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 […]
Features
Hope, Love and Charity: Q&A with Miss Austin 2019 Jacqueline Petescia
Jacqueline Petescia, a freshman health and society major at the University of Texas at Austin, recently won the title of Miss Austin 2019. Jacqueline runs a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Friends Don’t Count Chromosomes, is a part of the Omega chapter of the Alpha Phi sorority, and is a classically trained opera singer and yodeler. Learn more […]
Hope, Love and Charity: Q&A with Miss Austin 2019 Jacqueline Petescia
Jacqueline Petescia, a freshman health and society major at the University of Texas at Austin, recently won the title of Miss Austin 2019. Jacqueline runs a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Friends Don’t Count Chromosomes, is a part of the Omega chapter of the Alpha Phi sorority, and is a classically trained opera singer and yodeler. Learn more […]
Beyond the Battlefield: The war rages on, but this time it’s personal
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 […]
The Best Teachers are the Best Researchers: A Q&A with Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra
For the recognition of his work in mentoring graduate students, University of Texas at Austin history professor Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra has been presented with The Nancy Lyman Roelker Mentorship Award. This award commemorates educators that train, teach, and inspire students in a deeply meaningful and impactful way. Cañizares-Esguerra is the first to receive this award at […]
Joan Neuberger: A Pioneer in Digital History
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, […]
Here Comes the Song: The Personalities Behind Your Favorite Beatles Lyrics
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 […]
Alumna Bianna Golodryga Joins CBS This Morning as Co-Host
Liberal Arts alumna Bianna Golodryga has been named co-host of “CBS This Morning.” She graduated in 2000 from The University of Texas at Austin with a B.A. in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies and a minor in economics. She began her television career as a bureau producer from the New York Stock Exchange for […]
Us, But Better: Q&A with Liberal Arts Council President Michaela Lavelle
Michaela Lavelle is a psychology and humanities junior from Arlington, Texas. She is president of the 2018–19 Liberal Arts Council, an organization nearing its 40th year as the official student voice and governing body for the college. The LAC gives students a voice in the academic affairs of the university by voting in the Senate […]
A Shoemaker’s Dilemma: Q&A with English Alum and Author Spencer Wise
Set in contemporary South China, The Emperor of Shoes is about a young Jewish Bostonian preparing to take over his family’s shoe business. But he ends up falling in love with a factory worker who may or may not be using him as a pawn to start a pro-democratic revolution in the factory. For author […]
Pursuing a Passion for Service and Justice
Milla Lubis, a psychology and social work double major from Allen, Texas, has been awarded the 2018 Randy Diehl Prize in Liberal Arts. Now in its third year, the $15,000 award was established by donors to support a graduating liberal arts senior who is committing the year after graduation to service for the greater good, […]
The Future is Female: Young Women Inspired to take on NEW Leadership™ Roles
With more running for political office than ever before, women have moved beyond breaking ceilings and on to breaking records. But there’s still more work to be done. This year, more than 2,500 women filed for national- or state-level candidacy in a bi-partisan effort to increase female representation in politics nationwide, where women currently hold […]
Fight Like a Girl: How Women’s Activism Shapes History
Alice Embree doesn’t know what came over her the first time she stood up against injustice. She just knew it was the right thing to do. Along with her friends Karen and Glodine and the rest of the Austin High School drill squad, Embree had just sat down to order at a restaurant in Corpus […]
A Right to the City
Just south of Manor Road on Airport Boulevard, there’s a dimly lighted blues club where new and old East Austin meet. There, at the Skylark Lounge, local African American piano icon Margaret Wright plays happy hour on Thursday and Friday nights, giving city newcomers a taste of the bygone culture that once engulfed Austin’s eastern […]
Watch Your Step
Walking on natural terrain takes precise coordination between vision and body movements to efficiently and stably traverse any given path. But until now, vision and locomotion have been studied separately within controlled lab environments. To better understand how gaze and gait work together to help us navigate the natural world, UT Austin researchers combined new […]
Be Your Authentic Self
Dr. Travis Cosban is a Dedman scholar alumnus from New Orleans by way of Katy, Texas. He graduated from UT Austin with a Plan II Honors degree in 2009 before becoming a part of the inaugural class at the Texas Tech University Health Science Center’s Paul L. Foster School of Medicine. Cosban is an emergency […]
Intern Supreme
Bahar Sahami is a Dedman Distinguished scholar from Plano, Texas. She is a senior double majoring in government and international relations and global studies, while minoring in Middle Eastern studies and completing a certificate in global management from the McCombs School of Business. She is a 2018 Bill Archer fellow, an Intellectual Entrepreneurship Citizen scholar, […]
Make Life Extraordinary
In 1986, Robert and Nancy Dedman invested $10 million in the College of Liberal Arts to help recruit and educate the nation’s top students. Since its creation in 1989, the Dedman Distinguished Scholars (DDS) program has funded the education of nearly 200 students. Dedman scholarships cover tuition, housing, books and all other education-related expenses. In […]
Defending Humanities
Legend has it that Alexander the Great fell asleep with an annotated copy of The Iliad tucked under his pillow, dreaming of Achilles. And when he led his armies into Persia, the Homeric epic and the notes of his tutor, Aristotle, were thrumming in his mind, shaping his vision of great leadership. A story, not […]
Forged in the Fires of My Liberal Arts Classes: Dean’s Distinguished Graduates Q&As
Every spring, the College of Liberal Arts recognizes 12 outstanding seniors as Dean’s Distinguished Graduates; students who have dedicated themselves to scholarship, leadership and service to the college and university community. Each 2018 recipient will be honored at the College of Liberal Arts joint commencement ceremony on May 18. The award, established in 1980, is […]
Information Quest: Undergraduate Research Week 2018
On April 19, a group of hand-picked liberal arts students who have conducted exceptional research projects presented them at the Dean’s Research Reception. College faculty and staff members, college administrators and Dean Randy Diehl all gathered to learn about the outstanding work that liberal arts students have conducted. The annual event is a part of […]
Psychology Junior Interns with Renowned Mental Illness Advocacy Organization
One in 5 Americans lives with a mental health condition, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Joanne Sanchez, a UT Austin psychology junior, is interning with the Texas chapter of NAMI, the largest grassroots organization dedicated to improving the lives of people with mental illness in the country. Since January, Sanchez has worked […]
Women’s Magic Hour: A Q&A Starring Donna Kornhaber
Since its humble beginnings at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in 1929, when a seat cost a mere $5 (equivalent to roughly $72 today), the Academy Awards have celebrated the creative pursuits of some of history’s most notable characters. But in a year marked by controversy surrounding a disturbing number of sexual assault accusations and increasing […]
Small But Powerful Moments: An IRG Senior’s Experience Abroad
Experiential learning is an essential part of a liberal arts education, and Austin native Megan Nater’s time studying abroad has served her well. Nater is an International Relations & Global Studies senior whose studies focus on security and Latin America. For her undergraduate honors thesis, Nater is examining women’s rights mobilization in Colombia. As a […]
Smile, You’re on Camera: Behind the Lens of 24/7 Surveillance
“Even a strutting exhibitionist has something to hide: certain diary entries, genetic predispositions, financial mistakes, medical crises, teenage embarrassments, antisocial compulsions, sexual fantasies, radical dreams,” writes Randolph Lewis. “We all have something that we want to shield from public view. The real question is: Who gets to pull the curtains? And increasingly: How will we […]