New Officer’s Room Honors A Hero When the new Liberal Arts building opens in January 2013, thousands of students, faculty and staff will flood its pristine new hallways, and marvel at the architecture and amenities. But a building of this undertaking is much more than bricks and mortar. For the family and friends of Captain John […]
Features
Friend and Champion of Education
Bernard Rapoport, Economics Alumnus, Dies at 94 Bernard Rapoport, a Waco businessman who was active in higher education, politics, human rights and philanthropy, died Thursday, April 5. “The University of Texas and our state have lost a great friend who was relentless in his support of education, democracy, the arts and creating opportunity for the […]
Q&A: Whether Spoken or Signed, Our Word Choices Matter
As Both a Student and Teacher, Miss Deaf America Works to Dispel Stereotypes Rachel Mazique, 2010-2012 Miss Deaf America Ambassador, is passionate about disrupting stereotypical beliefs about what Deaf people can achieve. The UT alumna and doctoral student travels the country to promote the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) and its youth programs. She […]
How Long Will You Live? Chances Are…
How long will you live? And how does that compare to your fellow longhorns based on your race and gender? Graduate researchers are striving to eliminate health barriers and extend life expectancy for one and all. Life expectancy in the United States is on the rise – but not for everyone. Although many older Americans […]
Early Earners
Economist looks at the long-term effects of school starting age and family background “Redshirting” is a popular term among parents of the pre-K set, and it has a lot of parents asking a familiar question: Is my child ready to start kindergarten, or would she or he benefit from delaying this debut into the world […]
A Formidable Team
Carolyn and Peyton Townsend raise their horns to a world-class education Carolyn Townsend will always remember her tearful parting from The University of Texas at Austin after earning her Bachelor of Arts degree in history and English in 1966. “I was the last one out of the Pi Phi sorority house,” Carolyn says. “I put […]
Dig This
Undergrads who conduct research in the field are more likely to thrive in the classroom For three College of Liberal Arts undergraduates, conducting research with professors provided the skills they needed to succeed and helped them discover just what they wanted to do next. “Undergraduate research gives you an experience that you’d almost never get […]
Close to the Land
Working in Botswana’s villages and countryside, geographer Kelley Crews explores how ongoing changes affect its people and ecosystems The people of the Okavango River Delta region of Botswana live close to the land. The delta’s watery fingers provide water for crops and livestock. They draw wildlife that sustain the tourism industry and they grow grasses […]
Timing Is Everything
Putting a new spin on ADHD research, psychologist finds the effects of the disorder may be caused by a glitch in internal timing At 33, Susan can’t sit still. She never could. Pegged by her teachers as the resident “problem child,” she spent most of her afternoons in detention for disrupting class and forgetting her […]
Separating Fact From Fiction
Legend has it Benjamin Franklin ventured out on a stormy day to fly a kite with a lightning rod and a key dangling on the end of the string. When the lightning struck the kite, the powerful bolt charged the metal key. Franklin then touched the key and got zapped, thus proving the electrical nature […]
Q&A: State of Minds
Don Graham’s essays explore Texas’ storied history in film and literature A vast land filled with sleepy small towns, sprawling pastures and gleaming urban skylines, Texas has an identity and mystique all its own. Just the word Texas conjures images of rootin,’ tootin’ cowboys, cattle drives, oil wells and big hair. But for those who […]
Continuing Tradition
Alumnus gives back to his university It really was a natural for Martin Dies III to earn a degree in government from The University of Texas at Austin. You might say it was in his DNA. His father served in the Texas Senate, and his grandfather and great-grandfather served in Congress. Government intrigued him at […]
Minoring in Miller
Religious studies professor’s devotion to teaching recognized Professor G. Howard Miller began teaching at The University of Texas at Austin in 1971 in Burdine 106, an auditorium seating hundreds of students. “I felt like a rock star,” says Miller, a University Distinguished Teaching Associate Professor of History and Religious Studies, who retired earlier this year. […]
To the Moon
CarMax founder supports Plan II study abroad and recalls his own experience One spring day in 1973, while wandering the streets of Lima, University of Texas student Austin Ligon got swept up in an Easter procession. There he was, a Protestant from West Texas, marching for hours with hundreds of thousands of Peruvian Catholics behind […]
Q&A: Premarital Sex in America
Sociologists explore changing sexual landscape among college students While young women’s educational and career opportunities have skyrocketed over the past two decades, their opportunities for stable, long-term relationships have declined, according to the new book “Premarital Sex in America: How Young Americans Meet, Mate and Think About Marrying,” by University of Texas at Austin sociologists […]
No Pain No Gain
Training professors to write grant proposals, win research dollars Like many young faculty members at The University of Texas at Austin, psychologist Paige Harden has big, cutting-edge research ideas. Also like many young faculty, Harden needs federal grants to get started. But she realizes that the average age of scholars who receive certain National Institutes […]
Meet the Parents
Evolutionary psychologists reveal why parents want their children’s mates to have certain traits Psychologist Carin Perilloux is looking into a crazy little thing called love—and finding out why it’s so complicated when that special someone meets the parents. Good looks, personality, religion and earning potential may all come into play when choosing a serious sweetheart. […]
Conversation Stoppers
Professors examine how we don’t — but should — talk openly about race in the United States First came the fiery attacks last summer as the NAACP approved a resolution condemning perceived racist elements within the Tea Party movement. A few days later, United States Department of Agriculture official Shirley Sherrod was forced to resign […]
The Burden of the Bullied
High school’s over, but the effects may be long term High school is long past for Kelly, now 38, but she still recalls when her family relocated to a small West Texas town at the beginning of her freshman year. The bullying started from day one with a new rumor circulating about her every Monday […]
Q&A: Beauty Shop Politics
Historian Sees Beauty Shops as Birthplace of Activism “While there is a very vibrant scholarship in African American history and African American women’s history, the issue of entrepreneurship is something that has sometimes been ignored,” says Tiffany Gill, while sitting down with us to discuss her book, “Beauty Shop Politics: African American Women’s Activism in […]
Getting Ahead While Giving Back
Liberal Arts students committed to helping others and researchers explain why After Sly Majid graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a degree in government in 2004, he landed a secure job at an insurance company with a comfortable office and handsome salary. But day after day, Majid continued to feel empty and restless. […]
A Towering Mystery Solved
Why ancient alphabets adorn a university icon When then-Harvard University Professor John Huehnergard and his wife and colleague Jo Ann Hackett first visited The University of Texas at Austin last year, they couldn’t help but notice the ancient Phoenician and Hebrew letters that adorn the Tower. After all, Hackett, a Hebrew scholar, and Huehnergard, who […]
Digging Up The Past, Close To Home
Artifacts, descendants tell story of freed slaves in Texas Recovering a forgotten history of African American life was motivation enough for anthropology graduate student Nedra Lee and her peers to brave the Texas summer heat while excavating an old farmstead in southern Travis County. “Working outdoors always brought a few surprises. There were always toads […]
A Veteran’s Dedication
Frank Denius’ commitment helps students understand World War II Each spring, Frank Denius meets with a group of about 20 University of Texas at Austin students who are about to leave for Europe as part of the Normandy Scholar Program. And each fall, Denius — the noted philanthropist, businessman and decorated World War II veteran — meets […]
The Son of Texas
W. Parker Frisbie inspires colleagues and students Twenty-five years ago, W. Parker Frisbie stumbled into the field of mortality research by accident. The young sociology professor’s interest in mortality, the study of death in a population, was piqued when a graduate student asked him to chair her dissertation committee. “At that time, we had no […]