A Generational Look at Education, Money and Work Empathetic. Impatient. Innovative. Unfocused. Rational. Naive. Excited. These are the words millennials in the College of Liberal Arts use when they’re asked to describe themselves. However, it’s a question they’re not often asked. Plenty of people, from journalists to researchers to employers, are looking to define who […]
Spring 2014
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 […]
Q&A with Beth Mooney
Banking on Liberal Arts Beth Mooney, History ’77, is the chairman and CEO of KeyCorp, making her the first female chief of a top 20 U.S. bank. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, she oversees more than 15,000 employees and $91 billion in assets. She has been named one of the most powerful women in banking by […]
Plan A Midsummer’s Dream Trip to Winedale
We all have those special Texas summer places that draw us back—the dance pavilion at Garner State Park, the swimming hole at Krause Springs, a particular stretch of Padre Island. Ever since English professor James “Doc” Ayres founded the Shakespeare at Winedale program in 1971, the Theatre Barn at Winedale has been one of those […]
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 […]
Ancient City on the Brink
Can a Crimean World Heritage Site Survive the Region’s Latest Political Unrest? Last June Professor Joseph Carter had reason to celebrate. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) had named the ancient city of Chersonesos—a place where he had dedicated more than two decades of his career—a World Heritage Site. It’s not easy […]
Q&A with Chris Barton
Keeping It Real Chris Barton, History ’93, is an award-winning, bestselling children’s author of Shark Vs. Train, The Day-Glo Brothers and Can I See Your I.D.? He lives in Austin with his wife, Jennifer, and their four children. Who are your favorite authors?Aside from the one I’m married to—Jennifer Ziegler, who writes novels for young readers—the authors that come […]
Making the Grade
Strategies for Improving Education in America Few dispute the value of education, but discussions about how our nation should improve it are becoming more intense and polarized. Of all the competing arguments—more technology, smaller classrooms, improved teacher training, universal pre-kindergarten—most people would agree that America’s education system needs to improve, and soon. According to recent […]
Q&A with Christina Melton Crain
Reducing Recidivism Christina Melton Crain, Government ’88, is president and CEO of DOORS, a reentry advocacy nonprofit based in Dallas that focuses on reducing recidivism (repeat offending). She is the only woman ever to have served as the chairman of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice. Crain has practiced law for more than 20 years, […]
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 Matter in a STEM World
Isaac Barchasis the director of the Austin Technology Incubator, which helps early-stage technology companies to develop in order to get an initial round of funding from investors. From that perch, you might imagine that he sees science, technology, engineering and mathematics (the STEM disciplines) as the core of economic growth in Austin. And, to be […]
Writing Home
Chicano Literature Professor Rolando Hinojosa-Smith Wins National Book Critics Circle Lifetime Achievement Award The National Book Critics Circle has honored Rolando Hinojosa-Smith, an author and professor in the Departments of English and Spanish and Portuguese at The University of Texas at Austin, with the 2013 Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award. He received the award during a […]
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, […]
Books: Spring 2014
Spring 2014 titles from our college community.
Tales for Troubled Times
Wayne Rebhorn’s Translation Brings Boccaccio’s Decameron to Life On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Professor Wayne Rebhorn was preparing to teach Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron when news came of the terrorist attacks in New York City. He wondered if he should go ahead with the class, or cancel in light of the tragedy. “Then I thought, […]
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 […]
Liberal Arts Events
A look at some of the most notable happenings across the college beauty Agatha Oliverira and Natasha Mevs-Korff participate in beauty, a public endurance piece performed Nov. 13 on the West Mall. The piece explored women’s relationships to each other and to their hair. Originally performed in Lagos, Nigeria, as part of artist Wura-Natasha Ogunji’s […]
States of Mind
People with similar personality types are likely to cluster in certain geographical regions of the United States, making it possible to divide a map into three distinct personality regions, according to a new study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. The study, co-authored by University of Texas at Austin psychologist Samuel Gosling […]
Plan II Graduate Awarded 2014 British Marshall Scholarship
John Russell Beaumont, a Plan II and architecture graduate, has been awarded a Marshall Scholarship, one of the most coveted study abroad scholarships available. Beaumont’s scholarship, one of 34 awarded this year, will fund his graduate education and help him pursue his chosen path as an architect or planner specializing in disaster relief. He will […]
Teaching Hard Lessons in a New World
Charlie Wilson Chair Paula Newberg is Pakistan Studies Expert Professor Paula Newberg wants her students to leave her class with this big idea: “Life is complicated, but they can learn to live it well.” Newberg, who holds the Charlie Wilson Chair in Pakistan Studies in the Government Department, does indeed teach a complicated subject about […]
Plan II, Philosophy Alumnus nominated for Academy Award
Zachary Heinzerling, Plan II and Philosophy ’06, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary for his film Cutie and the Boxer. It debuted at the Sundance Film Festival, where he earned the Best Director Award (U.S. Documentary). The film follows the complicated relationship of husband and wife artists Ushio and Noriko Shinohara. Heinzerling […]
$4.3m NSF Grant Supports Amazon Biodiversity Study
A $4.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) will help a UT Austin professor investigate how geology, biology and climate interact in shaping species distribution and biodiversity in Amazon/Andean forests. Edgardo Latrubesse, a professor in the Department of Geography and the Environment, will partner on the grant with a team of scientists from […]
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 […]