Rachel White
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UT Austin MAPATHON Helps with Disaster Relief
Following the recent hurricanes and earthquake, LILLAS Benson joined the University of Texas Libraries and people around the world in using the OpenStreetMap platform to donate their time to hurricane relief efforts through open-source mapping. Videography and photography by Todd Bogin
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Longhorn Lightens the Load for Incoming Students
Filling a 100-square-foot space with the essentials you’ll need to be successful for the next academic year is no small task, especially when you add it to the endless shopping list of books and school supplies. This year, families of college students expect to spend an average of $969.88 on back-to-school expenses, according to a…
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Predators Turned Prey
Shark Week brings all sorts of shocking—and horrifying — spectacles to viewers. This year, audiences were promised the first-ever man versus shark swim off, where 23-time gold medalist Michael Phelps will face off against “one of the fastest and most efficient predators on the planet,” a great white. But, perhaps, what’s more shocking is the…
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Can We Talk?: Why Discourse is Dying in America
I’ll have to admit that I was a bit perplexed when I heard linguistic anthropologist Elizabeth Keating say, “There is a very strong preference for agreement in conversation in the U.S.” I couldn’t believe my ears — even the Pew Research Center pegged political polarization as the defining feature of modern U.S. politics. And it’s…
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Army Strong: UT Army ROTC Celebrates 70 Years
The nation that will insist upon drawing a broad line of demarcation between the fighting man and the thinking man is liable to find its fighting done by fools and its thinking by cowards. – Colonel Sir William Francis Butler, in Charles George Gordon Though the National Defense Act of 1916 created the Reserve Officers’…
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The Polls Didn’t Fail: Seven Observations about Polling and the 2016 Election
2016 may very well be the year of the underdog. It was for the Cleveland Cavaliers, who were down 1 to 3 to the Golden State Warriors, but came back to win game seven of the NBA Finals. It was for the Chicago Cubs, who were one game away from extending a 109-year World Series…
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Solving an Ice-Cold Case: How Lucy Died
Sharp, clean breaks on the right arm of the oldest, most famous fossil of a human ancestor reopened the coldest cold case in human evolution. Lucy, a 3.18-million-year-old specimen of Australopithecus afarensis — or “southern ape of Afar” — is among the oldest, most complete skeletons of any adult, erect-walking human ancestor. Since her discovery…
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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…
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Helping Students Set Sail
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…
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Living Off His Mind: Angelbert Metoyer’s Patient Pursuit to Understand
When he was 7 years old, Angelbert Metoyer had his first art show in his father’s office. His father had adorned his office walls with a collection of his son’s drawings and invited his colleagues in to appreciate the artwork and purchase their favorite pieces. It was a simple gesture he arranged to help Metoyer…
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A Stand Up Longhorn
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…
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The Untold Stories of Modern Warriors
The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it. – Thucydides Oftentimes, we are met with spectacular images of war, depicting valiance and vilifying enemies; but these stories, some say, lack an honest narrative. While soldiers…
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The Campaign for Your Vote: Just Add Brand Power
After months of being bombarded by pollsters, campaign ads and the most outlandish sound bites on repeat, the moment will come for you to finally cast your ballot. Whom will you choose? “The presidency is the one office that represents the American people: all their wishes, dreams, desires, hopes, fears and everything else,” says history…
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2013 HRA Recipients Wrap Up Their Research
Established in 2009 by the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at The University of Texas at Austin, the Humanities Research Award supports faculty efforts to complete an in-progress research project in the humanities by awarding select tenured and tenure-track faculty with $5,000 for three consecutive years, for a total of $15,000. Below are…
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Making a Mayacene
Clues from Ancient Maya Reveal Lasting Impact on Environment Evidence left by ancient Maya in the tropical lowlands of Central America suggests that human-influenced climate change predates the Industrial Revolution. By looking at the Maya’s effects on climate, vegetation, hydrology and the lithosphere from 3,000 to 1,000 years ago, UT Austin researchers propose that the…
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Living The Examined Life
The Pro Bene Meritis award is the highest honor bestowed by the College of Liberal Arts at The University of Texas at Austin. 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…
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Teaching An Understandable World
The Pro Bene Meritis award is the highest honor bestowed by the College of Liberal Arts at The University of Texas at Austin. 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…
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Leading His Longhorn Family
The Pro Bene Meritis award is the highest honor bestowed by the College of Liberal Arts at The University of Texas at Austin. 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…
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Chatting in Chatino
Graduate Students Revive Early Languages In Rural Oaxaca In a rural village between two rivers outside of Oaxaca, Mexico, Ryan Sullivant walked door to door like a salesman, asking neighbors to conjugate verbs. The village, Tataltepec, is one of few within a small mountainous area between Oaxaca and the Pacific coast where a dwindling population…
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Spooky Research: The Unexplained Explained
To the ancient Celtics, Oct. 31 marked the end of harvest and the beginning of barren winter, or a time when life and fertility ended and arid death began. Today, cultures around the world celebrate Halloween as a day where life and death intersect with traditions based on mystery, magic and superstition. Within the College…
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Books: Winter & Spring 2015
Winter and Spring 2015 titles from our college community.
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Historian Provides New Perspective on Islam and Secularism
Religion and politics are at the root of conflict around the world, and historians are looking to the past for solutions to today’s most heated debates. Benjamin Brower, an associate professor in the Department of History and Center for Middle Eastern Studies, examines the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj) during the period of French rule…
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Historian Provides Perspective on China’s Economic Rise
Since the ending of the Mao era, China’s economy has grown from small and centralized to a global market giant. But, is China’s success a response to what many consider to be an era of economic failure? Huaiyin Li, a professor in the Departments of History and Asian Studies, examines the micro-foundations of economic growth and…
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Cather Researches Scripted Suicide in Modern Japan
Japanese artists have scripted suicide into their work, sometimes marking destinations for contemplating, committing and mourning suicide, morphing modern Japan into what some consider a “suicide nation.” Kirsten Cather, an associate professor in the Department of Asian Studies, looks to 20th century Japan to answer the question: What happens when people inscribe their suicides in…
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Germanics Professor Reveals How the World Began to Shrink
Today, we receive information from around the world in a blink of an eye; but the forces that have helped the world become so closely connected had their origins in the 19th century. Associate professor in the Department of Germanic Studies Kit Belgum explores an epicenter of our shrinking world in her upcoming book, Geographical…