The Office of the University Ombuds, a neutral and confidential resource for students and staff with university-related concerns, will be hosting an Open House on March 6^th, 2018 from 11am-2pm in SSB G1.404. This is an opportunity to explore the ombuds space and meet the staff. Come learn about this wonderful resource. There will be food, prizes, and giveaways. So stop by and say hi!

Defense Strategy and Spending: Resourcing a Return to Great Power Competition

Mackenzie Eaglen, Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute

Wednesday, Feb 28, 2018 | 12:15-1:45 PM | SRH 3.122

Please join the Clements Center for a talk with Mackenzie Eaglen on defense strategy and spending. Mackenzie Eaglen is a resident fellow in the Marilyn Ware Center for Security Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, where she works on defense strategy, defense budgets, and military readiness. Eaglen has worked on defense issues in the House of Representatives and Senate and at the Pentagon in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and on the Joint Staff. Eaglen is included in Defense News “100 most influential people in US Defense” both years the publication compiled a list.

Foreign Aid and Countering Violent Extremism

Jessica Trisko Darden, Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute

Tuesday, Mar 06, 2018 | 12:15-1:30 PM | SRH 3.122

The Clements Center is honored welcome UT alumna Jessica Trisko Darden back to the Forty Acres for a talk on “Foreign Aid and Countering Violent Extremism.” Dr. Trisko Darden is a Jeane Kirkpatrick fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where her research focuses on US foreign aid policy, specifically the effectiveness of such aid in improving political and human conditions in recipient countries, and the coercive effect of foreign aid, which often allows countries to divert economic assistance to military expenditures. Dr. Trisko Darden is also an assistant professor of international affairs with the School of International Service at American University.

The University of Texas Libraries are hosting an Images of Research competition.  This competition, intended to celebrate the research contributions of UT undergrads, requires that students submit an image and caption, via Instagram, that visualizes any research they are engaged in here at UT.

Information about the competition, including prizes, timelines, eligibility and submission instructions, are available here:

https://guides.lib.utexas.edu/2018ImagesofResearch

Texas Exes Scholarship Staff would like to remind you that we have scholarships available for students in your college. Please note that funding for these scholarships varies year to year. Some of the scholarships that students in the College of Liberal Arts may qualify for include but are not limited to:

• Geren Scholarship
• Ellen Engler Burks Memorial Scholarship
• Emily Fields Anderson Memorial Scholarship
• Hazel Harrod Ransom Memorial Scholarship
• Christopher Schulze Scholarship in French
• Raymond Starr Scholarship for History
• Beaumont Stinnett Memorial Scholarship

These scholarships, along with a host of others, are specifically available to students in your college. Additionally, students may qualify for our general scholarship opportunities. Texas Exes offers a variety of scholarships including need-based and merit-based scholarships. This being said, we encourage all students to apply.

The scholarship application is accessible at texasexes.academicworks.com. To apply, students will complete our Current UT Undergraduate Application, this will auto-match them to many of our scholarships (should they qualify). Once students have submitted this portion of the application, they will then have the option to apply to any of our other scholarships that have additional requirements or qualifications. Current undergraduate students have until March 1 at 11:59 pm CST to submit their application for Texas Exes scholarships.

On Monday, March 5th at 7 p.m., the Joynes Reading Room will host special guest Tarfia Faizullah, who will be sharing work from her new book of poetry, Registers of Illuminated Villages. Faizullah has won numerous awards, and her work has been translated into Persian, Chinese, Bengali, Tamil and Spanish. In 2016, she was recognized by Harvard Law School’s Women Inspiring Change. She teaches in the University of Michigan Helen Zell Writers’ Program as the Nicholas Delbanco Visiting Professor in Poetry. The Joynes Reading Room will be giving away a limited number of free books by Faizullah to students who want to read her work before attending the event. Students interested in receiving a free book may request one in person at the front desk of the Joynes Room (CRD 007). Additionally, student interested in eating lunch with Tarfia on Monday, March 5 at 12 p.m. in CRD 007B should RSVP to matt.valentine@austin.utexas.edu. 

Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) will be hosting an interdisciplinary event this week about the Texas Legislature’s Texas Spaceport Trust Fund. Attendees will discuss how the Legislature created the fund, and how it’s since been used by companies like SpaceX to finance launch complexes like the one they’re currently building outside of Brownsville, TX.

Would you like to have a say in the new courses offered by the Liberal Arts Honors program? We are recruiting students to take part in a focus group geared at improving and diversifying the LAH curriculum. We want to hear about the kinds of courses you would like to take and with which faculty.

The sessions will be held in the CLA (LAH commons room) on the following dates:

Friday (2/23) 1 pm – 2 pm

Tuesday (2/27) 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm

Wednesday (3/7) 12 noon – 1 pm

If you want to participate or have any questions please email us (anastasia.rigney@utexas.edu). In your email please include your preferred session date. Pizza and drinks provided!