Experts from UT Austin’s College of Liberal Arts weigh in on some of the major issues facing our country and the president-elect over the next four years.
Features
Investing in the Future
Jason Lamin, a 2020 Pro Bene Meritis award recipient, shares what he values in this moment and where he finds inspiration.
Celebrating a Lifetime of Achievement
The American Sociological Association honors Jennifer Glass, Debra Umberson and Gloria González-López for their contributions to the field.
Blog
Capturing Culture
When people travel to the United States, they might be shocked at how large our portion sizes are, how friendly strangers may seem or how informal and direct conversations tend to be. These types of surprises can cause cultural shock, a common feeling that many people experience when traveling abroad or connecting with new cultures. […]
Listen to Black Lives Texas
This month, millions of young Texans will face new struggles in the transition back to school amid a global pandemic. But for those facing food insecurity or limited internet access, the new school year poses greater threats. Two researchers at The University of Texas at Austin hope to open people’s ears to these and other […]
Exploring the World Through Language
Sometimes we fall in love when we least expect it. Arriving at The University of Texas at Austin as a mathematically inclined freshman, Heather Rice had no intention of learning Russian. Now a lecturer in Slavic and Eurasian Studies at UT Austin, she’s spent the past two decades studying and teaching the language and culture […]
Retracing UT’s Complicated Racial Past
Taking graduation photos in front of Littlefield Fountain and singing “The Eyes of Texas” at a packed home football game are common bucket-list experiences uniting UT Austin’s students and alumni. Still, most people don’t realize the controversial history behind these traditions. For the last 20 years, anthropologist and founding chair for UT’s Department of African […]
Books
Shake Up Your Winter Reading
Winter 2020-21 books from our college community.
Writing to Beauvoir
In her new book, Sex, Love, and Letters, Judith Coffin reveals the private lives and intimate bond found in Simone de Beauvoir’s letters with her fans.
Commentary
Jim Henson and Joshua Blank
Election Polling Needs More Transparency, Better Reporting of Results
Although it may be weeks until we have verified vote counts for the U.S. presidential election, the error in the polls is undeniable, with state-level polling consistently underestimating support for President Donald Trump. As in 2016, the polling profession is scrambling to understand what went wrong, but clearly, something needs to change. The most likely […]
Christy Carpenter
When the 19th Amendment was Born So Was My Feminist Mom
The winning of women’s suffrage took over 70 years and three generations of extraordinary women spearheading one of the most successful political mobilization efforts in U.S. history. It was a scaling-Mt.-Everest-backwards-in-high-heels kind of accomplishment. After all, every one of the “deciders,” state legislators, members of Congress and one very important opponent — President Wilson — were […]
Mark Hayward
Why Do People in Hawaii Live 7 Years Longer than People in Mississippi?
Add living a longer life to the list of reasons to move to Hawaii, which tops the list in a national study on average life expectancy. The study showed that living somewhere with more economic regulations and policy protections for marginalized groups may be the key for a clean bill of health. “We run the […]