About PPIA
The PPIA Public Service Weekend is a three-day conference empowering undergraduate students and recent postgraduates from historically underrepresented backgrounds to consider graduate degree programs and careers in public service. Its primary goal is to introduce students to topics in the field of public policy through the lens of justice, equity, diversity and inclusion. The Public Policy and International Affairs Program (PPIA) is a nonprofit that has been supporting efforts to increase outreach, access and belonging in public service for more than 40 years.
Program Description
This summer, the LBJ School is excited to welcome 45 PPIA Public Service Weekend Scholars from across Texas, the South and the Southwest to learn about emerging public policy issues and solutions for the region that also have national implications.
Throughout the weekend, our Public Service Weekend Scholars will focus on the evolving landscape of civil rights, civic engagement, immigration and border issues, bipartisanship, education, and LGBTQIA+ policy issues across Texas and the Southern United States. Participants will learn from leading policy professionals that range the profession, including distinguished academics, nonprofit professionals, policymakers from the field, and community activists--many of whom are LBJ alumni, professors of the LBJ School--or currently affiliated with The University of Texas at Austin.
Benefits to Participants
- Network with current LBJ students, LBJ alumni, PPIA alumni and other program participants as they consider graduate programs and careers in public service and public policy.
- Participate in interactive presentations and dialogues that focus on helping the next generation of changemakers bridge the polarization gap and strengthen the common good, including how to be influential in bipartisan and nonpartisan environments.
- Interact with local and national public officials and get a special VIP tour of the LBJ Presidential Library.
- Train in civil discourse and conflict resolution strategies for collaborative policymaking.
- Learn the fundamentals of researching, writing and delivering effective, fact-based oral testimony to advocate for a change in their communities.
- Experience Austin, LBJ School, and The University of Texas at Austin campus with all meals, housing, and flights provided.
2023 Public Service Weekend Scholars
Jackson | Beauregard | American University |
Paulina | Morales | Bowdoin College |
Katherine | Almendarez | Claremont McKenna College |
Will | Ellsworth | Claremont McKenna College |
Gelila | Negesse | Columbia University |
Marissa | Ridge | Emory University |
Jean | Qian | Emory University |
Angela | Zhong | Harvard University |
Willie | White III | Howard University |
Evan | Quaintance | Howard University |
Antavion | Moore | Louisiana State University |
Y Tu Thien | Pham | Manhattan College |
Zainab | Shaik | Mercer University |
Ammar | Siddiqi | Rice University |
Sara | Davidson | Rice University |
Karla | Vasquez | Rice University |
Erica | Mitchell | San Francisco State University |
Faye | Suficiencia | Texas A&M University-San Antonio |
Ariel Jade | Kerl | Texas Southern University |
Tolu | Adedoja | The University of Arizona |
Sasha | Sembur | The University of North Carolina at Charlotte |
Soni | Shukla | The University of Texas at Austin |
Laisha | Alvarado | The University of Texas at Austin |
Vivian | Coleman | The University of Texas at Austin |
Jasmine | Tandon | The University of Texas at Austin |
Maya | Guerra | The University of Texas at Austin |
Corinne | Floyd | The University of Texas at Austin |
Norma | Gay | The University of Texas at Austin |
Apoorva | Subramanian | The University of Texas at Dallas |
Melissa | Saenz | The University of Texas at San Antonio |
Jose | Rojas | The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley |
Donna | Yerat-Rodriguez | University California, San Diego |
Miya | Rosenthal | University of California, Berkeley |
Amarpreet | Kaur | University of California, Berkeley |
Allyson | Velez | University of California, Berkeley |
Devon | Sternberg | University of California, Riverside |
Jan | Soto | University of Central Florida |
Mikhail | Mikhaylov | University of Florida |
Anaum | Virani | University of Florida |
Nmesomachukwu | Ukachi-Nwata | University of Houston |
Kassidy | Jacobs | University of Maryland, College Park |
Kehinde | Fadele | University of Wisconsin Madison |
Maximilian | Paul | Vanderbilt University |
Adam | Delgado | Whitman College |
Nicole | Li | Yale University |
Contact Us
The LBJ School's 2023 PPIA Public Service Weekend is co-sponsored by the Public Policy & International Affairs Program (PPIA), the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA) and generous funding by the LBJ School’s Patman Center for Civic and Political Engagement. The Patman Center for Political Engagement is supporting transformational experiential learning, professional training, and policy-oriented research intended to strengthen our nation’s democracy.
For more information about PPIA and other 2023 summer experiences, please visit: https://ppiaprogram.org/
This is a program of the LBJ School's Office of Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion. If you have any questions, please reach out to Estevan Daniel Delgado, LBJ School’s Director for Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion.
