• Skip to main content

Life & Letters Magazine

  • Features
  • Books
  • Commentary
  • Blog
  • Archive
  • About
  • Give
  • Contact
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin
Show Menu

Alicia Dietrich

Stephennie Mulder at the mosque of Nasir al-Mulk in Shiraz, Iran.

Architecture of Coexistence

May 9, 2016 by Alicia Dietrich

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 […]

In this ca. 1820 painting, Indra is depicted riding on his white elephant Airavata. Indra is the god of storms and war who leads the Deva (the gods who form and maintain heaven and the elements in Hinduism). Indra has about 250 hymns dedicated to him in the Rigveda.

Not Lost in Translation

April 30, 2015 by Alicia Dietrich

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 […]

Portrait of Judy Perkins.

Judy Perkins on Finding Joy in Life and Learning

December 9, 2014 by Alicia Dietrich

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 […]

Portrait of Robert Dedman Jr.

Creating Your Own Noble Purpose

December 9, 2014 by Alicia Dietrich

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 […]

Portrait of Jim Garrison.

Inspiring Lifetime Readers

December 4, 2014 by Alicia Dietrich

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 […]

Professor Denise Spellberg holding her latest book, Thomas Jefferson's Qur'an

Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an

December 4, 2014 by Alicia Dietrich

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 […]

Large community altar with various desert cakes.

From Bryan to Sicily: Public Scholars Join Academy to Community

November 20, 2014 by Alicia Dietrich

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 […]

Professor Paula Newberg. Photo: Sasha Haagensen.

Teaching Hard Lessons in a New World

April 6, 2014 by Alicia Dietrich

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 […]

The College of Liberal Arts at The University of Texas at Austin
  • About
  • Give
  • Contact
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin

© 2022, The University of Texas at Austin. All rights reserved. Web Policies Web Accessibility Policy. 110 Inner Campus Drive Austin, TX 78705