#the alcalde

[thealcalde]

Store Owners’ Daughter

What it's like growing up behind a counter in the wilds of East Texas' Big Thicket

[thealcalde]

The 2016 Texas 10

UT-Austin’s best professors as voted by alumni

A great professor can profoundly shape your college experience—they enlighten, inspire, motivate, and challenge. It’s often in hindsight we realize which teachers had the biggest impact on our lives, so we asked alumni to nominate their favorite professors on the Forty Acres. As we narrowed down the list to just 10 faculty members, descriptors like “passionate” and “exceptional” leapt out. Whether they’ve been at the University of Texas for three years or three decades, their zeal for knowledge and devotion to their students made an enduring impression.

[thealcalde]

A photo of John Hangton and Billy Sunday at Barton Springs in 1952.

[thealcalde]

Independent, Not Alone

How UT is creating community for foster and independent students

[thealcalde]

The Dark Arts

“I don’t believe this stuff is real, but what it is is just as interesting ... sculpture is all about the manipulation of materials, and that’s what this is.”

From spoon-bending to séances, a UT art professor finds inspiration beyond the grave.

[thealcalde]

Love, Coco

“That’s your great task in life: to create a meaningful life in a world that’s chaotic, troubled, and unfair — but also exciting and exhilarating and stunningly beautiful.”

[thealcalde]

The Way Back: Turtle Power

This is Tessie, a giant mechanical Franken-turtle built at UT in 1954.

Though the reasoning behind the turtle’s construction is lost to history, Tessie was built by Arthur W. Ivy, BS ’54, and displayed at the University Interscholastic League’s 45th All-University Exposition and Power Show. 

[utaustin]

Shutterbugs: Behind the camera with UT insect photographer Alex Wild

Ten million known species of insects call this planet home. Alex Wild, curator of the Entomology Collection at the University of Texas, is on a mission to photograph as many of them as possible. Read more about Wild and his project from thealcalde. Click on photos for captions. And, you can follow Alex on Twitter @myrmecos.