December Troy Kimmel Receives Citizen Service Award from University of Texas Police Department Geography and the Environment Senior Lecturer Troy M. Kimmel Jr. was acknowledged with a Citizen Service Award presented on Dec. 11 by David Carter, Chief of the University of Texas Police Department (UTPD). This award is presented to a citizen/civilian of the community in […]
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Romo Silkscreens on Display in College of Liberal Arts Dean’s Suite
Seven vibrant silkscreens from the Benson Latin American Collection will be on display over the next several years in the Dean’s Office of the College of Liberal Arts, located on the third floor of the Gebauer Building. Selected and installed by Benson curator Julianne Gilland, the pieces are on loan from the Benson’s Ricardo and […]
Media Highlights: Summer 2014
June Jacqueline Woolley (Psychology) shared insight into children’s perceptions of reality and fantasy in a CNN story. The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times Sunday Book Review featured Donna Kornhaber’s (English) new book “Charlie Chaplin, Director.” Elizabeth McCracken’s new book “Thunderstruck and Other Stories” was featured in several media outlets, including the Guardian […]
Liberal Arts Offers Online Distance Education Courses
The University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts is launching an innovative online distance education program that provides transferable lower division college credit in the social sciences, humanities and foreign languages. Leveraging custom web technologies and high-definition video production designed by Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services, the college is offering online classes in […]
Sociology Professor Keith Robinson Invited to Speak at White House Symposium
Keith Robinson, assistant professor of sociology and Population Research Center associate at The University of Texas at Austin, was recently invited by the U.S. Department of Education and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to speak at a two-day symposium exploring “Transformative Family Engagement” July 30-31 at the White House. As part of the discussion on family […]
Walking on All Fours Is Not Backward Evolution, Study Shows
Contradicting earlier claims, “The Family That Walks on All Fours,” a group of quadrupedal humans made famous by a 2006 BBC documentary, have simply adapted to their inability to walk upright and do not represent an example of backward evolution, according to new research by Liza Shapiro, an anthropologist at The University of Texas at […]
Student-Run Economics Journal Spotlights Undergrad Research
Undergraduate research work in economics, mathematics, international relations, finance and public policy is being recognized through a research journal founded by students at The University of Texas at Austin. The Developing Economist‘s inaugural issue was published in the spring, but the process of creating it began much earlier. Members of UT Austin chapter of Omicron […]
UT Global Initiative Hosts Leadership Training for Young African Entrepreneurs
This summer, 25 competitively selected emerging entrepreneurs from Sub-Saharan Africa are participating in a six-week academic institute with leadership seminars hosted by the UT Global Initiative for Education and Leadership. The young business leaders (ages 25-35) are part of a larger group of 500 Washington Fellows that will be hosted across the United States this […]
Nonprofit Partners for Languages in the United States Moves to UT Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is now home to Partners for Languages in the United States (PLUS), a nonprofit member-based organization designed to advance language education to the highest levels of professional proficiency. Housed in the College of Liberal Arts’ Texas Language Center, PLUS works as an accrediting body for university-level programs that meet […]
Student Advisors Make All the Difference at Orientation Sessions
Being an incoming freshman at a major university can be an overwhelming experience, and the students who work as orientation advisors (OAs) understand the feeling. “I wanted to become an orientation advisor because my freshman orientation was my first time visiting UT,” says Gustavo Molinar, a psychology sophomore. “I was nervous to start in a […]
2014 Dean’s Distinguished Graduates Luncheon
Dean Randy Diehl recognized 12 outstanding College of Liberal Arts students at a luncheon on May 15. The Dean’s Distinguished Graduates Program was founded in 1980. Each May, 12 Liberal Arts graduates are selected on the basis of high achievements in scholarship, leadership and service to the College. The recognition of the Dean’s Distinguished Graduates […]
Genetic Study Confirms Link between Earliest Americans and Modern Native Americans
The ancient remains of a teenage girl found in an underwater Mexican cave establish a definitive link between the earliest Americans and modern Native Americans, according to a new study released today in the journal Science. The study was conducted by an international team of researchers from 13 institutions, including Deborah Bolnick, assistant professor of […]
COLA Commencement, May 2014
The College of Liberal Arts hosts nine commencement ceremonies. Students are encouraged to attend the ceremony applicable to their major. The Liberal Arts Joint Ceremony is intended for those majors not represented by a department ceremony. Students with more than one major may choose to attend multiple ceremonies or attend one ceremony and have all […]
LACS Job Search Boot Camp Helps Students Navigate the Job Market
Graduation is right around the corner and Liberal Arts Career Services is holding Job Search Boot Camp to help students prepare for life after college. The boot camp, scheduled for May 14 at 12 p.m., is a 2 ½ hour intensive job search training workshop to help liberal arts majors identify and understand the unique […]
Spring/Summer 2014 Student Awards
July Elizabeth Smith, a psychology graduate student at The University of Texas at Austin, has been awarded a Summer Student Fellowship from the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation (PDF) to study medical interventions for Parkinson’s disease. Her project, titled “Methylene Blue as a Treatment for Motor & Cognitive Deficits in a Rodent Model of Parkinson’s,” was selected […]
UT Undergrads Give $100,000 to Charity through Philanthropy Course
Imagine walking into class on the first day knowing you will be responsible for giving away $100,000 at the end of the semester. Forty students enrolled in the undergraduate studies course Philanthropy: The Power of Giving don’t have to imagine the feeling – they’ve done it. The class, taught by sociology and government professor Pamela […]
AADS Launches UT’s First Department-Specific App
The African & African Diaspora Studies Department has created a smartphone app that is now available to students across the UT Austin campus. The app was created to make it easier for undergraduate students to take control of their academic futures. It’s also an essential tool for the department to get information out about AFR […]
Why Mom Called You ‘Fluffy’
When choosing baby names, parents often want something that is pleasing to the ear. Some even turn to alliteration when naming multiple children. But according to a new psychology study from The University of Texas at Austin, parents set themselves up for speech errors when they give their children similar-sounding names. The findings, published in […]
Pillow Wins Presidential Early Career Award
Jonathan Pillow was one of three faculty members from The University of Texas at Austin selected to receive the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their research careers. Pillow develops mathematical models to study how […]
No More Keeping Up with the Joneses
It has long been assumed that many low- and middle-income Americans over-borrow so they can keep up with wealthier Americans—or “keeping up with the Joneses.” This condition is often blamed for the large rise in household debt that occurred during the 2000s, but a UT Austin economist’s research tells a different story. The study examines […]
Can You Leave High School Behind?
The quality of a student’s high school is a key predictor of grades earned in college, according to a new study from The University of Texas at Austin. The study examines the relationship between high school quality and student success at college and takes advantage of the unique policy environment provided by Texas’s Top Ten […]
Walk Like a Texan
Pictured is a child’s sandal from a West Texas dry shelter site, likely 2,500-3,000 years old, that is housed in the collections at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory (TARL). TARL is a nationally recognized archeological research facility and the largest archeological repository in the state. As part of the College of Liberal Arts, its mission is […]
Liberal Arts Student Selected for Elite Fellowship
A UT economics student will be spending part of his summer studying abroad in Paris, thanks to a fellowship devoted to international education. Ben Adams, a junior from Austin, Texas, is one of only 40 undergraduate students in the nation selected to receive a 2014 Humanity in Action Fellowship. The fellowship brings together international groups […]
Archiving the Central American Revolutions
The 2014 Lozano Long Conference in February focused on the “revolutionary decades” in Central America (1970 through 1990), bringing together scholars from the United States and Central America. Several speakers and panelists offered first-hand perspectives on revolutions in Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador. One objective of the conference was the acquisition of documentary materials—personal papers, […]
King’s Treasure
Digital Archive Holds Untold History of African American Mental Health Resplendent in his trademark sport coat and bow tie, Louis Armstrong plays a trumpet for a large gathering of patients underneath a grove of trees outside of Central State Hospital, the world’s first African American psychiatric hospital in Petersburg, Va. This is one of the […]