“Beautification is far more than a matter of cosmetics,” former first lady Lady Bird Johnson, BA ’33, BJ ’34, BL ’64, Life Member, Distinguished Alumna, said in 1968. “For me, it describes the whole effort to bring the natural world and the man-made world into harmony; to bring order, usefulness — delight — to our whole environment, and that of course only begins with trees and flowers and landscaping.”

In 1971, the same year David Lake arrived on the Forty Acres, the very first Schlotzsky’s opened amid a row of small, shuttered storefronts on South Congress Avenue. The previous year, Armadillo World Headquarters opened at the corner of South Congress and Barton Springs. There were signs of new life on the run-down street (once known as the bustling “Avenue,” in the 1800s) but it was a sleepy kind of rebirth. Guero’s Taco Bar was still Central Feed and Seed.

Lake, BS ’76, says that as a kid growing up in the Mount Bonnell neighborhood of Austin in the ’50s…

Photographs by Adraint Bereal | By Danielle Lopez

Adraint Bereal, BFA ’20, grew up in a predominantly Black and Latino area in Waco. He dreamed about being a Longhorn for as long as he can remember. But when Bereal started at UT Austin in 2016, he says it felt like a week went by before he saw another Black student walking around campus. He felt disappointed. The campus community wasn’t quite what he had expected.

Then one day in the Student Activity Center he came upon a room full of Black students in a meeting and peeked his head through…

By Danielle Lopez

There’s no telling how we’re going to feel looking back at 2020 — or if we’ll even remember the day in, day out all that well in the distant future. In April, Vice ran a story that addressed how for people who’ve spent the pandemic isolating at home, with little to break up the monotony, most of this will be a blur. For health care workers and anyone else on the front lines, this pandemic might be a point of trauma.

But as much as it seems like the world as we knew it is standing still…

By Danielle Lopez | Photographs by Matt Wright-Steel

Even amid the COVID-19 pandemic, people around the world found ways to honor those who deserved celebration. For birthdays, friends and families tailgated outside their loved ones’ homes; universities hosted elaborate virtual commencement ceremonies for the Class of 2020; and people in cities across the country stepped outside on a nightly basis to clap for health care workers.

In April, the Texas Exes was set to host its second annual Texas Excellence Awards, recognizing outstanding members of the campus community. Though we couldn’t welcome these recipients onstage this year, we are celebrating…

Every year, the Alcalde flips the script and gives alumni the chance to give their favorite professors an A+. Through nominations from former students, the Texas Ten honors professors who have made a difference in the lives of Longhorns. From the musician who instills the power of music in young children to the engineer who loves to problem solve and the mathematician who is determined to see his students succeed, there is no doubt the 2020 class of the Texas Ten is one deserving bunch.

John Rumrich

Professor, Department of English; Celanese Centennial Professorship | Years at UT: 35

Live in the Moment: Lately, he has been thinking about this quote from John Lennon…

Photographs by Matt Wright-Steel | By Danielle Lopez

Adam Kennedy is part of a rare breed. Working out of his glass shop in Robert A. Welch Hall, Kennedy is one of a few in-house university glassblowers left in the country. While there are others like him at Texas universities such as Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and the University of Houston, and nationally at Princeton and Yale, Kennedy is UT Austin’s only scientific glassblower.

Since 2010, Kennedy has been shaping glass into customized pieces for colleges across the university. From creating vials to hold uranium to helping construct a device that…

By Danielle Lopez| Photographs by Matt Wright-Steel

Look around UT Austin’s campus and you’ll find no shortage of talented young minds. But even in a crowd this impressive, there are the ones who stand out. Since 1985, the Texas Exes has recognized students who have demonstrated remarkable leadership within the Longhorn community with the President’s Leadership Awards. From motivating others to changing what health care looks like to exploring our galaxy and beyond, these six recipients are deeply passionate and endlessly curious. The best part? They’re just getting started.

Mamadou Balde

Senior, Chemical Engineering
Hometown: Conakry, Guinea
Credentials: National Society of Black Engineers member…