We honor them and thank them for their vision.

Christopher T. King, Ph.D.
Board Chair

Dr. King is the parent of a daughter who suffers from Schizoaffective, Borderline Personality, and Bipolar Disorders, an array of conditions for which even the latest generation of medications tend to be ineffectual.  Due to these conditions, she has cut herself off from family members for years at a time.  She has been in and out of state institutions around the country and experienced bouts of homelessness as well.  Right now, she is doing reasonably well.  She is taking her medications, lives in partially supported housing, has a part-time job, and has reestablished contact with family.

Dr. King is director of the Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources and a lecturer at The University of Texas at Austin's Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, where he holds the Mike Hogg Professorship in Urban Management.  He has written widely on education, workforce, and social policy, including Welfare and Work: Experiences in Six Cities (2005, Upjohn Institute Press, with Peter Mueser), Improving the Odds: Increasing the Effectiveness of Publicly Funded Training (2000, Urban Institute Press, with Burt Barnow), and "The Effectiveness of Publicly Financed Training in the United States: Implications for WIA and Related Programs," in Job Training Policy in the United States, edited by Chris OLeary, Robert Straits and Steve Wandner (2004, Upjohn Institute Press).  He also coauthored several recent reports on workforce policies and programs, including The Workforce Investment Act in Eight States (2005) and Initial WIA Net Impacts in Seven States, An ADARE Issues Brief (2004).  He worked with the National Governors Association on several initiatives over the past five years, including both the Next-Generation Workforce System and the Integrated Performance Information projects, and is currently leading a Central Texas workforce intermediary initiative with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation and others.  He serves on boards of directors for the Austin Project and the Council of Families for Children, and was an appointed member of the Congressionally mandated National Assessment of Vocational Education panel (1999-2003) and the Mayors Austin Equity Commission (2000-2001). 

Before joining the LBJ School, Dr. King was assistant professor of economics at the University of Utah (1973-1976), an economist with the U.S. Secretary of Labor (1976-1980), and director of Research, Demonstration and Evaluation for job training programs in the Texas Governors Office (1983-1985).  He has a B.A. in economics from The University of Texas at Austin and both an M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from Michigan State University.

Carol Fredericks
Board Member

Carol Whitcraft Fredericks, Ph.D., is a native of Waco, Texas.  Born Carol Jones, to prominent civic minded parents who held positions of responsibility on the Waco School Board, the City Council, as Mayor and as Trustee of Baylor University.  She attended Waco Public Schools and at age 15 entered Christian College for Women at Columbia, Missouri.

After receiving her AA degree from Christian College (now Columbia College), she attended the University of Montana at Missoula and finished her BA at Baylor.  In 1963, Carol and her husband, F.P. (Chris) Whitcraft and her three children moved to Austin, Texas where she was employed in the genetics laboratory of the internationally recognized geneticist Dr. C.P. (Pete) Oliver.  During the next seven years, she received an MA and her PhD from the University of Texas at Austin.

In 1971, Dr. Carol Whitcraft joined the Texas Rehabilitation Commission as Director of Research and Development where she received national recognition as the first Mary Switzer Fellow of the National Rehabilitation Association and directed state and federal research projects.  She was appointed liaison to the Governor's Office and was chairman of the subcommittee which studied the feasibility of implementing the Governor's Executive Development Program.

When that program was implemented and instituted at the LBJ School of Public Affairs in 1985, Dr. Whitcraft was appointed Deputy Director and Coordinator of the Governor's Executive Development Program and served in that capacity until her retirement in 1993.  Concurrently, with her duties at the Texas Rehabilitation Commission and the University of Texas at Austin, she served as adjunct professor at Texas State University and at the University of Texas.  In 1985, her husband of 37 years died.  In 1990 at his memorial service at Yale University, she met one of his classmates, Samuel H. Fredericks and subsequently married him in 1991.  She was widowed again in December of 1999.  Dr. Carol Whitcraft Fredericks continues to live in Austin and to support social and educational organizations with philanthropy and support.

Ollie Seay, Ph. D.
Board Member

Ollie J. Seay, Ph.D., is a Licensed Psychologist with a forensic psychology practice in Austin, Texas.  She is also the Director of the Masters in Health Psychology Program at Texas State University-San Marcos.  She is currently on the Boards of Directors of Capacity for Justice and the Texas Association on Mental Retardation.  She is a past Board member of the Texas Psychological Association and continues as their Public Policy Committee Chair.  She has over thirty years of experience in working with persons with mental disorders and specializes in developmental disabilities, particularly with regard to persons with co-occurring mental disorders.  She further serves on the City of Austin's Mayor's Mental Health Task Force Monitoring Committee.

Mike Sorenson
Board Member

Deputy Sheriff Sorenson has been employed by the Travis County Sheriff's Office since October of 1980.  While employed at Travis County, Deputy Sheriff Sorenson has worked in the Patrol Division, as the Department's first K-9 officer in 1982.  Deputy Sheriff Sorenson also worked as a Lake Patrol officer, and member of the SWAT team.  Deputy Sheriff Sorenson's specialty however, is in the Sheriff's Office Mental Health Division, where he has worked since 1984.  Deputy Sheriff Sorenson has been requested to testify on two occasions before state committee's regarding persons with mental illness.

Deputy Sheriff Sorenson currently teaches classes throughout the State of Texas for Peace Officer, MHMR and Adult Protective Services (APS).  Deputy Sheriff Sorenson assisted the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education in developing the current teaching requirements used statewide for Mental Health Peace Officers in recognizing those with mental illness since 1985, and has trained at Travis County Sheriff's Office, Texas Department of Public Safety, Austin Police Department, Williamson County Sheriff's Office, and approximately 30 other counties in Texas, as well as Ontario, California (for the LA County Sheriff's Office), Louisiana, and Boston.  Deputy Sheriff Sorenson is also a team leader on the Sheriff's Office Negotiations Team, and teaches negotiation classes.

James K. Williamson
Board Member

Recently retired as Capital Budget Analyst for the Health and Human Services Commission, Mr. Williamson has served as Budget Manager and Analyst for the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation; Budget Director of the Office of the Attorney General; Chief of Staff of the Intergovernmental Affairs Committee of the Texas House of Representatives; Lobbyist; Interest group director and Planner and Administrative Policy Writer for the Department of Public Welfare, now the Department of Aging and Disabilities. He began and operated the Cocoon Treatment Center, a out-patient treatment and aftercare center for persons suffering from substance abuse.

Mr. Williamson holds a Bachelor in Government from the University of Texas at Austin and a Master in Public Affairs from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, the University of Texas at Austin.

Nicholas Kooy
Board Member

Mr. Kooy is a young man who has recently graduated from the Child Protective Services Foster Care System.  Mr. Kooy was relinquished to state custody for mental health reasons at age 11.  While in state custody, he was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder.  Mr. Kooy has graduated from high school in Star, Texas and is currently enrolled in college in Killeen, Texas.  His major is in Criminal Justice and is interested in becoming a Park Ranger after graduation from college.

BOARD ADVISORS

Ray Marshall, Ph.D.

Dr. Marshall is the father of five children, two of which have mental illness.  John has Bipolar Disorder and lives in a group home in Manor, Texas.  Susan has Anxiety Disorder and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and she is the Co-Director of the Council of Families for Children.

Dr. Marshall currently holds the Bernard and Audre Rapoport 

Centennial Chair in Economics and Public Affairs at the University of Texas-Austin, and is president of Ray Marshall, Inc. a research and consulting firm.  He served as U.S. Secretary of Labor under President Jimmy Carter.  He has a Ph.D. in Economics from The University of California-Berkeley.

Dr. Marshall is the author or co-author of over 30 books and monographs and approximately 200 articles and chapters, including: 

• ·             High Performance Schools and Teacher Unions, Working Paper, University of Oregon's Labor Education and Research Center, November 2001.
• ·             Back to Shared Prosperity: The Growing Inequality of Wealth and Income in America (editor), Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2000.
• ·             Unheard Voices: Labor and Economic Policy in a Competitive World, New York: Basic Books, 1988.
• ·             The Role of Unions in the American Economy (with Brian Rungeling), New York: Joint Council on Economic Education, 1976; Japanese edition, 1978; Portuguese, Spanish and French editions, 1979; Chinese edition, 1980.  Revised 1985.
• ·             Human Resources and Labor Markets (with Sar Levitan and Garth Mangum), New York: Harper and Row, 1972; revised 1975, 1977, 1981.
• ·             Labor Economics: Wages, Employment and Trade Unionism (with Allan M. Cartter), Homewood, Illinois: Richard D. Irwin, 1967; revised, 1972; revised (with Allan G. King), 1976; revised (with Vernon M. Briggs, Jr.), 1980; revised (with Allan G. King and Vernon M. Briggs, Jr.), 1984; Spanish edition, 1987