FROM THE PRESIDENTDear Texas Lyceum Friends,This year, 2024, marks a special anniversary for me. Forty years ago, my mother, Ann Quirk, began her term as the president of our organization. In the early years the terms began in October, so a president served in two separate years. It is an honor to carry out the legacy that she and our founding members began in 1980. This year is also sure to be one for the history books, likely filled with headlines about our political institutions. Our organization is vital to the future of civil discourse, and it will be even more vital as we wrestle with elections this year. The true gift of the Lyceum is providing a space where thoughtful people from across the state with different opinions and varied perspectives can come together to discuss important issues that Texas and our communities face. The bond we build among directors promotes earnest conversations and civil discourse. In this way, we become stronger individuals, and more important, we become a stronger society and a stronger Texas. The Lyceum is well-positioned to play a pivotal role in leading our great state in this richly diverse environment. Through our programs and products, we will continue to explore the interrelationships of the pressing policy issues impacting our state and the next generation of leaders. We convene experts in their fields and create forums to dive into topics that are important to our state. Through our conferences, the Lyceum strives to create paths for action through civil discourse. Conference teams have been working very hard to foster such conversations in 2024. We do not seek to tell you what to think, but to help you gain critical thinking skills and perspective, so we are able to share what we learned in our communities in a thoughtful and productive way. The 2024 conferences topics, water, space and technology, the industry behind entertainment, mental health, and legalization of gambling and marijuana, all have one thing in common: economic development. These issues are key drivers in building a better economy to improve our communities. To preserve the Texas Miracle, it is imperative that we provide clean water to homes and manufacturing, educate a skilled workforce, address mental health and find new revenue streams to fund our state’s budget. Through civil discourse, we can be innovators and contribute to good policy to lead our state in economic development. In addition to our conferences, we will release the results of our nationally acclaimed Texas Lyceum Poll at the public conference in Houston. We have partnered with Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University, Texas Southern University, and, new to 2024, the University of Texas and Rutgers University, for our Texas Lyceum Fellowship Program. At each meeting throughout the year, our fellows will release innovative research regarding each conference topic. Our leadership program has been enhanced and will showcase the talents of several of our alumni as instructors for workshops on communications and advocacy to fulfill our mission to development the next generation of top leadership in Texas. This will be an exciting year for the Texas Lyceum. I invite our alumni, directors, and guests to engage in a meaningful and intentional ways. It is the people and the dialogue that make the Texas Lyceum so special. With Kind Regards,
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