Court Day: Supreme Court of Texas

On Wednesday, September 19, 2018, the John Ben Shepperd Public Leadership Institute hosted the Texas Supreme Court for a Court Day at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin’s Wagner Noel Performing Arts Center.

Beginning at 9:00 AM, the Court heard two cases; following the hearings, the Court took questions from the audience.

This was a free event, open to the public, and a unique opportunity for all of us in the Permian Basin to view our state’s highest court in action.

The cases argued were:

17-0151     JBS CARRIERS, INC. AND JAMES LUNDRY v. TRINETTE L. WASHINGTON, SOPHIA RENEE LENZY, THOMAS CHARLES LENZY, INDIVIDUALLY AND AS REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ESTATE OF MARY L. TURNER, DECEASED; from Bexar County; 4th Court of Appeals District (04-15-00463-CV, 513 SW3d 703, 01-11-17)

and

17-0463     GLASSDOOR, INC., DOE 1 AND DOE 2 v. ANDRA GROUP, LP; from Dallas County; 5th Court of Appeals District (05-16-00189-CV,       SW3d       , 03-24-17)

Details of the cases are available through the Court’s website, http://www.txcourts.gov/supreme/.

Thanks to the Texas Bar Foundation and Odessa Arts for their financial support to make this event possible!

Tuesday, February 27, 2018 – Fulbright Scholar Reception: Dr. Haytham Nawar

Join us on the evening of Tuesday, February 27, from 7:30 to 8:30, for a reception honoring visiting Fulbright Scholar Haytham Nawar. Dr. Nawar teaches at the American University in Cairo, Egypt, and is currently a visiting scholar at UCLA. Light refreshments will be served.

Monday, February 19, 2018 – Presidents Day Reception

Join us on the evening of Monday, February 19, from 5:30 to 7:00, for a reception in the Presidential Archives celebrating Presidents Day! Dr. Bob Brescia will speak briefly about humorous facts and anecdotes from the lives of the Presidents. Light refreshments will be served.

Tuesday, October 20, 2015: JBS Leaders Luncheon

Tuesday, October 20, 2015: The JBS Leaders Luncheon at the Odessa Country Club (11:30 AM to 12:30 PM), hosted by the City of Odessa. Keynote speaker: Ray Perryman. City and Chamber will be selling tables. Odessa Mayor David Turner to read a proclamation. President Teddy Roosevelt will be a special guest. Call 432-335-3276 for table and individual ticket prices.

Sunday, October 18, 2015: JBS 5K Walk / Run

Sunday, October 18, 2015: a JBS 5K Walk / Run on the UTPB campus walking path. Start time is 2:00 PM at the JBS building. A “Who was JBS” flyer will be available and a JBS exhibit available for all participants to see. This event is FREE and open to the public, simply provide your email address to register.

July 12, 2014: “JBS Fine Arts Leadership Revival”

The JBS Fine Arts Leadership Revival was certainly an extraordinary special event for the John Ben Shepperd Public Leadership Institute. It was a spectacular combination of music, performing arts, oration and more – all with the central theme of leadership throughout every part of the show. Local, state, and national fine arts leaders discussed and affirmed the strong connections between fine arts training and SAT/ACT scores for high school students, saying that fine arts students generally score nearly 20% higher on these standardized tests as compared to all students. J-ROC greeted the audience, participated in the leadership panel with other fine arts professionals, and held a post-show gathering backstage for all interested attendees, speaking to them one-on-one about his feelings concerning fine arts leadership and education. His comments were similar to those he gave during his acceptance speech for the two Grammys that he won as a music producer last January.

The impact to the Institute was and will continue to be significant. We highlighted the demonstrated leadership attributes and behaviors of a celebrity with West Texas roots who is giving back to our community; we focused on how leadership manifests in the fine arts and we attracted a new demographic to JBS.

J-ROC is a leader with great humility and his comments revealed that leader’s attribute clearly. When asked by CBS 7 Emcee and leadership panel moderator Jay Hendricks, “What is it like working with all those stars, such as Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Justin Timberlake, etc. he rightfully reminded us that “many of those stars came from small towns just like I did” and through their perseverance became accomplished and then well-known.

“Paying it forward”, “taking it home”, and “because I said I would” were among the leadership themes that were heavily emphasized throughout the evening. Daisy Jeffery used a “backstory” approach to explain how a certain Mr. Tarpley from Crane had “paid it forward” by presenting J-ROC a check for $500 in the 1980s when J-ROC was headed off to college to study music but had very limited means. That act of kindness and leadership made a great impact on J-ROC who never forgot it. Today there is a collaboration with the Tarpleys for the scholarships that J-ROC has initiated for West Texas students. The Institute’s namesake, former Attorney General John Ben Shepperd often used the phrase “taking it home” to mean applying the full measure of one’s leadership potential in community; leadership by demonstrated action. J-ROC “took it home” through his action in establishing scholarships for young music students – that’s something to hold up and celebrate as an exemplar of impactful leadership. Finally, the entire Jeffery Family from Crane (J-ROC’s extended family), paid it forward by donating their time and energy to be a part of this JBS special events. There was an enormous effort in preparation and much time spent in rehearsal to weave together the music, the messages, the panel, and the other facets of this event.

Two professional bands, well established recording artists donated their time to the event by a sense of total dedication and commitment. In summary, nobody associated with the performances was paid for what they did – they all did it “because they said they would”, taking a leadership line from Mr. Alex Sheen of “because I said I would” fame.

With respect to attracting a different demographic to JBS, most of the young people who we worked with on the show and who came to see it were newly familiarized with our Institute. They now understand that John Ben Shepperd stands for all Texans in every part of Texas. We stand at the leading edge of the social trends and makeup of our great State and we must always be present there. Our times are so different than General Shepperd’s but as he reached out to the youth of his times, so we are reaching out to ours in like measure. The young people involved in Saturday night’s event are not only impacted for one night – they will begin to talk about it on social media and spread the word that the Institute is a friend and this will increase our outreach and footprint throughout Texas. JBS also partnered with VSA Texas (Very Special Arts) and obtained two “video selfies” from members and students with disabilities who were studying, playing, and writing music – these were shown on the Wagner Noel big screen and extremely well-received by all.

The show buoyed the hopes of hundreds of youths in our area and demonstrated once again that hard work, discipline, perseverance, and education can enable you to achieve your dreams and that leadership manifests in the fine arts in many strong and powerful ways. Here’s a great NPR podcast about the phenomenal Jeffery Family and J-ROC:

http://kxwt.org/j-roc-and-the-musical-legacy-of-crane-texas/

“J-ROC AND THE MUSICAL LEGACY OF CRANE, TEXAS”

You can click the PLAY button to hear the podcast.

Bob

The John Ben Shepperd Public Leadership Institute is the state’s Center of Excellence for public leadership education, ethics, and public service. It prepares young Texans in these areas and conducts on-site leadership training at schools and organizations throughout Texas. The JBS Institute is co-located with and part of the University of Texas of the Permian Basin (UTPB). Information about the Shepperd Institute and the Texas Leadership Forum is available at www.shepperdinstitute.com.

Texas Leadership Educators Workshop

July 28-29, 2013 marked the second year of the Texas Leadership Educators Workshop. Seats filled up fast for this important educational workshop held in Dallas. Attendees enrolled included Ph.D. students, faculty members, high school teachers and a few middle school educators who are all excited to learn how to mesh leadership into studies that are in place and to learn so much more. Speakers were Adam Goodman, Barbara Kellerman and Robert Brescia who engaged attendees with the means to enhance their knowledge about leadership and leadership curriculum ideas on a wide variety of topics

The networking opportunities for first time teachers of leadership classes were beneficial along with the shared knowledge of those that have taught for years. We hope everyone came away with a little bit of learning about how other professionals teach the same topics and how to enhance their own techniques. Interests in the topics were abuzz with excitement from those viewing the agenda for the workshop.

Our goal was to see the exchange of ideas between presenters and participants on various topics such as best practices; curriculum design and development; link between experiential learning and formal courses; and teaching activities and techniques. Thanks to those that attended, we did more than accomplish that goal.

For any additional questions please call JBS at 432-552-2850.

JBS Leaders Luncheon

Tuesday, October 20, 2015: The JBS Leaders Luncheon at the Odessa Country Club (11:30 AM to 12:30 PM), hosted by the City of Odessa. Keynote speaker: Ray Perryman. City and Chamber will be selling tables. Odessa Mayor David Turner to read a proclamation. President Teddy Roosevelt will be a special guest. Call 432-335-3276 for table and individual ticket prices.

JBS 5K Walk / Run

Sunday, October 18, 2015: a JBS 5K Walk / Run on the UTPB campus walking path. Start time is 2:00 PM at the JBS building. A “Who was JBS” flyer will be available and a JBS exhibit available for all participants to see. This event is FREE and open to the public, simply provide your email address to register.