 "Photo: Callie Richmond")
There were at least 12 occasions last week when University President William Powers spoke publicly and needed either notes or a fully-written speech, said Tom Zigal, the president's chief speechwriter.
Zigal is a member of the "Morning Group," a group of six key staff members in the president's office who meet once a week to keep the office functioning. The group also includes UT Vice President for Public Affairs Don Hale, deputies to the president Nancy Brazzil and Charles Roeckle, special assistant to the president Geoff Leavenworth and Powers' executive assistant Kathy Bartsch.
The group was started by former UT President Larry Faulkner as a way to keep everyone in the office up on University public affairs.
"The idea was that every day, the University has a public affair event going on, whether it is something with the legislature, a teaching award, etc.," Roeckle said. "We are in the news every day, so we tried to meet early in the morning to see what is on the agenda today and what issues we're dealing with. President Powers has continued it even though we don't meet as often."
Roeckle has worked in the president's office for about nine years under four University
presidents. As deputy to the president, he handles internal affairs, such as overseeing the office budget. Brazzil, the other deputy, deals with more external affairs, working closely with the University's Office of Development and Gov. Rick Perry's office.
"The 'Morning Group' keeps everyone informed of what's going on," Brazzil said. "For instance, this morning we talked about the State of the University address, an upcoming newsletter and an e-mail that the president has been sending out to [alumni]. We make sure the messages are all consistent, and he's getting his agenda through in all those messages but not getting redundant."
Powers said that the group consists of people who organize the work in his office.
"There's a lot of business at the University, and these are people that work in my office, with the exception of Don Hale," Powers said. "I'll have events during the week. Am I ready for it? Who's going to do the fundraising or give me the information I need to give a talk? There will be reports due, and there will be issues during the week of who's doing it and what needs to be done."
While he does not believe the "Morning Group," is the backbone of the president's office, Hale said the group makes a valuable contribution to the president's job.
"I think what presidents discover is that they have to address a lot of stuff, and they need this group that has experience and advice," he said. "They handle details that have to be handled for the office to run smoothly."
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