The Texas Lyceum is the Lone Star State’s premiere non-profit non-partisan leadership organization designed to identify emerging and ongoing economic and social state issues, identify and cultivate future leaders of Texas and promote civil discourse in and around our state’s most pressing public policy issues.
In 2025 the Lyceum will host five conferences in Texas and one in Mexico City, Mexico. We believe the majority of these gatherings will focus on topics that align with the philanthropic framework and focus areas of USAA and we would be honored if your organization would consider an annual sponsorship of The Texas Lyceum.
In addition to our five conferences, in 2025, following what will most certainly be a contentious election season, the Lyceum will launch a public-facing initiative we’re calling a “Crusade for Civility.” The Lyceum intends to use its platform, reputation and long history to encourage and promote civil discourse amongst our elected officials and citizenry on the local, regional, state and national levels as they consider and debate some of our most difficult and sensitive public policy matters including, but of course not limited to those impacting military families: mental health and well-being, economic mobility, basic needs such as housing and food security and overall resiliency and strength. Embedded within each conference will be professional development opportunities to continue to refine skills and learn new mechanisms on how to engage in difficult topics, have courageous conversations, and diffuse uncomfortable situations.
As it relates to our conferences, we believe there are several in 2025 that also align with USAA’s mission:
In January 2025, the Lyceum’s Public Conference (PubCon) will take place in Austin, Texas and focus on Artificial Intelligence. The impact that AI will have on our global culture, economy and society put the military and the healthcare for military families literally on the front line. We also believe the development of AI into everyday life will impact the future and careers of veterans as they consider opportunities in civilian life. Our military not only secures our physical borders but our cyber infrastructure. The use of artificial intelligence will continue to be a workforce but defense opportunity and challenge. We will explore these areas and more during the Lyceum PubCon.
In June 2025, the Lyceum will visit Mexico City to discuss border security, immigration and economic partnerships. There are numerous potential and likely topics that will be covered during this conference that will align with USAA’s mission and focus. The economies of Mexico and the United States will always be closely tied because of our proximity and the border we share. The same is true for the citizens of both countries and the close cultural ties between our peoples. A significant number of our military veterans have family ties south of the border and the future careers of military veterans are not only cross-cultural but global in nature. Additionally, the policies of the United States concerning immigration and border security have direct implications for our U.S. military and the service our veterans undertake around ensuring a safe border and national security. We have seen this more pronounced these last few years by the use of the Texas Guard and the implications it has for border cities.
In November 2025, we will be in Victoria, Texas conducting a conference focused on public safety and both the promise and perils of policing in our state. We will explore the challenges around recruiting, retaining and training law enforcement officers in Texas, most especially those who are veterans, not to mention the numerous perils our public safety officers face in the line of duty. Of course, many police officers have a military background and, just as in the military, must navigate through challenges, personal and systemic, relating to mental health, wages to cover a rising cost of living for housing and food, and an overall desire to be contributing, effective and healthy members of society and local communities. In short, we don’t have a future workforce in public safety in Texas without our veterans.
It's for these reasons we believe USAA and The Texas Lyceum can continue to be effective partners and we would be honored to steward your investment to ensure a mutually beneficial relationship.
