Betty Sue Flowers

Betty Sue Flowers, Ph.D., became Director of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum in 2002. Before that time, she was the Joan Negley Kelleher Centennial Professor in the English Department at the University of Texas, as well as a Piper Professor and a member of the University's Academy of Distinguished Teachers. During her years at the University of Texas, she also served as Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Director of the Plan II Honors Program.

Flowers is a native Texan with degrees from the University of Texas and the University of London. Her scholarly publications include a book entitled Browning and the Modern Tradition and articles on Donald Barthelme, Adrienne Rich, Christina Rossetti, poetry therapy, writing and other subjects. Her annotated edition of Christina Rossetti's complete poems was published in 2001 in the Penguin Classics Series. She also edited Daughters and Fathers with Lynda Boose, as well as four books in collaboration with Bill Moyers: Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth; A World of Ideas; Healing and the Mind; and Genesis. She has published three books of poetry--Four Shields of Power (with three other poets), Extending the Shade and Blue Lioness (2002).

Flowers was consultant for the nationally televised series, "The Power of Myth" as well as a host for the radio series "The Next 200 Years". Her 10-part television series, "Conversation with Betty Sue Flowers," was aired on the Austin PBS affiliate, KLRU. Flowers has served as a moderator for executive seminars at the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies, as a consultant for NASA, as a member of the Envisioning Network for General Motors, as a member of the vision team for the National Endowment for the Humanities, and as a Visiting Advisor to the Secretary of the Navy.

In 1992, and again in 1995, 1998 and 2001, she worked with an international team to write Global Scenarios for Shell International in London—stories about the future of the world for the next 30 years. She has edited a book in conjunction with Joseph Jaworski on the inner dimensions of leadership, Synchronicity, and has recently published another with Jaworski, Peter Senge and Otto Scharmer on Presence: Human Purpose and the Field of the Future. Flowers was the editor of global scenarios for sustainable development and scenarios for the future of biotechnology, both sponsored by the World Business Council in Geneva.

Honors and Fellowships (selected)

• Distinguished Alumnus, University of Texas, 2001
• Jungian Fellow of the Salado Institute for the Humanities
• Visiting Advisor, Secretary of the Navy, 1999
• Lifetime Honorary Member, Jung Society of Austin, 1998
• Outstanding Alumna, Waco Independent School District, 1998
• Liz Carpenter Lifetime Achievement Award, Women in Communication, 1998
• Dean Helen LeBaron Hilton Chair, College of Family and Consumer Sciences, Iowa State University, 1998
• Poet-in-Residence for the Muse Machine Summer Workshop, Dayton, Ohio, August 11-14, 1997
• 1997 Piper Professor (one of ten to receive this award in Texas)
• Academy of Distinguished Teachers
• Woman Scholar of the Year, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1996
• Fellow, Center for International Business Education and Research, Summer, 1995
• "Lone Star Great," Texas Department of Commerce, 1992
• Honorary Life Member, Board of Trustees, Salado Institute for the Humanities
• Grant: Faculty Research Assignment, University Research Institute, 1992
• Top Hand Award, U.T. Exes, 1990
• Communicator of the Year--Austin Toastmasters, 1990
• Runner-up, Woman of the Year, (Woman 2000), 1989
• Outstanding Young Texas Ex, 1987
• Margaret C. Berry Outstanding Contribution to Student Life Award, 1987
• Honorary Membership, Golden Key Honor Society, 1987
• Cranfill Teaching Fellowship, 1986-87
• Special Recognition, Friars Centennial Teaching Fellowship, 1986
• Leadership Texas, 1985
• Grant: Faculty Research Assignment, University Research Institute, 1983
• Holloway Teaching Award, 1983
• Amoco Teaching Excellence Award, 1979
• Regional Finalist, White House Fellowships, 1978
• Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship, Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies, 1976