E3 Alliance founder Susan Dawson passed away this week after a long battle with breast cancer. She served as the organization’s president and executive director for 18 years before transitioning to president emeritus in 2024. The entrepreneur and champion of public education leaves behind a legacy of compassion and fierce dedication to excellence in education and the students she loved.
Dawson was born and raised in San Antonio. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Princeton University before earning a Master of Business Administration from The University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business.
Dawson understood the value of bringing together higher education, K-12 school districts and community leaders to improve student outcomes. After her 2006 founding of E3 Alliance, she forged a lasting partnership with UT. The University became a steadfast supporter of the organization’s mission to advance educational success through data-informed policy and practice.
Dean Charles Martinez of the College of Education, a close friend who served alongside Dawson on the board of E3 Alliance, says he found in her a kindred spirit with a shared sense of purpose. Susan showed a palpable drive for improving the education system using data,
he says. We had an instant connection because of that urgency to improve a system that was not serving all Texans.
Martinez says Dawson never lost sight of the students behind the numbers. She embedded her voice in us, and I view that voice as a call to action,
he says. Now it’s our job to carry that charge to ensure a better future for Texas students.
Dawson’s partnership with COE and her support of LONESTARP3—a collaborative network of researchers, educators and advocates which develops actionable policy solutions—helped expand opportunities for countless underserved students and communities.
Susan has been a stalwart advocate for educational equity for as long as I can remember,
says Richard Reddick, UT’s senior vice provost for Curriculum and Enrollment and dean of Undergraduate Studies, who partnered with Dawson on a number of education initiatives addressing chronic absenteeism and systemic inequities. She broke down boundaries between business leaders, elected officials and educators, and believed that every young person in our community deserves an excellent education.
Reddick, a professor in COE’s Higher Education Leadership and Policy program, says Dawson refused to accept the status quo, which challenged others to do more. She never lost the sense of urgency to leverage data to ensure success for all young people in Central Texas,
he says. Now, I feel even more responsibility to channel her passion toward making Austin and Central Texas an educational equity leader, as she knew we could be.
A Longhorn through and through, Dawson’s love for UT was unmistakable. Martinez recalls seeing her dressed in her signature cowboy boots and plenty of burnt orange for events and football games. Her spirit for what we are here to do and what we are capable of—not just in the College of Education, but for all of UT—ran very deep,
he says.
