Category Archives: Courses

2022 Hertog Fellowships

The Hertog Foundation offers highly competitive fellowships to outstanding students at universities across the world. We are pleased to open applications for our 2022 fellowships.

Hertog applicants are academically accomplished with interests in politics, public policy, and the liberal arts. For our 2021 cohort, we received over 1,000 applications and admitted 234 fellows. The average GPA of ourapplicants was 3.7. Our fellows major across the curriculum, with concentrations in the humanities, the social sciences, and STEM.

  • Humanities at Hertog – Study a great literary work over winter break with four online seminars on Dostoevsky, Shakespeare, Achebe, and Tom Wolfe.
  • Our flagship Political Studies Program is our most competitive program, bringing together 36 outstanding students for a six-week course of study in the theory and practice of politics. 
  • Students can explore key constitutional debates in a one-week residential seminar taught by Yale Law professor Akhil Reed Amar on his new book The Words That Made Us.
  • For students with internships and other obligations, our online Summer Courses are ideal. Sessions are held in the evenings each week to allow students to meet other commitments.

Learn more at HertogFoundation.org

Longhorn SHARE Project

The application is NOW OPEN for students interested in becoming SHARE Peer Support Specialists, beginning with training in Spring 2022.

What is Peer Support?

Peer support is not the same thing as peer mentorship, peer education, or clinical counseling! Those are valuable roles that can share some characteristics with peer support, but the ‘participants’ and ‘facilitators’ in peer support spaces typically have similar lived experience(s) with mental health, recovery, identity, and/or trauma and freely share their emotions, struggles, ideas, and healing processes with each other. Peer facilitators simply have more training to ensure that these conversations are healthy, safe, and nonjudgmental.

Peer support minimizes the power imbalances and formal structures that can make other types of support feel intimidating, inaccessible, and/or too clinical for all needs. Peer support isn’t a replacement for therapy (peers are not licensed professionals) but it can be therapeutic and validating to be share space with someone who “gets it”. It’s also a great way for students to build social confidence & emotional awareness, learn about themselves and others, and get information about other resources when peer support isn’t enough.

INTERESTED?? Program Overview & Activities

Participation in the Longhorn SHARE Project is a three-semester commitment – one semester to develop peer support skills followed by two semesters of on-campus peer activities.

Spring 2022: Learning & Skill-Building

  • HED 370K: Foundations of Peer Support & Social Wellness
    • Course content will cover common mental health and social concerns of students; active listening, group facilitation, and other interpersonal skills; how to create accessible, trauma-aware, anti-oppressive spaces; how to respond in a crisis and set healthy emotional boundaries, and more!
  • Mental Health First Aid training & certification (one 8-hour training on a weekend)

Fall 2022 – Spring 2023: Peer Support Activities

  • Group check-ins & skills practice – 1 hr/week
  • Peer Support Activities – Variable, up to 4 hrs/week. May include the following:
    • Co-facilitating a peer support group on a topic of your choice
    • Meeting with students individually to listen, share resources, and problem-solve
    • Leading workshops or one-time discussion circles
    • Offering support during campus events containing sensitive or intense content
    • Others TBD!

Who We’re Looking For:

  • Students from any UT major or field of study – graduate or undergraduate!
  • Must not intend to graduate until Spring 2023 or later.
  • Prior work or leadership experience (especially in mentorship, tutoring, or other peer-based leadership roles) is desirable, but not required.
  • You don’t need to have it “all together” to apply for this program! Folks who have been through hard things (e.g. mental health struggles, trauma, recovery, ableism, racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, surviving violence or difficult family dynamics, grief, impostor phenomenon, etc.) have wisdom and experience that could benefit others a peer support setting and help reduce stigma.
  • A GPA of 2.5 or higher is recommended, but not required.

Texas Intelligence Academy 2022

The University of Texas at Austin’s Intelligence Studies Project would like to announce the Texas Intelligence Academy (TIA) 2022 program, an intensive academic program focused on intelligence and national security in Washington, D.C. on May 22 to June 1, 2022.

 

The TIA offers a competitively-chosen group of UT-System undergraduate students the opportunity to learn about U.S. intelligence through lectures by distinguished scholars and practitioners, moderated discussions, simulation exercises, and visits to intelligence-related sites and facilities in the Washington, D.C. area. Selected students are housed in the District of Columbia and study at the UT-System’s Archer Center, one block from the White House. All travel, lodging, and program expenses for the TIA are provided by the Intelligence Studies Project. 

 

The deadline to apply is November 30, 2021. More information can be found here.

Research Opportunities in the Politics of Race and Ethnicity Lab

The Politics of Race and Ethnicity Lab has research opportunities available.  Academic credit through and LAH 358Q or HMN 358Q can be arranged.

 

Topics to research include: criminal justice, religion and race, global minority discrimination.  You can also get involved with research components such as python, machine learning, and databases.

 

To learn more about the lab, go to their website: https://pre-lab.org/  For information about getting involved with research, contact Dr. Amy Liu  amy.liu@austin.utexas.edu

Student Employee Excellence and Development Program

  • 2021 Fall Semester Workshops: https://hr.utexas.edu/student/SEED/seed-workshops
    • Mix of online synchronous workshops hosted by campus partners, recorded videos by campus partners (TCE, Texas Ethics & Leadership Institute, Sanger Learning Center) and LinkedIn Learning
  • Upcoming Workshops:
    • 10/12/2021 & 10/25/2021: Public Speaking by Sanger Learning Center
    • 10/13/2021 & 10/26/2021: Time and Procrastination by Sanger Learning Center
    • 10/20/2021 & 11/09/2021: Non-Violent Communication by Office of Student Ombuds
    • 11/2/2021, 11/8/2021 & 11/18/2021: Motivation & Productivity by Sanger Learning Center

Bridging Disciplines Programs – Fall application deadline & info sessions

Greetings from the Bridging Disciplines Programs (BDPs)! The fall BDP application deadline will be on Thursday, October 7th at 8:00am. Students can learn more about BDP certificates by viewing a pre-recorded or live online BDP information session this fall. The first live Zoom info session is coming up on Friday, September 17. If students are ready to apply, they can find the BDP application on the BDP website. For students who are not quite ready to apply this fall, please know that we’ll have another application deadline in Spring 2022, in early March.

 

If you are not familiar with the BDPs, our programs offer undergraduates at UT the opportunity to pursue an interdisciplinary certificate to complement their major. BDP certificates integrate coursework with internship and research experiences and can be individualized to suit students’ goals. Students choose from one of 16 different interdisciplinary themes. You can view a list of all BDP topics, as well as more information about our programs, on our website.

UTNY Summer 2022 Application

The UT in New York (UTNY) program will be holding an upcoming general information session for students interested in participating during the Summer 2022 semester and beyond. It will be available both in-person and via Zoom.

General Information Session

Thursday, September 16, 5:30PM, DMC 1.202 (and Zoom)

This information session will be general in nature and intended for anyone with questions about the program, online application, costs, internships, classes, etc. To RSVP, go here. Walk-ins also welcome.

The deadline to APPLY online for UTNY Summer 2022 is October 1, 2021.

For more information about UTNY, visit here.

Course on Communication

CLD 320 Communication and Leadership

Looking for a course on communication and leadership in Fall 2021? Consider registering for CLD 320, Communication and Leadership in Higher Education, taught by the Moody College’s Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education, Dr. Cassandre Alvarado. Dr. Alvarado is herself an accomplished leader in higher education, and for many years, her research, teaching, and practice have focused on designing innovative initiatives that enable all students to succeed and promote equity and inclusivity. For more information, see the attached flyer.

Legal Internships and the Law

Legal Internships and the Law: Fall 2021, LAH 340L (Unique #31085), Professor Mark A. Levy

America’s laws, lawyers, and courts have charted and changed the course of American history. In our classroom discussions and readings, we will explore the role of lawyers and how the practice of law has shaped American society. As a component of Liberal Arts Frontiers, students in the Legal Internships clinic will also intern in law offices or legal settings and meet weekly in class to discuss and learn from each student-intern’s experience. The hands-on experience students gain in their public service internships will help shape our classroom discussions, from topics including legal ethics and professional development to legislative oversight and settlement negotiations. Students will learn about the practice of law and how lawyers serve the public interest while gaining practical experience and first-hand knowledge of different legal fields.

The cornerstone of the Legal Internships clinic will be your participation as a student-intern in a legal, public policy, judicial, or legislative office. While help will be provided to select your internship before the semester begins, the final choice of where you work will be yours. The role you choose should be discussed and decided upon with your host supervisor and the course instructor. Examples of suitable host agencies include the Office of the Attorney General, the Travis County District Attorney’s Office, Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid, the Texas Public Policy Foundation, judicial chambers, or a legislator’s office. Private legal offices are not eligible to host interns.

Students should make their best effort to have their host agency selected and approved before the semester begin.

Info sessions on the course registration process and finding an internship:

  • April 8, 12:30-1:30
  • April 12, 7:30-8:30
  • April 14, 12-1
  • April 19, 7:30-8:30

And we can use my Zoom personal meeting account: https://utexas.zoom.us/j/9302888780

EMT classes taught in West Campus

The LifeStart Training & Consulting EMT program is now accepting applicants!

The course has been established near the UT campus since 2013 at the request of Longhorn EMS Students Association.  We currently work closely with the organization. It is taught by instructors with over 75 years of combined EMS teaching experience.  Lecturers are licensed paramedics with over 20 years of individual experience.

Highlights of the program include:

  • State-approved and allows students to be certified at both Texas EMT and National EMT levels, with some of the highest pass rates in the state.
  • Easy walking distance, located in West Campus.
  • Two times per week during the Spring & Fall Semesters.  It is also taught during the Summer semester three times per week.
  • Students meet for lecture and lab and participate in clinical rotations with EMS providers, emergency room departments, and other EMS transport services.  Clinicals are not shadowing, but actually participating and actively using skills with real patients.  
  • To date, hundreds of UT students have participated in the course, allowing them to boost resumes and applications for medical school and PA schools.
  • Whether the student is professional school (e.g. PA, MD, etc.)  bound or not, this course is an excellent addition to ANY resume.  We have had students from all areas of academic study attend.
  • This course separates itself from any other in the Austin area as it is specifically tailored for the UT student.  Although there is a minimum attendance requirement, we do work around academic school conflicts should they arise during the course outside of student control.

Course evaluations continuously prove students absolutely LOVE this course.  The course can be taken as a full-time college student.  Consider it the same level of work as a 3-hour college science course.

We take a limited number of applicants so please go to this link and this link for more information and to begin the application process. Information on Covid-19 related changes are included here as well.

If you have any particular questions, you can reach Carmen Fitzpatrick directly at carmen@lifestart.us