University of Texas at Austin: Hispanic Heritage Month on the Forty Acres
UT Austin Earns Seal of Excelencia for Serving Latino Students
UT Austin is one of just five universities to receive the Seal of Excelencia from Excelencia in Education, a national organization committed to the advancement of Latino student success in higher education. The rigorous selection process recognizes universities where Latino students thrive and asks for five years of data across key categories: enrollment, retention, financial support and representation. Read more about this recognition here.
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UT Hits Record Undergraduate Hispanic Student Enrollment
UT Austin hit a new record percentage of Hispanic undergraduate student enrollment. By doing so, UT surpassed 25% Hispanic undergraduate enrollment for the second year in a row, qualifying the university as a Hispanic Serving Institution. Hispanic student enrollment at UT has steadily increased during the past decade. The Austin American-Statesman recently wrote about this achievement.
A historic Mexican American cemetery in East Austin is currently at risk of being removed by development. (Re)Claiming Memories Research Lab, an interdisciplinary group of graduate students led by School of Architecture graduate student Diana Hernandez, is working to research, preserve and restore the cemetery. The Austin American-Statesman wrote a piece on Hernandez and other students working to preserve Latino history, and KUT recently wrote about the group’s efforts to save the cemetery.
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Ramón Rivera-Servera Appointed as College of Fine Arts Dean
The university named alumnus Ramón Rivera-Servera as dean of the College of Fine Arts earlier this year – the first Latino dean of the college. He is an interdisciplinary scholar with focuses in creative ethnography, new work development in performance and other ephemeral art forms and Black and Latino arts and cultures. Read more about him and his vision for the college here.
One of Frida Kahlo’s most iconic paintings, an untitled self-portrait known as “Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird,” is on display at the Harry Ransom Center. The oil-on-canvas painting from 1940 is one of Kahlo’s 55 self-portraits. Kahlo was a Mexican painter and is considered one of the country’s greatest artists, known mostly for her portraits, self-portraits and nature-inspired paintings. This video offers a closer look at the painting.
The UT Tower glowed burnt orange and displayed a “50” on its sides on Sunday, Sept. 26, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Latino Studies at the university. The Tower lighting coincided with the birthday of alumnus Gloria Anzaldúa, who became an internationally recognized cultural theorist, creative writer and scholar. Over the course of 50 years, Latino Studies at UT has grown into a nationally-recognized powerhouse of Latino thought and advocacy.