As Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, I can’t wave a magic wand and make our teachers charismatic and our students passionately curious. Fortunately, I don’t have to. They’re already that. What I can do is help nurture the conditions that allow them to flourish.
Dean's Message
Dean’s Message
A liberal arts education is both a practical preparation for a flourishing career and an immersion in the big questions of life and the world. It’s the right answer to a host of questions.
Dean’s Message
We’re back. Life & Letters is back in print after two years of digital-only issues. More importantly, our students, faculty, and staff were able to spend most of the academic year on campus. It was wonderful to see our community come back to life. The magazine’s return to print is a symbol of that rebirth. […]
Let’s Talk About the Liberal Arts
Dean Ann Huff Stevens discusses the strengths and benefits that come with a degree in Liberal Arts.
Looking to a Bright Future
The focus on brain health in this issue of Life & Letters is particularly compelling because our researchers are on the cusp of making dramatic breakthroughs in mental health research, cognitive neuroscience and in other areas that affect the lives of so many. What excites me about this research is its “translational” quality — our […]
Rising to the Challenge
Five years ago we opened the doors to a new College of Liberal Arts Building in the heart of campus. It was a milestone event, marking the first time students in our college had a place to call home. Departments and other units once scattered across campus were brought together in new collaborative spaces, as […]
An Education Like No Other
An education at a Research I university is like no other in that it gives undergraduates a unique opportunity to learn from and even work alongside some of the world’s top faculty researchers. A great example in our college is psychology professor Marc Lewis, who along with his wife Elizabeth Crook created the Eleanor Butt […]
Using Your Mellon
The College of Liberal Arts has a long and proud tradition of preparing its graduate students to teach and conduct research in the humanities at colleges and universities around the world, and we are particularly proud of our many placements in the nation’s top institutions. However, over the past two decades academic positions in the […]
Commitment to Serve the Greater Good
During my 41 years at The University of Texas at Austin, I’ve had the good fortune to teach and work with many talented and dedicated students who have not only gone on to rewarding careers, but have also generously given back to society. Two of our students, Danielle Brown and Olivia Migacz, were selected as the […]
Open a Door for a Longhorn Intern
Learning by doing — what we call experiential learning — is at the heart of a liberal arts education, and that is why our students can be found working as interns in a variety of businesses and organizations in Texas and across the globe. That is also why the College of Liberal Arts is partnering […]
Crossing Mental Boundaries
The writer Lawrence Durrell once observed that travel is among the most rewarding forms of introspection, and students who study abroad bear this out. When they leave their comfort zones and experience life and learning in another culture, they return home knowing a lot more about themselves. Study abroad gives students context to better understand […]
Championing Student Success
We hear a lot these days about the challenges facing college students, from loan debt to an uncertain job market. The College of Liberal Arts has consistently taken the lead in creating innovative solutions for these and other challenges, and our efforts are paying off. The university has sought our college’s leadership on a number of student success initiatives. In 2011 we led […]
Freedom to Learn
Freedom to Learn The boycott of Israeli academic institutions by leaders of several associations of higher education in the U.S. has raised some important questions about academic freedom at our colleges and universities. Boycott supporters cite Israeli repression of the academic freedom of Palestinian scholars and students as the reason for their action, but fail […]
Message from the Dean: Spring 2014
Dear Friends, In my previous message I wrote about the importance of academic freedom and how a free and open exchange of ideas is a necessary condition for building a strong university and a democratic society. Why do we embrace such an ideal? It helps to look back at the origins of our state universities, […]
Message from the Dean: Winter 2014
Dear Friends, I am sure many of you have seen the headlines about the boycott of Israeli academic institutions by several higher education associations. A number of you have asked about our position on this issue, and if we will take action against associations or faculty who support the boycott. This is an issue of […]
Message from the Dean: Winter 2013
Dear Friends, Although 2013 has been a year of economic recovery, to many college graduates it was also a year of economic uncertainty in a job market that is undergoing transformation on a scale we haven’t seen since the Industrial Revolution. Many of the careers their parents and grandparents pursued simply don’t exist anymore, due […]
Preparing Tomorrow’s Leaders
At a recent meeting of our college Advisory Council, an alumnus participating in a discussion on communications suggested that our college has one simple message to convey: “A liberal arts education is the best education for anyone aspiring to be a leader.” He was paraphrasing our global affairs expert Jeremi Suri, who at a previous […]
Message from the Dean: Fall 2013
Dear Friends, In my last message I wrote about how a liberal arts education uniquely equips our students for the rapidly changing global marketplace, making them attractive to employers in many sectors. Attributes that make our students top hiring prospects— the ability to think and communicate creatively and critically, to analyze situations from multiple perspectives—also […]
Message from the Dean: Fall 2013
Dear Friends, Most of us have heard the jokes about liberal arts majors, such as this old saw: Q: What is the difference between a liberal arts major and a park bench? A: A park bench can support a family of four. This cliché proves utterly false when one considers the achievements of our alumni […]
It’s Just the Beginning
For three years Life & Letters magazine has marked our progress toward the dream of a new College of Liberal Arts Building, and with this issue we celebrate the realization of that dream and the hard work and dedication of those who made it possible. Although the construction phase is for the most part complete, […]
Message from the Dean: Spring 2013
Welcome to the New Home of Liberal Arts The new College of Liberal Arts Building is a significant milestone in the history of this college and The University of Texas at Austin. It marks the beginning of a new era in teaching, research and service made possible by the generous support of our donors—alumni and […]
Moving Forward in the Face of Challenge
Higher education has seen its share of challenges over the past half-decade. The global financial crisis that began in 2007 sent tremors across every campus in the country, causing us not only to tighten our belts but to rethink fundamental models of teaching, research and service that have guided our mission for more than a […]
A Bold Statement on the East Mall
The month of April, according to the Bard, “Hath put a spirit of youth in every thing.” Texas is a far cry from the English countryside, but following last year’s record drought, abundant rains have restored a bit of youthful green to our campus. It is a fitting backdrop for the new College of Liberal […]
The Inextricable Link Between Teaching and Research
During my 36 years as a psychology professor at The University of Texas at Austin, I’ve had the privilege of teaching thousands of students, exposing them to important ideas about human thought, behavior and motivation. I’ve also had the opportunity to conduct research that helps us better understand how people perceive speech. It has been […]
Meeting Today’s Budget Realities While Building for the Future
As you read this issue of Life & Letters, state lawmakers here in Austin continue to debate how to close an estimated $27 billion budget gap. The final spending plan they send to Gov. Rick Perry in the coming weeks will include cuts to almost every area of stategovernment, including higher education and TheUniversity of Texas at Austin. These are obviously difficult […]