Lamar University’s alumni span different majors and professions. Graduates set an example on campus and give students a model to look up to. Marion Phillips III is one of them.
Phillips returned to his alma mater to talk to students about how LU shaped his career as a political public relations expert.
He started out at Lamar July 1981, originally intending to major in oceanography, but decided mass communications was a better fit.
“It was my second choice,” Phillips said. “I really wanted to look at journalism and PR, but I just really went the PR route. (I learned about) how you look at other ways to do some things you want to do, (including) politics, through Dr. Price and the responsibility of not only voting, but being a participant in the process. I fell in love from that point on.”
While he was a student, Phillips worked for the athletics department covering games.
“We used to have to carry the telescopic teletype,” he said. “That was the precursor to the fax. You would write the story, stick it on there, crank it, and then it would read it and send it over the tele-type. We wrote stories, and then sent them to The Beaumont Enterprise, because they didn’t bring a reporter to cover our sports teams.
“It gave me the broadest and best opportunity to look at many disciplines, be it politics, PR, journalism or business. It gave me all those platforms.”
Phillips graduated with his bachelor’s in December 1984, and has since lived and traveled around the country while working in the political field.
“My buddy and I, he worked for a member of Congress,” he said. “We wanted to look at ballot initiatives and we really lobbied for charter schools, opening the first charter school in New York State, pushing the charter school legislation across the country. I’m an advocate of school choice.”
Phillips worked for President George Bush around the early ’90s in the Department of Energy and would travel frequently with the Secretary of Energy.
“I was at the White House quite a bit,” he said. “I was so low level, when I was sent over there to do something you just did your assignment and got out. It’s designed to be intimidating. You walk in and these two Marines are standing outside the door. It was intimidating, but I think it was awesome.”
Phillips worked at Empire State Development for more than 20 years, before eventually becoming senior vice president of community development & diversity, equity and inclusion at U.S. News & World Report in April 2022.
“The political world is like (being) a candy junkie, a hamburger junkie, sports junkie, knitting junkie, running, whatever you are — politics is that addictive,” he said. “Being able to project how things are going to work for people, and being able to work where you believe in what you want to see accomplished is amazing stuff.”
Phillips grew up in a military family and spent a lot of his early life overseas.
“My father retired in El Paso, but I was born in Japan,” he said. “I lived on the East Coast, so in essence, I have more family on the East Coast than anywhere else.”
Phillips has lived all around the country and frequently goes back and forth between states.
“I’ve been (traveling) for a very long time,” he said. “There are days, I think ‘I’ve had enough,’ and there are days when I don’t travel where I’m like, ‘I can’t wait to get on the road.’ Right now, I’m in the mood of, ‘I’m ready to go home.’ Traveling is literally two sets of everything. People don’t realize it can be laborious, but I love it.”
Phillips said his Lamar degree has opened up many opportunities.
“At the end of the day, it’s about access and opportunity, and how you make best use of those based on the skills you have,” he said. “Like I said to students, there’s one thing you can do — ‘Do your homework.’ When I was at Lamar, we may have had eight lectures, maybe 12 a year from outside people. My daughter went to George Washington University where the communication department may have 12 in a semester. The point I’m making is how does the Lamar student keep up with or excel over GW students? Do your homework.
“(Lamar’s) a great place. It’s not for the person who wants to go to Harvard, it’s not for the multimillionaire snob. This is for the person who wants to hustle, grind and work and grow together. And that’s what I love about this place.”