Stephennie Mulder, an associate professor in the Departments of Art and Art History and Middle Eastern Studies, was invited to Tehran, Iran, in February 2016 to receive the country’s World Award for Book of the Year from the Iranian Ministry of Culture, which was to be awarded in a ceremony by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Her […]
Not Lost in Translation
Fifteen-year Project Introduces India’s Earliest Text to Modern Readers Like so many big ideas, it all started over drinks — in this case, glasses of wine in New Orleans. Fifteen years later, a labor of love finally came to fruition for Joel Brereton, associate professor of Asian Studies and Religious Studies, when his joint translation […]
Judy Perkins on Finding Joy in Life and Learning
The Pro Bene Meritis Award is the highest honor bestowed by the College of Liberal Arts at The University of Texas at Austin. First granted in 1984, it is given each spring to alumni, faculty and friends of the college who are committed to the liberal arts, have made outstanding contributions in professional or philanthropic […]
Creating Your Own Noble Purpose
The Pro Bene Meritis Award is the highest honor bestowed by the College of Liberal Arts at The University of Texas at Austin. First granted in 1984, it is given each spring to alumni, faculty and friends of the college who are committed to the liberal arts, have made outstanding contributions in professional or philanthropic […]
Inspiring Lifetime Readers
The Pro Bene Meritis Award is the highest honor bestowed by the College of Liberal Arts at The University of Texas at Austin. First granted in 1984, it is given each spring to alumni, faculty and friends of the college who are committed to the liberal arts, have made outstanding contributions in professional or philanthropic […]
Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an
It was a chance discovery of a 1782 broadside—advertising a play performed in Baltimore about the Prophet Muhammad—that piqued the curiosity of Denise Spellberg, professor of history and Middle Eastern Studies. She wondered, why did Americans perform this play during the Revolutionary War? More importantly, the historian of Islamic civilization asked, what did early Americans know […]
From Bryan to Sicily: Public Scholars Join Academy to Community
In her most recent study, anthropologist Circe Sturm returned to her own backyard in East Texas. Sturm’s family hails from Sicilian roots, specifically a cluster of more than 1,000 Sicilians who settled in Bryan, Texas, around the turn of the 20th century. This enclave has managed to preserve many Sicilian traditions, including an annual ritual in which a single Sicilian-Texan family hosts 800 guests […]
Teaching Hard Lessons in a New World
Charlie Wilson Chair Paula Newberg is Pakistan Studies Expert Professor Paula Newberg wants her students to leave her class with this big idea: “Life is complicated, but they can learn to live it well.” Newberg, who holds the Charlie Wilson Chair in Pakistan Studies in the Government Department, does indeed teach a complicated subject about […]