Justin Lonon
For immediate release — Dec. 18, 2009
(DALLAS) — Students and employees of the Dallas County Community College District have a champion in the halls of Austin and Washington, D.C., who knows how to work with legislators and how to help DCCCD obtain the appropriations, grants and support that enables the district fulfill its mission: to educate students.
Based on those skills and his accomplishments within four short years, Justin H. Lonon — DCCCD’s vice chancellor for public and governmental affairs — has received the 2009 Edwin Crawford Award for Innovation. Lonon received the distinguished service award during the national 2009 Higher Education Government Relations Conference in Orlando, Fla., this month.
Both the Edwin Crawford Award for Innovation and the Marvin D. “Swede” Johnson Award are given annually for leadership in state relations and institutional advocacy. They are the only national awards in higher education state relations, a field that includes advocacy and outreach efforts on behalf of colleges and universities to governors, state legislators and other key policy makers. Sherri Fulford, Auburn University’s executive director of governmental affairs, received the Marvin D. “Swede” Johnson Award.
Both awards are administered by the American Association of Community Colleges, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.
“Although I have been involved in various facets of the governmental relations profession for some time, no aspect has been more rewarding than my work in higher education,” said Lonon.
“I am privileged to represent the Dallas County Community College District every day and to give our students a voice in both Austin and Washington, D.C. Community colleges often are underappreciated and underrecognized by policy makers, as well as the public at large. I relish the opportunity to be a voice in the effort to tell ‘the community college story.’”
DCCCD Chancellor Wright Lassiter Jr., who nominated Lonon for the award, said, “Justin Lonon’s approach to governmental relations includes all of the ‘absolutes’ as well as innovative methods that tell DCCCD’s story. He enables us to garner more funds and legislative support, and he places students ‘front and center’ so that they can tell their stories to policymakers and talk about the value of community colleges in their lives. Justin has used his knowledge and skills over the past four years to build a strong reputation for the Dallas County Community College District with state and national legislators through a network that he created and energized to meet our governmental relations goals.”
Lonon’s accomplishments during his brief tenure as DCCCD’s governmental affairs advocate include building key relationships with state and national legislators; rebuilding the district’s governmental affairs program; resurrecting its political action committee; and developing advocacy or “A” teams comprising trustees, students, employee groups and others who advance the institution among key constituents.
He has worked to engage students in numerous projects, enabling them to tell their own stories about the value of community colleges to legislators in the state’s capital and Washington, D.C., during events such as Community College Day in Austin and higher education’s National Legislative Summit in the nation’s capitol. Lonon has played a key role in elevating the awareness of community colleges in the state through his work with the Texas Association of Community Colleges.
A member of the Dallas Press Club, Lonon has taught public relations crisis management workshops to area mayors, city managers, municipal administrators, and police and fire chiefs. He serves on a number of community boards, including: the International Studies External Advisory Board for the University of North Texas; the YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas Communications Committee; the Volunteer Center of North Texas, Dallas County Council; and the Dallas Father of the Year Board.
Lonon previously served as press secretary to former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk and as vice president and director of public affairs for Levenson and Brinker Public Relations.
Lonon earned his bachelor’s degree in public administration from Southwest Missouri State University and his master’s degree, also in public administration, from the University of North Texas.
For more information, contact Ann Hatch in the DCCCD office of public and governmental affairs at (214) 378-1819 or at
ahatch@dcccd.edu.
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Press contact: Ann Hatch
214-378-1819;
ahatch@dcccd.edu