Edwin Dorn – 2016 Hubert H. Humphrey Award Recipient

The Hubert H. Humphrey Award is awarded annually in recognition of notable public service by a political scientist.

EdDorn_SH_2016_0013A native of Houston, Dr. Edwin C. Dorn graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Texas at Austin.  He studied in England on a Fulbright Fellowship, received his M.A. degree from Indiana University, and completed his Ph.D. degree in political science at Yale University in 1978. He also spent two years on active duty as a captain in the U.S. Army, stationed in Germany.

In 1977, Dr. Dorn went to Washington in 1977 to join the Carter Administration.  He served as an appointee in the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and in the U.S. Department of Education. From 1981 to 1990, he served as Deputy Director for Research at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. He created the Joint Center’s military affairs program.  He later became a senior staff member at the Brookings Institution, where he developed executive education programs for government and private sector managers.

In 1993, President Bill Clinton appointed Dr. Dorn and he was confirmed by U.S. Senate to serve as an Assistant Secretary of Defense. The following year, he was appointed and confirmed as the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. He was responsible for policies governing recruitment, pay and benefits for DoD’s total force of more than three million military personnel and civilians. He also exercised authority, direction and control over the Defense Health Program, the Dependent Schools System, the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute and the Defense Manpower Data Center. His innovations included new systems to monitor military readiness and new mechanisms to coordinate legislative proposals.

In 1997, Dr. Dorn was named Dean of the LBJ School where he served with great distinction until 2004.  He oversaw the creation of several new programs and set a record for fund-raising. He continues to teach at the LBJ School at the University of Texas Austin as a professor of public policy.

Dr. Dorn is chairman of the board of the Kettering Foundation and chairman of the visiting committee of the Institute for Defense Analyses. Other nonprofit involvements include the United Way, the Children’s Defense Fund, and the Atlantic Council.

Dr. Dorn is the author of Rules and Racial Equality (Yale University Press) and Who Defends America (Joint Center Press).  He was an advisor to two public television series: Congress: We The People, and Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years, and a commentator on National Public Radio’s “Tell Me More,” hosted by Michel Martin.

Dr. Dorn serves as a trustee of the Kettering Foundation, the Institute for Defense Analyses, and the Seton Family of Hospitals. In 1998, he was named a Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Texas at Austin.  In addition to his academic writings, Dr. Dorn is also the author of dozens of articles, reports, and opinion pieces for national publications on topics of critical public interest.  His combination of intellectual strength, top level governmental experience, and accessibility make his public writings required reading.

Dr. Edwin Dorn has made immense contributions to public policy as well as to the political science and public policy university communities.  He has demonstrated how boundaries between the academy and government can be bridged.  For his extraordinary achievements and outstanding leadership, he is truly deserving of the Hubert H. Humphrey Award.

Special thanks to our committee Raphael Sonenshein (Chair), Cal State, Los Angeles; Les Lenkowsky, Indiana University; Tony King, University of Essex