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Daniel Oppenheimer

A Tale of Three Nations

February 7, 2025 by Daniel Oppenheimer

Sociologist Kim Pernell on what financial policy can tell us about what nations do or don’t prioritize — and why

1984 In Their Words: John Adamo

October 23, 2024 by Daniel Oppenheimer

“I think I was the only person I knew who never changed his major”

1984 In Their Words: Terasa Cooley

October 23, 2024 by Daniel Oppenheimer

“I’ve always gravitated toward religious exploration”

Join the Catholic Church. Don’t marry a musician! Trust your instincts and marry Elaine sooner.

October 23, 2024 by Daniel Oppenheimer

And other reflections from the class of 1984

President Reagan giving his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in Dallas, Texas, August 23, 1984, contributed to Wikimedia Commons by Ronald Reagan Library Museum Collection (NAID 6816361)

Selling the Liberal Arts: Back to the Future

October 23, 2024 by Daniel Oppenheimer

On the liberal arts as time machine, now machine, why machine, and so what machine

Crossword: 1984 Is Anybody Watching?

September 3, 2024 by Daniel Oppenheimer

For our special “Class of 1984,” we asked Kyle Mahowald, assistant professor of linguistics here at UT, to construct a crossword puzzle

Laurel Faye

2024 Keene Prize in Literature Winners

May 6, 2024 by Daniel Oppenheimer

The 2024 Keene Prize goes to Laurel Faye for an excerpt from her novel “Seal, Wife.”

Taking the Liberal Arts on the Offensive

April 29, 2024 by Daniel Oppenheimer

How do you sell the liberal arts in a world where they’re frequently portrayed as on the decline and on the defensive?

Where the Great Books Live

April 25, 2024 by Daniel Oppenheimer

The Jefferson Center for Core Texts and Ideas relies on the great books to prepare its students for the future

Hunting Oppenheimer

April 25, 2024 by Daniel Oppenheimer

Bruce Hunt regularly teaches a course at UT on the “History of the Atomic Bomb” — and he has a few quibbles with Christopher Nolan’s latest film

Ward Keeler with U Thuhta

We Have the Best Stories

April 25, 2024 by Daniel Oppenheimer

Ward Keeler on life as an anthropologist.

Extra Credit: Why Comics Matter

January 30, 2024 by Daniel Oppenheimer

“Pyroclast,” Professor Latinx, and 12 comics to prove a point

Michael Ray Charles

The Scholar and the Artist

October 30, 2023 by Daniel Oppenheimer

Cherise Smith looks at Michael Ray Charles looking at the world.

finished crossword

On the Beauty of Crosswords

July 19, 2023 by Daniel Oppenheimer

There are at least three big ways in which Robbie Kubala, assistant professor of philosophy at UT Austin, appreciates crossword puzzles. He’s exceptionally good at doing them, for one, and they’re a shared interest with his partner. They’re also an object of philosophical interest.

Heidi Boutros Gesch

To Do Justice

May 4, 2023 by Daniel Oppenheimer

Federal prosecutor Heidi Boutros Gesch (Plan II and Government ’04) is on the case.

nahid siamdoust

Iran and Back Again: Talking with Nahid Siamdoust

March 2, 2023 by Daniel Oppenheimer

Nahid Siamdoust left Iran with her family toward the end of the Iran-Iraq War, after an Iraqi bomb hit her elementary school, killing a number of students. In the decades since, she has lived a truly global life.

LAITS studio

Beyond Zoom: The College of Liberal Arts is reimagining online teaching

October 21, 2022 by Daniel Oppenheimer

Since it began producing online courses, LAITS has worked with seven colleges and 45 departments, resulting in more than 135 unique undergraduate courses and more than 20 master’s degree courses. They have served more than 190,000 students and provided more than 570,00 credit hours.

Abimbola Adelakun

Huge in Nigeria: Q&A with Abimbola Adelakun

October 21, 2022 by Daniel Oppenheimer

In the U.S., Abimbola Adelakun is a respected junior academic, first a graduate student and now an assistant professor in the Department of African and African Diaspora Studies at The University of Texas at Austin. In her native Nigeria, Adelakun is “a bit famous.” She is the author of a weekly political column for Punch, one of the most widely read newspapers in the country.

Silvio Berlusconi

How Populism Dies: Political scientist Kurt Weyland sees a bright-ish future for liberal democracy 

October 21, 2022 by Daniel Oppenheimer

A longtime scholar of democratization and its discontents, Kurt Weyland’s work over the past few years has focused on explaining in detail why we are not, despite some appearances, in the midst of either a crisis of global democracy or an ascendant wave of illiberal populism.

J Budziszewkski

Book Excerpt: How and How Not to Be Happy

June 15, 2022 by Daniel Oppenheimer

Could happiness lie in health, wealth, responsibility, or pleasure? Should we settle for imperfect happiness? What would it even mean to attain perfect fulfillment? In his new book, J. Budziszewski separates the wheat from the chaff, exploring how to attain happiness—and just as importantly, how not to.

Her Neighbor’s Wife: Uncovering the Hidden History of Lesbian Desire in Post-war American Marriage

May 26, 2022 by Daniel Oppenheimer

Lauren Jae Gutterman’s new book explores lesbian desire in the context of post-war heterosexual marriage.

Orr hearts Ukraine

Q&A with RANE Eurasia Analyst Matthew Orr

April 5, 2022 by Daniel Oppenheimer

Matthew Orr is a Eurasia analyst at RANE, a risk intelligence company that provides geopolitical information and consultation to consumers and corporate clients with business interests around the globe. Prior to starting at RANE, Orr received dual Master’s degrees in Global Policy Studies and Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies at The University of Texas […]

Seegel tweets

Assembling the February 24 Archive

March 28, 2022 by Daniel Oppenheimer

Since the war began, Professor Steven Seegel has tweeted about 12,000 times. He plans to keep going, with the help of international colleagues in the digital humanities, for as long as necessary, in order to build what he’s calling “The February 24th Archive.”

At a large window, a woman reads a newspaper and a man reads on his phone. They are on chairs across a table from each other, and the photo shows their profiles.

Commentary Roundup: Fall 2021

November 16, 2021 by Daniel Oppenheimer

A collection of commentary pieces from faculty members in the College of Liberal Arts that were published this semester. Topics include work, science, politics and more.

A close-up look at Russell Poldrack's MRI scan of his brain. Photo by Alexander Wang.

Quantified Self

November 1, 2013 by Daniel Oppenheimer

Neuroscientist embarks on a yearlong quest to study a single human brain, his own Every Tuesday morning through November 2013, neuroscientist Russell Poldrack woke up, took off his headband-like sleep monitor and told it to wirelessly send data about his night’s sleep to a database. Then he’d log in to a survey app on his […]

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