The Barbara Jordan Institute for Policy Research (BJI) is a non-partisan and an unbias institution dedicated to research that focuses on finding solutions to the many public policy challenges facing urban communities at the local, regional, national and global scales of governance. By advancing civic engagement, building organizational capacity and raising awareness, our goal is to carry on the mission of scholarship and research while maintaining the vision of the late Barbara Jordan. The BJI exists to bridge the gap between academic scholarship and public policy development through service to public and private sector clients and its independent research agenda.

The mission of the Mickey Leland Center on World Hunger and Peace at Texas Southern University is to serve as a state and national resource for information on the problems of global hunger and peace. Most recently this mission has been expanded and with that the name of the center to The Mickey Leland Center for  Environment, Justice, & Sustainability. The reconstituted center continues the work and adds several key variables that impacts our global community health, resilience, and overall security. The new name embodies this expanded focus.

Texas Southern University is the largest research repository of the political documents and artifacts of the 18th Congressional District of Houston, Texas.

The Leland Center is the custodian of the Mickey Leland Archives and Papers. The Mickey Leland Archives are a collection of the late Congressman Leland's files, photographs, articles, speeches, campaigns and memorabilia. Alison (Leland) Brisco the widow of the late Congressman, donated this collection to Texas Southern University in 1989. A search engine for researchers is being developed for the Center¹s web page and archival material will be available worldwide on the Internet.

The Leland Center exists to continue Mickey’s legacy by providing leadership development and training and by expanding opportunities for students to conduct research, analyze public policy, experience our city, state and nations’ legislative process first-hand, and participate in international studies and projects.

The Leland Center also serves as a conduit for University faculty to interact and interface with the community to create collaborative programs and forums that seek solutions to enduring critical problems concerning hunger, diversity, conflict resolution, reconciliation, and peace.

The mission of the Forensic Science Training Center [FSTC] is to provide education and training for  TSU students traditional and non-traditional to prepare them for careers in the field of forensic science, and to provide training opportunities for current practitioners in the field to expand and update their knowledge and skills. An aspect of the FSTC is it remote and long distance capabilities. The center is design keeps in mind the importance of connectivity.

The Forensic Science Training Center has a distinguished faculty with wide-ranging research interests including drug and alcohol pharmacology, alcohol congener analysis, DNA comparison and analysis, courtroom ethics, digital forensics and firearms analysis and comparison. Faculty research provides students with an opportunity to examine recent developments on these and other contemporary justice issues and challenges both in the classroom and the community.

The objectives of the Forensic Science Training Center are: •Prepare students to serve as skilled forensic scientists at the local, state and national level and international levels. •To provide students with an understanding of legal and personal ethics. •To prepare students to actively participate in legal proceedings as expert witnesses.

The goal of the Training Center staff is to prepare individuals with facts, concepts, and ideas which will provide the skills necessary to think critically and ethically in applying knowledge to related problems and challenging situations.The curriculum and associated programs of the Forensic Science Training Center are intended to provide individuals with the skills and knowledge related to successful careers in any of the several disciplines of the forensic sciences, including toxicology, friction ridge analysis, digital media forensics, and DNA analysis. The program also prepares individuals for continuing education in graduate school and law school.