Neuroscientist embarks on a yearlong quest to study a single human brain, his own Every Tuesday morning through November 2013, neuroscientist Russell Poldrack woke up, took off his headband-like sleep monitor and told it to wirelessly send data about his night’s sleep to a database. Then he’d log in to a survey app on his […]
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English Senior Wins Keene Prize for Literature
Katherine Noble, English ’13, has won the $50,000 Keene Prize for Literature for her collection of poems, “Like Electrical Fire Across the Silence.” She is the first undergraduate to win or place in the competition, which awards one of the world’s largest student literary prizes. “I have been affected by images from biblical myths since […]
Literary Gold British Studies
Wm. Roger Louis, director of the Program in British Studies, has won the Benson Gold Medal of the Royal Society of Literature, the highest award in literature and history in England. The award was given in recognition of his enormous contribution to English literature—both through his own writing, and through his support of other writers […]
Regents Honor Outstanding Teaching
Five faculty members from the College of Liberal Arts received the 2013 Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award, the UT System Board of Regents’ highest teaching honor. The awards program is one of the nation’s largest monetary teaching recognition programs in higher education, honoring outstanding performance in the classroom and dedication to innovation in undergraduate instruction. The […]
Genetic Influence on Intelligence Increases Over Time
About 70 percent of a person’s intelligence can be explained by their DNA—and those genetic influences only get stronger with age, according to new research by psychology researchers Daniel Briley, Elliot Tucker-Drob and Paige Harden. Using meta-analytic procedures—the statistical methods used to analyze and combine results from previous, related literature—the researchers examined genetic and environmental […]
Botswana: Earth’s Classroom
The Botswana Study Abroad Program gives undergraduate and graduate students an opportunity to spend their summer exploring climate change, ecosystems and human dynamics in the heart of Southern Africa. From dawn to dusk, students spend hours sampling soil, identifying species and observing wildlife and local culture. From leopard sightings in Modisa to San Bushmen walks […]
No Place Like Home
Army ROTC Students Help Oldest Living WWII Veteran Repair Home A group of Army ROTC students set forth on an important mission in early October. They spent an entire day remodeling the home of 107-year-old World War II veteran Richard Overton. For nearly seven decades, the East Austin house has been Overton’s home since he […]
Fall/Winter 2013 Faculty & Staff Awards
November Government Professor David Leal Named Distinguished Alumnus David Leal, professor of government, has received a 2013 Distinguished Alumni Scholar award from Stanford University. Leal was honored at Stanford’s Distinguished Alumni Scholar Day, a day-long event where he met with students, university leaders, and members of the cultural and ethnic community at on Nov. 13. […]
UT Classical Archaeology Research Leads to UNESCO World Heritage Site Designation
After two decades of research led by a classical archaeology professor at The University of Texas at Austin, an ancient Greek settlement in southern Ukraine was granted World Heritage status by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). A port city founded by Greeks in the fifth century B.C., Chersonesos is the site […]
UT Austin Mourns Loss of Bill Livingston
The University of Texas at Austin community mourns the loss of former acting university president William S. Livingston, who died Aug. 15 at the age of 93. “Bill Livingston embodied all the best qualities of a university leader: erudition, eloquence, sweeping vision, warmth and good humor,” says President Bill Powers. “The University of Texas is […]
U.S. Regions Exhibit Distinct Personalities, Study Shows
People with similar personality types are so likely to cluster in certain areas of the country that a map of the United States can actually be divided into regions with distinct personalities, according to new psychology research from The University of Texas at Austin and the University of Cambridge. The study, co-authored by Samuel Gosling, […]
Media Highlights: Fall/Winter 2013
October A new study co-authored by Sam Gosling (Psychology), which literally maps out America’s personality profiles, was featured in several media outlets including TIME, Parade, the Atlantic, Huffington Post, Mother Jones and the Daily Mail. A new study by Daniel Hamermesh (Economics), which found favoritism is ubiquitous in labor markets, was featured in the Wall […]
Interdisciplinary certificate in LGBTQ and sexuality studies to launch in fall 2014
An interdisciplinary certificate in LGBTQ and sexuality studies will draw from a variety of departments in the College of Liberal Arts when it is launched in the fall of 2014. Unanimously approved by the College of Liberal Arts Policy and Curriculum Committee, LGBTQ/Sexualities Studies is a field that draws together work in the humanities, social […]
Helping Constitutions Endure
Government professor launches Google website at United Nations General Assembly Constitutions are supposed to provide a sustainable structure for politics. Yet only half live more than 19 years. Zachary Elkins, associate professor of government and a leading constitutional scholar, knows what it takes for constitutions to last for generations—and now he’s teaming up with Google […]
How to Jumpstart Your Dissertation
Boot camp helps graduate students avoid pitfalls and get writing Like most graduate students, the hardest part of Kathleen Shafer’s dissertation was getting started. Shafer, a graduate student in the Department of Geography and the Environment, was among 11 graduate students from The University of Texas at Austin to attend Dissertation Boot Camp this summer, […]
That’s Shakespeare, With One ‘S’
English Professor Confirms the Bard’s Hand in The Spanish Tragedy For centuries, scholars have been searching for answers to a literary mystery: Who wrote the five additional passages in Thomas Kyd’s “The Spanish Tragedy”? Mounting arguments point to William Shakespeare, but English professor Douglas Bruster has recently found evidence confirming that the 325 additional lines […]
“Landfall” Exhibition Features Artist-in-Residence Laurie Anderson, Performance by Kronos Quartet
In partnership with Texas Performing Arts and the Visual Arts Center, the Humanities Institute welcomes Laurie Anderson as the C. L. and Henriette Cline Centennial Visiting Professor in the Humanities. During her residency this fall, Anderson will meet with students, faculty, and the public, and present a musical performance and exhibition, “Landfall.” Composed by Anderson […]
Extinct Ancient Ape Did Not Walk Like a Human, Study Shows
For decades, the movement of an ancient ape species called Oreopithecus bambolii has been a matter of debate for scientists. Did it walk like a human across its swampy Mediterranean island or did it move through the trees like other apes? According to a new study, led by University of Texas at Austin anthropologists Gabrielle […]
English Alumna Alyssa Ramirez Found Inspiration, Employment Through Undergraduate Research Position
Many liberal arts alumni speak fondly of formative professors and classes that helped shape their career path, and Alyssa Ramirez, who received her B.A. in English from The University of Texas at Austin in 2010, is no exception. During her time at the university, Ramirez worked as an undergraduate research apprentice for her favorite professor, […]
Psych 301: A live, interactive online course now open to the public
Psychology professors James Pennebaker and Sam Gosling are offering their online Psychology 301 course to growing numbers of students here and abroad. Unlike the free online classes commonly known as MOOCs (massive open online courses), Psychology 301 is live, fully interactive and offered for credit to registered UT students as well as to potentially thousands […]
UT Global Initiative Receives International Award
The Global Initiative for Education and Leadership of The University of Texas at Austin (UTGI) has received an award from the 2013 Gulf Education Conference and Exhibition (GECE) in London. The award recognizes UTGI’s work in promoting education globally and, especially, in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. “We formed The University of […]
UT Global Initiative to Forge New Partnership at London Conference
In an effort to further extend teacher training and educational development to international markets, the Global Initiative for Education and Leadership at The University of Texas at Austin is helping to organize the Gulf Education Conference and Exhibition (GECE) on June 19-20 at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel in London. In its third year, the GECE […]
C-SPAN Features Harry Middleton’s Liberal Arts Honors Course on “The Johnson Years”
A Liberal Arts Honors course taught by Harry Middleton, former director of the LBJ Presidential Library and Museum, will be featured in a C-SPAN “Lectures in History” series at 12 p.m. on July 7. The series will spotlight the conclusion of Middleton’s popular course titled “The Johnson Years,” which explores the legislative activity that formed […]
Life & Letters Wins International CASE Award
Life & Letters, the magazine of the College of Liberal Arts, has won a Bronze Circle of Excellence Award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). Life & Letters won in the category of College and University General Interest Magazines with Circulations of 29,999 or Fewer for three issues: Fall 2011, Spring […]
Psychology Professor Chairs White House Convening on ‘Academic Mindsets’
David Yeager, assistant professor of psychology at The University of Texas at Austin, served as program chair and co-organizer for a special convening session titled “Excellence in Education: The Importance of Academic Mindsets” on May 16 at the White House. Yeager led a diverse group of experts to determine how to improve motivation and address […]