. Government agencies in Washington D.C including U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Housing and Urban Development (HUD); and also, private Industry: BMC Software, Inc. in Austin, TX. Mrs. Hawkins retired in 2010. Though her professional work ended, her volunteer work continued. She still had work to do and now, in retirement, Jacquelyn Hawkins had more time to do it.
As the interest in computer science, artificial intelligence (AI), and cybersecurity grew in popularity, so had the need for knowledgeable mentors. To expand her own knowledge and continue to mentor and tutor students in math and IT, Mrs. Hawkins registered for and successfully completed certification in UT’s Cybersecurity Boot Camp. Excited about the new cyber certification, Jacquelyn continues to put her time, resources and energy into helping young people open doors to successful employment futures.
Mrs. Hawkins has received the following recognition for her work:
- The Dr. James L. Hill Leadership Circle Award, UT Austin
- Austin ISD Friend of Education Award
- Woman of Distinction, Girl Scouts of Central Texas
- Woman of Prominence, National Women of Achievement
- Certificate for Outstanding & Invaluable Service to the Community, TX Representative Lloyd Doggett.
Through years of volunteer work, Mrs. Hawkins has learned that local organizations can be key to finding like-minded people and funding sources. Her many affiliations include:
- Member/Past Chair - Alpha Kappa Alpha’s Association for Community Development Foundation
Purchasing the complete list of school supplies (by grade) for every child in the chosen schools. Also includes Geri’s Locker(named in honor of one of the first shoppers). Geri’s Locker stores extra supplies for teachers’ use, and for new students who enroll later during the school year. - Member – The Links, Incorporated, Austin, TX Chapter
- Tutor - George Washington Carver Library After-School Tutoring Program
- Board Member - Ann Richards School Foundation – Assisted with college applications and served on
- scholarship selection committee.
- Board Member - African American Youth Harvest Foundation
- Board Member - Texas Regional Office for Missing and Exploited Children
- U. S. Commissioner - UNESCO (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization).
- Life Member - The University of Texas Ex-Students Association (working to endow other scholarships)
- Board Member – SIX SQUARE: An organization that works to preserve Historic East Austin
Board Member - The Precursors – named in honor of UT Austin’s first African American students
(Ms. Hawkins spearheaded the endowment of the Almetris Marsh Duren Scholarship)Throughout Jackie’s life of volunteer service, Albert Hawkins III, her husband of nearly 50 years and, himself, a fellow graduate of the LBJ School of Public Affairs, has been right by her side. The couple has three (3) children: Rosevellt, Jennifer, and Albert IV and two (2) grandchildren. Albert & Jackie have been members of the David Chapel Missionary Baptist church for nearly 40 years. They are both Life Members of UT’s Texas Exes and also members of The Precursors (the alumni group named in honor of the first Black UT students).