On Thursday, October 27th the Austin Chamber held the 17th annual State of Education & Talent event at the Etter-Harbin Alumni Center at the University of Texas at Austin. This event allowed the community, businesses, and higher education leaders to come together to celebrate and recognize local schools and business partners.

This year's event was filled with well-deserved recognition of our school districts, business champions, and community leaders who continue to keep Central Texas a talent-strong area. For our pre-reception, we enjoyed celebrating and welcoming the new President and CEO of Huston-Tillotson University, Dr. Melva K. Williams.

Leaders from our local universities and colleges joined us for a panel discussion, which was insightful and informative. The discussion included key topics such as what K12 education leaders can do for graduating seniors, especially underrepresented and low-income students, to ensure they are positioned to succeed when they transition to higher education, and how employers and business leaders can collaborate more effectively with higher education institutions in our region.