New speaker series featuring political leaders starts at LBJ School

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A slate of political and civic leaders will be coming to Austin for a new speaker series at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin.

LBJ Conversations is a free speaker series that will happen Mondays during the fall semester, the LBJ school announced last week. Evan Smith, the former Texas Tribune CEO and a professor of practice, will host the conversations.

The series kicked off Monday with two speakers: Karl Rove, the White House deputy chief of staff, and State Sen. Sarah Eckhardt (D-Austin).

This is the current schedule of speakers:

• Sept. 16: To be announced 
• Sept. 23: Gina Hinojosa, Texas State Representative (D-Austin) and John Bucy, Texas State Representative (D-Austin) 
• Sept. 30: Craig Goldman, Republican nominee for the U.S. House from Fort Worth 
• Oct. 7: Glenn Hegar, Texas Comptroller 
• Oct. 14: To be announced 
• Oct. 21: Tony Gonzalez, U.S. Representative (R-San Antonio) 
• Oct. 28: José Garza, Travis County District Attorney 
• Nov. 4: Andy Brown, Travis County Judge 
• Nov. 11: Kay Bailey Hutchison, former U.S. Ambassador to NATO and former U.S. Senator 
• Nov. 18: Rick Perry, former U.S. Secretary of Energy and former Texas Governor 
• Dec. 2: Mattie Parker, Fort Worth Mayor 
• Dec. 9: To be announced 

The series is open to the public. More event information and RSVP links are available online.

The Patman Center for Civic and Political Engagement at the LBJ School is organizing the speaker series.