Women’s role in early American cinema is often overlooked, but English assistant professor Donna Kornhaber — recently named a 2016 Academy Film Scholar —hopes to change that with her research on female writers who shaped the American silent film industry. Kornhaber received a $25,000 grant from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Educational […]
Department of English
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 […]
People, Places and Pages of Influence
The Pro Bene Meritis award is the highest honor bestowed by the College of Liberal Arts. Since 1984, the annual award has been given to alumni, faculty members and friends of the college who are committed to the liberal arts, have made outstanding contributions in professional or philanthropic pursuits or have participated in service related […]
Journeys
Why do we travel? What impels us to leave behind the comforts of home and endure the indignities of airports or the toils and snares of an interstate highway? We travel because it is in our nature. Humans have always been on the move, sometimes out of necessity — hunting and gathering, or fleeing from […]
Spark Your Interests: Five Liberal Arts Classes That Ignite Critical Thinking
It’s not uncommon for the College of Liberal Arts to break the Registrar’s website. Not on purpose — the interdisciplinary nature of the courses offered in liberal arts do not always mesh well with a system that was designed around rigid department codes. The level of collaboration among faculty members across departments to create in-depth, fascinating […]
Forever Shakespeare: The Making of an Icon
Editor’s note: As the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death approaches, five UT Austin scholars share how they celebrate his work and his ultimate staying power. In 10 years, people won’t care about Kim Kardashian’s face-contouring regimen or that she had 35 million Twitter followers. But William Shakespeare? Four centuries after his death he’s still […]
Field of Dreams
Larry Carver’s Got a Marshall on First, a Truman on Second and a Rhodes on Third It’s been more than 20 years since Larry Carver began working with UT Austin students applying for the nation’s most prestigious graduate school fellowships, and he can still tell you the names of all the nominees from memory. It’s […]
Let’s Buck Tradition by Putting a Woman on the $20 Bill
Hillary Clinton’s recent official announcement that she would run for the Democratic presidential nomination generated plenty of coverage but little surprise. For many, the prospect of a woman winning a major party’s nomination for president of the United States, which would be a first in our history, is the only exciting thing about the Democratic […]
Op-Ed Project Fellows Address Challenges African Americans Still Face Today
Turn to the op-ed pages of any major newspaper, and you’ll see how writers are wielding the power of the written word to keep people honest, to speak out about injustices, to shake readers out of apathy. You’re also likely to see the article was most likely written by a man. Only 10 to 20 […]
Inspiring Lifetime Readers
The Pro Bene Meritis Award is the highest honor bestowed by the College of Liberal Arts at The University of Texas at Austin. First granted in 1984, it is given each spring to alumni, faculty and friends of the college who are committed to the liberal arts, have made outstanding contributions in professional or philanthropic […]
New Department Focuses on Latino, Mexican American Experience
Building Upon a 44-Year History of Mexican American Studies at UT A new academic department that takes a comprehensive look at the lives, cultures and histories of Mexican American and Latino populations has been established at The University of Texas at Austin. The Department of Mexican American and Latina/o Studies (MALS) will ultimately offer undergraduate […]
Rebhorn Translation Wins Prestigious PEN Award
Wayne A. Rebhorn, Celanese Centennial Professor of English, has won the PEN Literary Award for his translation of Giovanni Boccaccio’s masterpiece The Decameron. The PEN Literary Awards have honored and introduced some of the most outstanding voices in literature for more than 50 years. The awards will be presented at the 24th Annual Literary Awards […]
Q&A with Ecosickness Author Heather Houser
Take a look at your surroundings. Are you sitting in a climate-controlled office next to a window overlooking a sea of traffic? Or are you skimming this article on a porch swing underneath a shady oak tree? Whether you’re surrounded by wide open spaces or a concrete jungle, your environment is significantly affecting your emotional […]
Millennial Nation
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
What Jane Saw
The What Jane Saw prelaunch party, held May 9, constructed a 3-D walkthrough of the 1813 Sir Joshua Reynolds exhibit visited by Jane Austen. The What Jane Saw site has since attracted nearly 75,000 visitors.
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 […]
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 […]
Virtual Gallery Reconstructs Art Exhibit Attended by Novelist Jane Austen
The Department of English at The University of Texas at Austin has launched an online reconstruction of a famous art exhibit visited by novelist Jane Austen on May 24, 1813 – exactly 200 years ago to the day. In a letter to her sister, Austen joked that she would be searching for a portrait of […]
Long Live the Jane Austen Frenzy!
As “Pride and Prejudice,” first published in 1813, celebrates its 200th anniversary, Jane Austen is repackaged to appeal to a new generation of readers On the highbrow end, organizations and libraries around the world are busy hosting academic conferences and readings to celebrate the bicentenary. On the pop culture side, Hollywood is about to release […]
The Fate of the Book, Up Close
A high-resolution image of a louse captivates team members of a project that brought together the Department of English, the Texas Advanced Computing Center, and the Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology in a collaborative effort to draw attention to the Texas Institute for Literary and Textual Studies’ “The Fate of the Book” symposia by […]
Do You Speak Texan?
Despite drastic changes to the iconic accent, most Texans will continue to use their twang in the right situation Since this story was featured in Life & Letters last spring, English Professor Lars Hinrichs’ research on the evolution of the iconic Texas twang has been featured in several national media outlets, including TIME, NPR and […]
Words with Friends
Pro Bene Meritis 2012 The Pro Bene Meritis Award is the highest honor bestowed by the College of Liberal Arts. It is given each spring to alumni, faculty and friends of the college who are committed to the liberal arts, who have made outstanding contributions in professional or philanthropic pursuits, or who have participated in service […]