Octavius Bishop, MSSW ’08, BSW ’01, gave the keynote address at an ENCORE (Engaging our Community for College Readiness) Family Conference hosted by the Austin Independent School District on November 23, 2013.
Bishop was an offensive lineman on the football team at the University of Texas at Austin before playing with the National Football League’s Chicago Bears. After retiring from professional football, he returned to the University of Texas to earn his bachelor’s and master’s degree at the School of Social Work. Bishop went on to earn a Ph.D. in neuropsychology and currently teaches classes at Austin Community College.
Bishop has served as a male involvement program coordinator at five Austin area high schools, where he works with at-risk populations for Communities in Schools, a nonprofit organization focused on dropout prevention.