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 […]
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From UT to DC
Lance Gooden exemplified what it means to be a University of Texas at Austin graduate as he stepped into the role of United States Representative earlier this year. Before being elected to serve in Congress, Gooden held a position in the Texas House of Representatives for District 4. After winning the general election in November […]
Student Projects Shine During Dean’s Research Reception
On April 18, a group of hand-picked liberal arts students who have conducted exceptional research projects presented their posters at the Dean’s Research Reception. College faculty and staff, administrators and Dean Randy Diehl all gathered to learn about the outstanding work liberal arts students have conducted. The annual event is a part of UT Austin’s […]
Team of the Year
Out of 145 Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) detachments across the country, Detachment 825 of the University of Texas at Austin was named the Team of the Year. In making their selection, the national headquarters for Air Force ROTC considers each detachment’s accomplishments. “They make their determination on overall mission impact, the uniqueness […]
A Week on Mars
For most, going to Mars is merely a childhood dream, but for Sukjin Han, that dream became a reality — all while never leaving Earth. The Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) is a project that is operated by the University of Hawaii and funded by NASA. The project hosts a select group of […]
Meet Ann Huff Stevens: Our Next College of Liberal Arts Dean
Ann Huff Stevens will begin as dean of the College of Liberal Arts on July 15, 2019. Stevens comes from the University of California, Davis, and is a Texas native with roots in Corpus Christi. She is a professor of economics who has served in a variety of leadership roles, including chair of the Department […]
Trolling the U.S.: Q&A on Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election
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 […]
New Year, Same You: Why New Year’s Resolutions Fail
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Tropical Storm: How Cuba Sent Revolutionary Waves Around the World
When it comes to staging a revolution, timing is everything. In 1959 an island nation of 7 million revolted against its U.S.-backed dictator, and with its subsequent export of revolution to Latin America became a major driver of U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War. In a story as compelling as it is complex, Professor […]
Damning the Amazon?
Hundreds of built and proposed hydroelectric dams may significantly harm life in and around the Amazon, according to research led by UT Austin scientists recently published in Nature. To meet energy needs, economic developers in South America have proposed 428 hydroelectric dams, with 140 currently built or under construction, in the Amazon basin — the largest and most […]
Fashion Meets Function
Though an avid cyclist, Gloria Hwang was never a fan of helmets, referring to them as “sci-fi” nuisances. But after losing a friend through a cycling accident, her perspective changed. Hwang, a psychology alumna, says her mission in founding and launching Thousand, a new brand of cycling helmets, was to save lives, noting that there are […]
Liberal Arts Abroad: Government Senior Travels to Izmir, Turkey
Six weeks of living in another country is a significant way that liberal arts students can apply their education to the world around them. Elizabeth Nelson, a government senior with a minor in Turkish, traveled to Izmir, Turkey, this summer, immersing herself in the language and culture of the country. Nelson is from Denver, Pennsylvania, […]
English and Plan II Senior Awarded $18,000 Diehl Prize to Help Serve Others
Christina Breitbeil, a Plan II Honors and English senior from Houston, Texas, has been awarded the 2017 Randy Diehl Prize in Liberal Arts. The $18,000 award, now in its second year, 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 Open Rhodes
Mikaila Smith is a Plan II senior with concentrations in international affairs and Chinese from Sydney, Australia, by way of Austin, Texas. She has been named a 2017 Rhodes scholar, which will provide for her to pursue a Master of Science degree in refugee and forced migration studies, followed by a Master of Science degree in […]
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 […]
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 […]
Investigations on Display: Undergraduate Research Week 2017
On April 19, 16 liberal arts student researchers presented their projects to faculty and staff members, college administrators and Dean Randy Diehl at the Dean’s Research Reception. The annual event is a part of UT Austin’s Undergraduate Research Week, which is hosted by the Senate of College Councils and the Office of Undergraduate Research in […]