Projects Database

Texas Politics Project

The Texas Politics Project creates materials for teaching Texas Politics and conducts polls about the Texas political landscape.

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Pterodactilo

Pterodáctilo is the graduate student publication of Hispanic and Lusophone literature and linguistics in the UT Department of Spanish and Portuguese.

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Front Porch Gatherings

The Front Porch Gatherings is a series of events that bring members of the Austin community together with faculty, nonprofit organizations, community religious and activist leaders, and others, to talk about many of the issues faced by Austin’s most underserved communities.

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Sexing History

Lauren Gutterman and Gillian Frank tell lesser-known histories of sex and sexuality on their podcast, Sexing History.

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Star Parties

The Department of Astronomy opens its telescopes to public viewing.

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This Month in Theatre History

Charlotte Canning and Andrew Carlson from the Department of Theater and Dance took over a section of American Theatre titled “This Month in Theatre History.” They collaborate with students from the department to publish articles for the feature.

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Reading World Literature

An educational initiative established in 2014 by the Graduate Comparative Literature Students’ Organization (GRACL) at the University of Texas at Austin that offers world literature courses to incarcerated students at the Travis County Correctional Complex.

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Center for Placed-Based Initiatives

The Center for Place-Based Initiatives at the Dell Medical School has issued a call for ideas aimed at improving the health of vulnerable communities in Central Texas, especially those in Austin and other parts of Travis County. The Center seeks to provide timely and customized support to help implement and test ideas to improve health and wellness of their communities and to scale those shown to be effective. It also aims to identify and support exceptional people and ideas that may otherwise not have a source for support, and ensure their community impact and sustainability.

https://dellmed.utexas.edu/center-for-place-based-initiatives#call-for-ideas

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CenteringParenting

A residency program, led by faculty at Dell Medical School’s Department of Pediatrics , that provides regular health exams, tests, and immunizations for babies in their first three years. Focused on disadvantaged families in East Austin, CenteringParenting embraces a group-focused approach to child care by pairing mothers and babies with birthdays within weeks of each other to attend checkups together. This approach builds supportive communities of women who educate and empower one another as they experience the ups and downs of motherhood.

https://dellmed.utexas.edu/pediatrics/community

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Entrepreneurship Live! Series

https://www.mccombs.utexas.edu/Centers/Kelleher-Center/Programs-and-Partnerships

A recurring live speaker series and podcast featuring entrepreneurs from across different industries, that enables students and the community to experience a “live” case study and to learn important lessons about the entrepreneurial process. Also broadcast by TexTalks. Sponsored by McCombs School of Business.

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Academia Cuauhtli (Eagle Academy)

https://www.facebook.com/AcademiaCuauhtli/

A language and culture revitalization project for 4th grade students from Metz, Sanchez, Zavala and Houston Elementary Schools from the Austin Independent School District (AISD). Academia Cuauhtli offers free Saturday classes that are taught in Spanish by AISD master dual language teachers and in the context of a 12-to-1 student-teacher ratio. Academia Cuauhtli is affiliated with Nuestro Grupo- a community-based group organized by the Texas Center for Education Policy and the Tejano Monument Curriculum initiative- and is located at the Emma S. Barrientos, Mexican-American Cultural Center and is

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Democracy and Action Reading Group

https://wikis.utexas.edu/display/DemocracyAction

This community-facing reading group reinforces the practice of critical thought as an essentially public practice. Co-sponsored by Austin Public Libraries and the Humanities Institute, this initiative facilitates reading for the purposes of promoting a more informed public that contextualizes developments in the political sphere and engages in respectful dialogue with individuals who have very different views and experiences.

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The Voces Oral History Project

A collaborative effort between University of Texas students, faculty, and community participants to record and preserve the history of Latinas and Latinos living during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Since 1999, Voces has collected nearly one-thousand interviews documenting the experiences of Latina and Latino military personnel and civilians across the U.S. and Puerto Rico. All videotaped interviews, copied photographs, and other materials can be found at the Nettie Lee Benson LAtin American Collection. http://www.lib.utexas.edu/voces/

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Ethics Unwrapped

A free online video series designed to teach business students how to handle ethical dilemmas in the workplace. Sponsored by the McCombs School of Business, Ethics Unwrapped combines research findings, real-life situations, and commentary from experts and students to help students navigate moral challenges.

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Texas Beyond History

A virtual museum, based at the Texas Archaeological Research Laboratory at the University of Texas-Austin, and in partnership with the Department of Anthropology of Texas State University, which interprets and shares the results of archaeological and historical research on the cultural heritage of Texas with the citizens of Texas and the world. The museum maintains images relating the cultural legacy of Texas, a legacy spanning 13,500 years. http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/index.html

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Afro-Colombian Solidarity Network

The Afro-Colombian Solidarity Network (ACSN) is an organization committed to the defense of rural black communities descended from fugitive slaves in Colombia called “palenques” or “cimarrones.” Anthony Dest, a PhD candidate in at the Lozano Long Institute for Latin American Studies, is writing his dissertation about the impact of rural violence and development on rural black communities in Colombia, and collaborates with ACSN to raise the visibility of threats to the livelihoods of cimarrones. Click here to learn more about his work, and to sponsor rural afro-descendant communities in Colombia. https://afrocolombian.org/about/

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CNN Op-Eds on Race in the United States

Peniel Joseph, a professor of history and public affairs at the University of Texas, authors a weekly column for CNN that explores race and racial inequality in the United States. Topics include tensions between police and communities of color in American cities, the racial dynamics of the 2016 presidential election, and the future of black activism.

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Fighting Wikipedia’s Biases

UT history professor Daina Berry spearheads an initiative to redress the homogeneity of Wikipedia’s editors. Dr. Berry, together with undergraduate students in her course, Black Women in America, partnered with Wiki Education to recruit under-represented communities, particularly African American women, to revise Wikipedia articles.

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The Op-Ed Project

An initiative that seeks to redress the lack of women’s voices in op-ed pages and media by scouting and training under-represented experts to take thought leadership positions in their fields.

http://www.theopedproject.org/

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Postcards from the Great Divide: Political Stories from a Divided America

A series of nine short documentaries by leading American filmmakers and featuring UT Austin’s Paul Stekler that examines the deeply partisan split among the American electorate in 2016. Sponsored by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Washington Post, Stekler and filmmakers traveled to cities including, Minneapolis, Houston, and Pasadena, Texas, to analyze how changing demographics and political affiliations will continue to have a profound effect on American politics for years to come. http://www.politicalpostcards.org/

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Science Study Break

Join UT researchers for pizza and a conversation about popular movies and TV shows that deal with science topics. Faculty members and graduate students discuss realms of scientific possibility, evaluate presentations of science in pop culture, or mock bad science and worse screenwriting. http://www.lib.utexas.edu/lsl/ssb

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Science Under the Stars

A free, monthly public outreach lecture series founded and organized by graduate students in the Section of Integrative Biology at UT Austin. Events are held at 7:30 pm outdoors at the Brackenridge Field Laboratory at 2907 Lake Austin Boulevard, Austin, TX, 78703. https://scienceunderthestars.org/

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Not So Math!

An outreach program that shows that you don’t need to know math to be able to enjoy and understand the essence of it! Ideas are presented in an approachable way to the general public. #NotSoMath! https://www.facebook.com/notsomath/

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Hot Science, Cool Talks

This nationally recognized outreach series provides a platform for researchers at the University of Texas and other prominent universities to communicate their scientific research to the general public and K-12 educational community in particular. Check out their live and on-demand webcasts! http://www.esi.utexas.edu/outreach/hot-science-cool-talks/archives/

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Shakespeare at Winedale

A program dedicated to bringing Shakespeare to life through performance. The group believes the best way to study Shakespeare’s plays is to perform them and offers an opportunity to explore these rich and complex texts through the creative act of play. https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/winedale/

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Point of Discovery (podcast)

An audio journey to the front lines of science. http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/point-of-discovery

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The End of Austin

This award-winning digital humanities project explores urban identity in Austin, Texas. Its goal is to bring together different kinds of voices- academic, artistic, activist- to start a conversation about life in the fastest growing city in the U.S. https://endofaustin.com/

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Ethics Unwrapped

Website that offers videos and teaching resources about behavior ethics applied to business practices. Using the tools of psychology and related fields, behavior ethics is a new area of study that explores the organizational pressures, psychological biases, and situational factors that often cause well-intentioned people to act unethically. Videos are based on research-driven content and real-world experiences to encourage and support ethical decision-making and action. Videos and the teaching resources that go with them provide a platform for fostering meaningful discussion about ethics in the classroom and beyond. http://ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu/

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The Free Minds Project

The Free Minds Project provides Austin-area adults living on limited incomes with a chance to explore their intellectual potential. The program offers a free year-long college course in humanities to adults who have faced barriers to education and maintains a strong partnership with the University of Texas-Austin and Austin Community College. https://freemindsaustin.org/

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Notches

Notches is a peer-reviewed, collaborative, and international history of sexuality blog that aims to get people inside and outside the academy thinking about sexuality in the past and in the present. http://notchesblog.com/

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Corrupt the Youth

A philosophy outreach program that brings philosophy to high school students attending underserved schools. It aims to attract students from more diverse backgrounds to the study of philosophy. http://corrupttheyouth.org/

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Behind the Tower: New Histories of the UT Tower Shooting

“Behind the Tower” is a website produced by The Public History Seminar, a graduate course in the Department of History. Eleven graduate students from various departments wrote historical essays researched in local archives on issues surrounding the shooting including the police response, student life and Texas gun culture in the 1960s, Whitman’s drug use and physical and emotional condition, campus counseling services, the symbolism of the Tower, the university’s response, and the nature of remembering and forgetting traumatic public events. Short biographies of everyone injured or killed by Charles Whitman are also featured. The project is intended to serve as an educational tool for people everywhere to learn more about the tragic event and its aftermath.

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Austin Archives Bazaar

The Austin Archives Bazaar  is a free, fun, and engaging biennial event open to the general public and appropriate for all ages. At the heart of the event are booths from over two dozen Central Texas archives showing off their amazing collections and services in one big room and promoting the diverse cultural heritage resources available to the public in our region. It serves as a grassroots way to show the public the rich archival available to the public in Central Texas. Booths, speakers, photo-booth, oral history booth for visitors to record oral histories, raffles, and beer. 

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The Black Male Education Research Project

An accessible, web-based respository designed to help scholars, journalists, and policymakers locate available research on the education of African American males. The website compiles information that address root causes and overlooked factors regarding roadblocks to black male academic achievement. http://diversity.utexas.edu/black-male-education-research/

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Danteworlds

A multi-media journey through the three realms of Dante’s afterlife combining textual commentary, artistic images, and audio recordings. This project offers a geographic representation of Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise that allows readers of the Divine Comedy to accompany Dante and his guides (Virgil, Beatrice) region by region. http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/

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Two Guys on Your Head

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UT Antiquities Action

A group of students, faculty, and staff working to raise awareness about the destruction, looting, and illicit trafficking of antiquities around the world. They aim to educate and inspire by carrying out audacious, highly visible actions designed to raise awareness on our campus, in our communities, and beyond. They meet the last Wednesday of the month at 5, usually in DFA 2.204. Join us for antiquities action! https://utexas.collegiatelink.net/organization/antiquitiesaction

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Refusing to Forget

A collaborative, multi-disciplinary public history project that critically examines the deadly state violence targeting Texas Mexicans in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands between 1910 and 1920. Through the staging of public exhibits, the placement of historical markers, and the fostering of community dialogue, this project highlights the public necessity of understanding how past events continue to shape present social relationships between Mexican American communities and state institutions, especially law enforcement. https://refusingtoforget.org/

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East Avenue: Research on the Past and Present of Racial Segregation in Austin, Texas

A collaboration between researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and Austin community residents and civic leaders who are committed to documenting and analyzing the past and present of racial and economic segregation in Austin, Texas, particularly as it affects the city’s longstanding African American community. Its goal is to produce new research to hep shape initiatives- both legislative and grassroots- that will bring greater racial and economic equality to the city. http://www.segregatedaustin.org/

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What Jane Saw

An online re-creation of an 1813 London art exhibit that famously influenced a young Jane Austin. On the two-hundredth anniversary of Pride and Prejudice, check out the Joshua Reynolds’ exhibit that became the basis for the legendary Mr. Darcy. http://www.whatjanesaw.org/

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What Jane Saw: 1796 Shakespeare Gallery

An online re-creation of the long-vanished and wildly popular first museum dedicated to William Shakespeare in 1789. This digital recreation of publisher John Boydell’s original museum explores the peak years of Bardolatry in Great Britain and the birth of modern museum culture in general. http://www.whatjanesaw.org/1796/rooms.php?location=NRNE

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Afro-Paradise

Christen Smith describes the paradoxical space between the consumption of black bodies (for pleasure, for entertainment, for production) and the economy of terror and death that anti-blackness produces transnationally. This project is a meditation on this reality and an attempt to undo its dangerous effects. http://www.afro-paradise.com/

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Institute for Community, University and School Partnerships (ICUSP)

ICUSP runs two different public scholarship programs. VOICES and COBRA are support groups for high school students of color in Austin and Houston. BlackademicsTV is a public tv lecture series. See our feature about them here. https://www.facebook.com/icusp/

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Fundación Histórica Neogranadina

A non-profit foundation that focuses on the digitization of historical manuscripts and early printed books held in private archives and non-state institutions across Colombia. They are currently digitizing the colonial collections of the Archivo Central del Cauca (Popayán) and the Archivo Histórico Regional de Boyacá (Tunja).http://neogranadina.org/

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