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Rachel White

Jamie Pennebaker stands in a field at sunset with cityscape in background.

A Psychologist’s Award-Winning Word Play

December 4, 2020 by Rachel White

Before his research helped discover the healing powers of writing and the Secret Life of Pronouns, Jamie Pennebaker’s curiosity killed the crab.

Red bench sign at carriage ride, "A Place to Park Your," with outline of donkey.

Capturing Culture

November 17, 2020 by Rachel White

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. […]

Political themed collage with Statue of Liberty, U.S. Capitol Building, mail-in ballots, unemployment chart, coronavirus, and protest viewed through magnifying glass with American flag background.

2020 Vision: Examining Some of the Country’s Big Issues

October 30, 2020 by Rachel White

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.

Books by Black Studies at UT faculty

Want to Learn More About Race in America? Read this.

September 2, 2020 by Rachel White

Authors from UT Austin’s College of Liberal Arts describe their books and what they hope readers will learn.

LIDAR imagery of Aguada Fénix.

Earliest Mayan Ceremonial Structure Unearthed

June 3, 2020 by Rachel White

The discovery of a near 3,000-year-old platform, built among wetlands and rivers of the Mexican tropical forest, offers new insight into the Maya’s early communal development. The site, called Aguada Fénix, is the earliest and largest known monumental structure built by the Maya and challenges the existing narrative that the Maya civilization developed gradually, with […]

Illustration of parents standing holding shapes with numbers with two children playing on the floor in a home setting with pink walls and a chalkboard on the wall.

Three Ways Kids Can Learn through Play at Home

May 7, 2020 by Rachel White

Children’s lives revolve around social interactions that help them figure out what it means to be a member of their family and community. But recent shelter-in-place efforts have limited many of these routine yet vital experiences — especially because young kids can’t video call or text their friends as freely as others. “Social interaction is […]

A moving illustration of a large scene. In it, we can see vertical windows looking to a peaceful night cityscape, with twinkling stars overhead. The windows are in the shape of a cellphone battery icon, and illustration slowly turns to a bright, cheerful day scene. The buildings all come to life in a bright, multi-colored wash of color. Around the border of the window, we can see stylized illustrations of people in various poses. We see people having fun with computers, people playing with their pets, families, riding bikes, reading. We also see a medical doctor with a mask waving. There are also wires leading from each person that connect with the battery-shaped window in the middle, giving life to the city.

Rebooting Our Lives After COVID-19

May 7, 2020 by Rachel White

The world’s new reality amid the COVID-19 pandemic is forcing us to confront issues and critically think about how to revive communities slowly, safely and sustainably.

Ontario Highway 401 with a single, white car

Ask the Experts: What are the impacts of COVID-19?

March 16, 2020 by Rachel White

To learn more about the impacts of the global pandemic, we asked the experts within the College of Liberal Arts at The University of Texas at Austin.

A lidar-derived model of the Birds of Paradise ancient Maya wetland field system and parts of the nearby Maya sites of Gran Cacao (bottom-left) and Akab Muclil (top-left) in Northwestern Belize.

Ancient Alteration

November 19, 2019 by Rachel White

Evidence showed that the Maya faced environmental pressures and responded to by converting forests to wetland field complexes and digging canals to manage water quality and quantity.

Illustration of two women, one with a lock symbol near her brain, and the other with an unlock symbol

Attitude Adjustment

November 19, 2019 by Rachel White

Boosting academic success does not have to derive from new teachers or curriculum; it can also come from changing students’ attitudes about their abilities, according to the latest findings from the National Study of Learning Mindsets published in Nature. The experimental study involved more than 12,000 ninth graders from 65 public high schools across the […]

Taqueria La Reyna Taco Truck

The Taco Truck: Author Takes His Research to the Streets

November 19, 2019 by Rachel White

Robert Lemon examines the evolution of taco trucks and how it transforms U.S. cities.

A man sitting with his hands folded.

A Matter of Life and Death

November 19, 2019 by Rachel White

In a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in August, sociologists Mark Hayward of UT Austin and Isaac Sasson of Tel Aviv University examined the intersection of education, cause of death and life expectancy across gender and race. Overall, life expectancy declined by an average of two months from 2010 to […]

Illustration of a primate in a tree with different animals and objects in its roots

The Protection of Being Known

November 15, 2019 by Rachel White

Anthropology Ph.D. candidate Allison McNamara studies lesser known primate species that face risks of extinction.

Illustration of the side young man on two side of a siren. On one side three small dots indicate calm thought, the other side has black and red lines and exclamation points to indicate stress.

Three Questions to Ask When You’re Stressed Out

October 8, 2019 by Rachel White

From big class presentations and midterms to navigating the social scene and balancing a large workload, the school year — and life in general — brings on stress, but asking yourself three questions can help fight anxiety with curiosity rather than panic. Jasper Smits, a psychology professor and director of the Anxiety & Stress Clinic […]

Man casting his vote in blue box located on folding chair with sheer lavender curtains as background.

Why the most popular candidate in a close election will probably lose

September 19, 2019 by Rachel White

The Presidential elections of 2000 and 2016 were controversial, in part, because it seemed like the wrong person won. In 2000, Republican George W. Bush defeated Democrat Al Gore by 5 electoral votes after losing the popular vote by about 540,000. And in 2016, Republican Donald Trump garnered 27 more electoral votes than Democrat Hillary […]

Illustration from Grapes of Wrath cover with man standing holding black jacket.

Don Graham Commentary: “The Grapes of Wrath” has Outlived Its Relevance

May 13, 2019 by Rachel White

Eighty years after John Steinbeck wrote the classic American novel The Grapes of Wrath, it remains a hardy perennial on many high school reading lists. But a casual survey of sixty-six upper-division English majors at the University of Texas in March of this year reveals that forty-nine students have not read the novel and that […]

illustration of brain in pink, red and blue.

Grading Brain Health: How Educational Experiences Impact Cognitive Functioning Later in Life

May 13, 2019 by Rachel White

High school experiences follow you long after you’ve graduated, shaping your professional success and even your health. Now, researchers are investigating how it could contribute to your future brain health and maybe even impact your likelihood of getting Alzheimer’s Disease. University of Texas at Austin sociologist Chandra Muller researches how educational experiences shape life course […]

Sadaham Yathra monks walking along a wooden path.

The Earth’s Keepers: How Religion Can Guide Environmentalism

April 22, 2019 by Rachel White

If you knew in the next life you’d become a tree, you might hesitate before you cut one down. Or if you were to become one of the ocean’s fish, perhaps you’d be more careful about how you dispose of certain plastics. That’s Karma, at least as it’s applied in an environmental context, which might […]

Portrait of Dr. Richard Harper.

Healing With Humanity

April 4, 2019 by Rachel White

The Pro Bene Meritis award is the highest honor bestowed by the College of Liberal Arts. Since 1984, the annual award has been given to alumni, faculty members and friends of the college who are committed to the liberal arts, have made outstanding contributions in professional or philanthropic pursuits or have participated in service related to the college. […]

man in the dark illuminated by computer light

Trolling the U.S.: Q&A on Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election

January 9, 2019 by Rachel White

It’s been more than two years since the 2016 presidential election, and the United States is still piecing together Russia’s propaganda-filled interference in U.S. political conversations on social media. According to a February 2018 poll by The University of Texas at Austin and The Texas Tribune, 40 percent of Texans believe Russian interference played a […]

red fireworks in a dark sky

New Year, Same You: Why New Year’s Resolutions Fail

December 12, 2018 by Rachel White

After we’ve spent all our money on gifts and stuffed ourselves to the brim with endless holiday treats, it’s no wonder many of us see the new year as an opportunity to become a little less broke and little more fit. But come next December, most of us will find ourselves back in the same […]

A street in Baltimore, MD

America’s Ongoing Housing Crisis: Q&A with “Owned” Film Maker Giorgio Angelini

December 6, 2018 by Rachel White

Fifty years after the passing of the Fair Housing Act, people across the United States continue to face an uphill battle to homeownership. “Owned, a Tale of Two Americas,” directed by University of Texas at Austin history alumnus Giorgio Angelini attempts to get at the root of the U.S. housing crisis, which erupted in an […]

Glenn Towery

Beyond the Battlefield: The war rages on, but this time it’s personal

November 9, 2018 by Rachel White

The Thorazine haze was beginning to fade when Glenn Towery was discharged from Oakland Naval Hospital. For the last however-many days he had felt listless, “like a non-human being,” making him forget why he was even there in the first place. Before that, he occupied a hospital cot in the Philippines, next to an injured […]

Joan Neuberger

Joan Neuberger: A Pioneer in Digital History

October 23, 2018 by Rachel White

One of the most fundamental tasks for any university is to foster research that creates an impact beyond its campus. For historians, much of that work takes place in the growing fields of public and digital history. These scholars use innovative digital tools to make historical research relevant and accessible to a broader community. Now, […]

Black and white photograph of The Beatles standing against a white backdrop as a crowd looks on.

Here Comes the Song: The Personalities Behind Your Favorite Beatles Lyrics

October 5, 2018 by Rachel White

If Paul McCartney would have written “Yesterday” based on the first words that came to his mind, the song would sound like a concupiscent teen singing about breakfast: Scrambled eggs, oh, my baby, how I love your legs… The melody of the song, which has been broadcasted on American radio more than 7 million times […]

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