Texas Liberal Arts
Life & Letters

Alex Reshanov


  • UT Sociologist Goes All-In on Sports Betting Research

    Michael Sierra-Arévalo hopes to learn more about students’ gambling and develop resources to help them avoid addiction

    UT Sociologist Goes All-In on Sports Betting Research

  • Cold War Crate Digging

    A digitized resource offers a glimpse of the Eastern Bloc from U.S. documents

    Cold War Crate Digging

  • Looks Matter

    RaMell Ross on the importance of aesthetics

    Looks Matter

  • To Russia with Love

    Thomas Jesús Garza reflects on four decades of travel to a changing nation

    To Russia with Love

  • Got Five Minutes? Learn About Psychology with COLA’s New Video Series

    We took an interactive online version of “Introduction to Psychology” and turned some of its most intriguing insights into short YouTube videos

    Got Five Minutes? Learn About Psychology with COLA’s New Video Series

  • People of the Park

    Brenda Boonabaana draws lessons from Uganda’s ecotourism industry

    People of the Park

  • Don’t Call It a Cult

    Bret Anthony Johnston on his new novel, “We Burn Daylight”

    Don’t Call It a Cult

  • Who’s Counting?

    Anat Schechtman on non-quantitative notions of infinity

    Who’s Counting?

  • Democracy Then

    Classicist Naomi Campa on how studying the past can illuminate the present.

    Democracy Then

  • Falling for Vertigo

    Students in Doug Bruster’s “‘Vertigo’ In Context” course take film analysis to new heights.

    Falling for Vertigo

  • How Maps Can Kill: Lessons in Critical Cartography

    Steven Seegel exposes the distortions, biases, and hidden agendas behind the seemingly objective art of cartography.

    How Maps Can Kill: Lessons in Critical Cartography

  • The Clothes Make the Manuscript

    In “Fashioning Spanish Cinema: Costume, Identity, and Stardom,” Jorge Pérez decodes Chanel suits and starched shorts in Spanish cinema.

    The Clothes Make the Manuscript

  • Building a Sense of Belonging: Q&A with Stephanie Holmsten

    The word “mentorship” conjures an image of a seasoned professional taking a novice under their wing. But Stephanie Holmsten’s primary focus is on creating communities where faculty of all experience levels can learn from each other.

    Building a Sense of Belonging: Q&A with Stephanie Holmsten

  • Laws of the Lands: Exploring the World’s Constitutions

    There are almost two hundred countries with constitutions currently in existence, and their contents vary considerably. The Comparative Constitutions Project has been documenting and analyzing them for almost two decades, creating a set of resources for scholars and non-scholars along the way.

    Laws of the Lands: Exploring the World’s Constitutions

  • The Science of Teaching Science: A UT Austin-Thinkery Partnership is building better science education for kids and communities

    Cristine Legare studies how children learn and how to make informal learning exhibits more engaging and impactful for people of all ages.

    The Science of Teaching Science: A UT Austin-Thinkery Partnership is building better science education for kids and communities

  • How the Right Words Could Improve Policing

    Could a simple sentence build trust and foster better communication between police officers and the communities they serve?

    How the Right Words Could Improve Policing

  • The Turnaround: COLA’s UTurn program helps struggling students get back on track

    UTurn offers academic coaching, peer mentoring, and a dedicated space where students in the program can study, socialize, and support each other. “Most 18–20-year-olds have been almost programmed to think just about getting an A,” says program coordinator Ben Burnett. “And I’m trying to program them to think about themselves and what is the best…

    The Turnaround: COLA’s UTurn program helps struggling students get back on track

  • The Danger Imperative: Reckoning With the Perception of Violent Threat in American Police Culture

    In July 2016, a gunman ambushed Dallas police officers, killing five, injuring an additional nine (along with two civilians), and fueling public rhetoric about a so called “war on cops.” At the time of the Dallas shooting, Michael Sierra-Arévalo, now an assistant professor of sociology at The University of Texas at Austin, was doing fieldwork…

    The Danger Imperative: Reckoning With the Perception of Violent Threat in American Police Culture

  • The Sequencing of our Success: Q & A with Kathryn Paige Harden

    In her book, The Genetic Lottery: Why DNA Matters for Social Equality, psychology professor Kathryn Paige Harden explores how genes contribute to variation in complex life outcomes such as educational attainment and income level. She argues that understanding genetic impacts on these outcomes could and should be used to promote greater equity among individuals with…

    The Sequencing of our Success: Q & A with Kathryn Paige Harden

  • Spring Books Unfold

    Disentangling: The Geographies of Digital DisconnectionOxford University Press, July 2021Edited by Paul C. Adams, Professor, Department of Geography and the Environment, and André Jansson, Karlstad University After the rapid rise of digital networking in the 2000s and 2010s, we are now seeing a rise of interest in how people can disentangle their lives from the…

    Spring Books Unfold

  • The Linguistics Research Center Celebrates 60 years of Innovation and Scholarship

    Imagine a website that allows people from a variety of academic and non-academic backgrounds to learn ancient languages and research their histories. Now imagine it existing in 1999, way back in the early years of the internet. That’s the year the Linguistics Research Center (LRC) launched its free, online lesson series. The internet was a…

    The Linguistics Research Center Celebrates 60 years of Innovation and Scholarship

  • Leaf Through a Good Book

    Keep your to-read list up-to-date with our fall book list, featuring a selection of titles from College of Liberal Arts faculty members and alumni.

    Leaf Through a Good Book

  • Balancing Art and Academia

    Lisa B. Thompson is doing great. Not “all right” or “pretty good under the circumstances” or any other common COVID-era reply to the question of “how are you?” Just great. And it’s not surprising. Her life of late is series of awards, achievements and new projects so plentiful that it’s honestly a bit hard to…

    Balancing Art and Academia

  • Podcast Roundup: Fall 2021

    This is a collection of some of our favorite podcasts from liberal arts faculty members. Don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe.

    Podcast Roundup: Fall 2021

  • Maya and Angkor Adapted for Climate Change

    Societies in Mesoamerica and Southeast Asia whose collapse was thought to have been caused by dramatic changes in climate displayed more resilience and adaptability than previously believed.

    Maya and Angkor Adapted for Climate Change