Edwin Dorn (born 26 March 1945) is a political scientist who served as dean of the

Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs The Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs (or LBJ School of Public Affairs) is a graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin that was founded in 1970. The school offers training in public policy analysis and administration in govern ...

from July 1997 to December 2004. He previously served as

Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness The under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, or USD (P&R) is a high-ranking civilian position in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) within the United States Department of Defense responsible for advising the United State ...

from March 1994 to July 1997. Also in 1994, Dorn was elected as a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.

Early life and education

Born in

Crockett, Texas Crockett is a city and the county seat of Houston County, Texas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 6,332. Houston County is the oldest county and Crockett the fifth-oldest city in Texas. History The town was name ...

, Dorn graduated from

Jack Yates High School Jack Yates Senior High School is a public high school located at 3650 Alabama Street, very near Texas Southern University, in the historic Third Ward in Houston, Texas. Yates High School handles grades nine through twelve and is part of the Hous ...

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

in June 1963. He earned a B.A. degree in government from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

in June 1967, an M.A. degree in political science from

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, IUB, or Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana Univer ...

in January 1970 and a Ph.D. degree in political science from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

in June 1978. His doctoral thesis was entitled ''Rules and Racial Equality''. Dorn also studied at the Centre of West African Studies in

Birmingham, England Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands region, in England. It is the largest local authority district in England by population and the second-largest cit ...

from September 1967 to May 1968 under a

Fulbright Fellowship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people o ...

Career

After completing his master's degree, Dorn served as a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

intelligence officer in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

, West Germany. After completing his active duty commitment, he began his doctoral studies at Yale in September 1972. In 1977, Dorn began working for the

Department of Health, Education and Welfare The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the US federal government created to protect the health of the US people and providing essential human services. Its motto is "Im ...

while completing his doctoral dissertation. In 1980, he moved to the

Department of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

. In March 1982, Dorn joined the

Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, originally the Joint Center for Political Studies and also known in abbreviated form as Joint Center, is an American public policy think tank headquartered in Washington, DC. Founded in 1970 t ...

as a senior researcher and later became deputy director of research. In August 1990, he became a senior staff member in the Center for Public Policy Education at The

Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as Brookings, is an American think tank that conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics (and tax policy), metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, global econo ...

. In April 1993, President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

nominated Dorn to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for Force Management and Personnel. In January 1994, he was nominated to be the first Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. After leaving government service, Dorn served as dean of the LBJ School of Public Affairs from July 1997 to December 2004. He then remained at the school as a professor of public affairs.

Personal

Dorn is the son of Edgar and Mary Dorn. Dorn married actress Franchella Nadine Stewart on 1 August 1970. They have three daughters. Franchelle Stewart Dorn is a professor of acting in the Department of Theatre and Dance, College of Fine Arts, University of Texas at Austin.

References

1945 births Living people People from Crockett, Texas University of Texas at Austin alumni Alumni of the University of Birmingham Indiana University Bloomington alumni African-American United States Army personnel United States Army officers Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni American political scientists Carter administration personnel Brookings Institution people Clinton administration personnel United States Assistant Secretaries of Defense United States Under Secretaries of Defense University of Texas at Austin faculty {{US-edu-bio-stub