Let’s talk about statues, or one statue in particular, and all of the trouble a cold, hard, unfeeling thing can cause. Imagine you are the president of a very large, prestigious institution, representative of the spirit and aspirations of a region. Your greatest benefactor, a former regent and a veteran, stipulates in his will the […]
Features
American Girls in Red Russia: Chasing the Soviet Dream
If you search “women in the 1920s” in Google Images, what you get are a few photos of women working or protesting, but many more photos of sexually liberated flappers — at the beach, on the town, or dancing the night away at some speakeasy. The 1920s look like one big party. But the decade […]
Army Strong: UT Army ROTC Celebrates 70 Years
The nation that will insist upon drawing a broad line of demarcation between the fighting man and the thinking man is liable to find its fighting done by fools and its thinking by cowards. – Colonel Sir William Francis Butler, in Charles George Gordon Though the National Defense Act of 1916 created the Reserve Officers’ […]
Testing the Waters
Bailey Anderson is a geography and the environment alumna from Bowie, Texas. She is the recipient of a 2017 British Marshall scholarship, which will fund her pursuit of a Master of Philosophy in geography: water science, policy and management at the University of Oxford. Anderson has also been awarded the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration […]
Leaving Home: Austin’s Declining African American Population
In December of 2015, author and former Austin resident Ellen Sweets wrote a farewell letter to Austin that was published in TribTalk: Ever since I decided to leave Austin, I’ve tried to write a farewell devoid of anger and frustration, and every time I’ve had to move on to writing something else. A Facebook post. […]
People, Places and Pages of Influence
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 […]
Helping Students Set Sail
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 […]
Living Off His Mind: Angelbert Metoyer’s Patient Pursuit to Understand
When he was 7 years old, Angelbert Metoyer had his first art show in his father’s office. His father had adorned his office walls with a collection of his son’s drawings and invited his colleagues in to appreciate the artwork and purchase their favorite pieces. It was a simple gesture he arranged to help Metoyer […]
A Stand Up Longhorn
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 […]
First Class: Rethinking Health Care Through the Liberal Arts
The doors of the Dell Medical School have opened for its first class of future doctors, and they are on a mission to get the training they need to make a difference in the lives of future patients, their communities and even medicine itself. Of the 50 members in the school’s inaugural class, three graduated […]
The Untold Stories of Modern Warriors
The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it. – Thucydides Oftentimes, we are met with spectacular images of war, depicting valiance and vilifying enemies; but these stories, some say, lack an honest narrative. While soldiers […]
Bright Futures: Q&A with the 2016-17 Larry Temple Scholars
Each year, the Larry Temple Scholarship recognizes two students in the College of Liberal Arts with superior academic merit. First awarded in 1992, the scholarship honors Austin lawyer and public servant Larry Eugene Temple. Temple, a champion of higher education, graduated with a bachelor’s degree from UT Austin in 1957 and received his law degree from […]
Living Without the Snooze Button: Leadership Lessons from Coach DKR
Daron K. Roberts is originally from East Texas. As a student at The University of Texas at Austin he earned degrees in Plan II Honors and government and served as student government president. He teaches about the intersection of leadership, sports and business, and was recognized as one of the Harvard Kennedy School’s 75 Most […]
Teaching While Learning in Graduate School
“When I found out that I was going to TA in the beginning of the semester, I was very nervous. Not only was this my first semester in grad school, but I’ve also never taught anything at this academic level. I’m so incredibly glad that I registered for this class. I learned so many valuable […]
An Education for Life
Michael Stoff was raised in Merrick, New York, and was the first in his family to graduate from college. He received a bachelor’s in history and American studies from Rutgers College, and a master’s of philosophy in history and doctorate of philosophy in history from Yale University. He has taught at UT Austin for 36 […]
Humanists Make Great Doctors
Dr. Kimberly Monday is a Plan II alumna, the 1988 Texas Parents Association’s Outstanding Female Student and a Dean’s Distinguished Graduate from Huntsville, Texas. She attended Baylor College of Medicine and completed her neurological residency there before taking a fellowship at Emory University. She is the owner of the Houston Neurological Institute and president of […]
No Stone Unturned
Zachary Stone is a Plan II senior from Dallas, Texas. He has served as the chief justice of UT Austin’s Student Government, been published in the Sunday edition of The New York Times and will be attending the UT Austin School of Law on a Massey Scholarship, the school’s top merit award. Why Plan II? […]
The Campaign for Your Vote: Just Add Brand Power
After months of being bombarded by pollsters, campaign ads and the most outlandish sound bites on repeat, the moment will come for you to finally cast your ballot. Whom will you choose? “The presidency is the one office that represents the American people: all their wishes, dreams, desires, hopes, fears and everything else,” says history […]
What’s So Funny About the Liberal Arts?
We’ve all heard the jokes about liberal arts majors, inspired by stereotypes that students in the humanities, social sciences and languages are destined to lives of underemployment: The science major asks, “Why does it work?” The engineering major asks, “How does it work?” The business major asks, “How much will it cost?” The liberal arts […]
Passion for Social Activism Inspires Truman Scholar
A passion for learning and public service inspires the life and work of Zoraima Pelaez, a Liberal Arts Honors and humanities junior at UT Austin who was named a 2016 Truman Scholar. Congress created the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation in 1975 as the nation’s living memorial to President Harry S. Truman. It has since […]
UT Austin Student Developing App That Can Help Diagnose Skin Cancer
A psychology and biology student at The University of Texas at Austin is using the accessibility provided by the web and smartphones to help people who could be in medical need. Rachel Graubard, a Liberal Arts Honors (LAH) senior from Houston, Texas, has been working on an app that can diagnose and monitor skin cancer since […]
Government Grad Explains How Liberal Arts and Tech Can Come Together
John Newcomb, a recent government alum who graduated in December, used his liberal arts education and preparation from Liberal Arts Career Services to help him land a job at Facebook. Read more with Newcomb on his college experience, the value of an internship and the power of critical thinking below. What made you want to […]
Economics Student Takes the Road Less Traveled to Campus
Tyler DiGiovanni, an economics senior with a Spanish minor, isn’t your typical undergraduate student. At 27, he’s lived abroad, transferred schools, taken time off to create a new company and reevaluated his path countless times. All of that led him to the UT Austin economics program. Prior to college, DiGiovanni spent 2008-10 living Buenos Aires, […]
Journeys
Why do we travel? What impels us to leave behind the comforts of home and endure the indignities of airports or the toils and snares of an interstate highway? We travel because it is in our nature. Humans have always been on the move, sometimes out of necessity — hunting and gathering, or fleeing from […]
Spark Your Interests: Five Liberal Arts Classes That Ignite Critical Thinking
It’s not uncommon for the College of Liberal Arts to break the Registrar’s website. Not on purpose — the interdisciplinary nature of the courses offered in liberal arts do not always mesh well with a system that was designed around rigid department codes. The level of collaboration among faculty members across departments to create in-depth, fascinating […]