The University of Texas is a campus of 350 acres, 49,000 students and more than 2,700 faculty. With more than 100 research units and more than $400 million spent each year on research funding, UT Austin is one of the country’s highest-ranked public research universities.

Below is information about the University, including more information on our sponsors, sporting events, our world-class archives, and places to visit on campus.
MEPHISTOS Sponsors:
  • The UT Department of History: The University of Texas offers an exceptionally wide range of resources for graduate study in many fields of history. With more than 65 faculty members, outstanding library and archival collections, and a lively community of well over 100 graduate students, the University of Texas is a leading center for historical study and training at the highest levels.

  • The UT Graduate School: Established in 1910, the Graduate School has grown to encompass nearly 100 fields of study, and the number of graduate students now exceeds 12,000. More than 800 doctoral degrees and more than 2,800 master's degrees are awarded each year. The University of Texas at Austin awards the second largest number of doctoral degrees in the United States and is one of three southwestern members of the Association of American Universities.

  • The UT College of Natural Sciences: Natural Sciences is home to many of the top research faculty and best graduate students in the world. The breadth of research in the college is astounding, and the diversity in faculty interest feeds into unique and productive collaborations. More than 400 scientists have access to world-class research facilities, and grants and contracts awarded to faculty amount to over $99 million per year*. To supplement research in the departments, over 30 centers and institutes have been created to promote collaborative, interdisciplinary research and advance research in target areas.
    * annual average from 2002-2006.

  • The UT Institute for Historical Studies: Founded in 2007, the Institute provides a dynamic and multi-faceted intellectual community. It fosters creative and productive conversations within our department, between the Department of History and other UT-Austin departments and centers, between our faculty and colleagues nationwide, and between the department and our community of alumni and neighbors. The Institute explores themes whose historical roots are of critical importance for the contemporary world as well as for the historical profession. It enhances and expands the Department's long tradition of and continued commitment to excellence in historical research through publication and programming. It allows our graduate students to interact with a diverse group of excellent scholars beyond the department.

  • The UT College of Communication: Located in Austin, a nationally recognized creative center known for its mix of technology, music and film, the College prepares students to thrive in the era of media convergence by exposing them to the various communication disciplines to gain new insights and skills, realize new forms of expression and create new categories of employment.

  • The UT Department of Sociology: The Department of Sociology at the University of Texas at Austin is one of the largest and most highly ranked sociology departments in the country. Our group of 45 tenured or tenure-track faculty members allows us to offer an excellent range of opportunities—both inside and outside the classroom—for undergraduate and graduate students. The 2007 US News and World Report Guide to Graduate Departments ranked our program as tied for 14th in overall quality in the country and among the top 10 sociology departments in public universities throughout the country.

  • Population Research Center: The Population Research Center is an interdisciplinary research unit of the University of Texas at Austin that provides support for population-related research projects at UT. Faculty researchers come from departments all across campus. Our researchers' projects focus primarily on health disparities, religion and health, children and families, education and transitions to adulthood, and the demography of Latin America and the US border.

  • The UT Department of English: The English Department at The University of Texas at Austin offers a stimulating graduate curriculum and intellectual community. With a diverse, engaged, and accomplished faculty, this ninety-person department covers a rich array of traditional fields of literary and rhetorical study and also reflects contemporary theoretical and cultural approaches that cut across these fields.

  • The Harry Ransom Center: The Harry Ransom Center advances the study of the arts and humanities by acquiring, preserving, and making accessible original cultural materials. With extensive collections of rare books, manuscripts, photography, film, art, and the performing arts, the Center supports research through symposia and fellowships and provides education and enrichment for scholars, students, and the public through exhibitions and programs. For more information on the HRC's exhibits and archives, see below.

  • The UT British Studies: The British Studies program at the University of Texas at Austin was created in 1975. For more than thirty years the program has sponsored public lectures in English literature, history, and government, and has conducted a weekly seminar called the Faculty Seminar on British Studies that includes faculty members, graduate students, undergraduates, and members of the Austin community. British Studies serves a further basic purpose of providing visiting scholars at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center an opportunity to talk on the subject of their research, and of encouraging discussion of work-in-progress among participants in the program. The three main disciplines are literature, history, and political science, but all of the humanities and social sciences are represented.

  • The University Co-op: The University Co-op's mission is to advance the educational interests of the University. All the after-rebate profit (excluding a small portion set aside for reinvestment) of the Co-op is used to support university-related projects and activities. Moreover, the last few years the Co-op has given almost all of the UT schools and colleges a major grant for capital and other long-term projects, such as student lounges, career centers, and computer laboratories. Since 2000, The Co-op has given over 30 million dollars to UT in the form of gifts, grants, rebates and royalties.

  • The UT College of Liberal Arts: As the largest and oldest school at the university, the College of Liberal Arts forms the core of the UT experience: a classic liberal arts education at a world-class research university. The college provides intellectual challenges, exposure to diversity, and learning opportunities that cross cultural boundaries and promote individual growth. Top-ranked programs in Latin American history, sociology and psychology set the standard for undergraduate excellence.

  • The UT Department of Geography and the Environment: Geographers study the interactions between people and their natural and built environments. Geographical concerns range in scale from urban spaces and movement patterns to global environmental systems. By incorporating a strong comparative and international bent, geographers situate both teaching and research in an interregional and global context. The UT Department of Geography and the Environment is a nationally-recognized leader in the study of historical transformations in landscapes and associated changes in human-environment relations.
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Sporting Events:

For general information on UT sports, check out their webpage by clicking HERE.

During the weekend of MEPHISTOS, there will be different UT sporting events taking place across campus, including: Top of the Page

Archives:

  • Perry-Castaneda Library: located at the corner of 21st Street and Speedway. The PCL is the centerpiece of the nation's ninth largest research library system. It contains approximately three million volumes and serves as the University's main library. It's special collections include the East Asian Collection, the world-famous Map Collection, Middle Eastern Collection, Ruth Stephan Poetry Collection, South Asian Collection, United Nations Documents, and Youth Collection.

    Hours:
    Thursday: 7am - 2am (though only UT students after 10pm)
    Friday: 7am -midnight (though only UT students after 10pm)
    Saturday: 9am - midnight (though only UT students after 10pm)
    Sunday: Noon - 2am (though only UT students after 10pm)

  • Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center: located at the corner of 21st and Guadalupe. The HRC houses one of the premier research collections in the world and has major holdings on the history of American and European literature, science, theater and photography, including extensive collections in the history of European science and literature, and in medieval and early modern religion. Among its recent acquisitions are the Watergate papers of reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.

    There are currently two exhibitions at the HRC:

    1) On the Road with the Beats: This exhibition will take visitors on a journey through the cities, landscapes, and communities that fostered and shaped the most important works of the Beat Generation, from the early 1940s to the mid-1960s.

    2) Jess: To and From the Printed Page: The Ransom Center will host the traveling exhibition Jess: To and From the Printed Page, which focuses on artist Burgess Collins, known as "Jess" (1923-2004). The exhibition explores how his imagery became a form of dialogue with the written word. Included in the exhibition are the artist's "paste-ups," collages composed of old book illustrations and photographs from magazines, and the celebrated impastos from his "Translation" series. The exhibition features more than 50 works of original art, dated between 1952 and 1993, including collages the artist made for publication, the books and magazines in which they were reproduced, key paintings, and audio recordings of the artist reading his poetry.

    There are always two items on display at the HRC:

    1) The Gutenberg Bible: The Gutenberg Bible is the first substantial book printed from movable type on a printing press. The Ransom Center holds one of five complete copies in the United States.

    2) The First Photograph: One of the finest pieces of the Ransom Center's photography collection is the first photograph, which Frenchman Joseph Nicéphore Niépce produced in 1826.

    Hours:

    Ransom Center Galleries:
    Thursday: 10am - 7pm
    Friday: 10am - 5pm
    Saturday: Noon - 5pm
    Sunday: Noon - 5pm

    Library Reading/Viewing Rooms:
    Thursday: 9am - 5pm
    Friday: 9am - 5pm
    Saturday: 9am - Noon
    Sunday: Closed

  • Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library: 2313 Red River St. The LBJ Library houses not only the White House central files for the period of Johnson's presidency, but also additional papers covering Johnson's early career, plus records of numerous oral interviews and the files of several of his aides and associates.

    Hours for the Reading Room:
    Thursday: 9am - 5pm
    Friday: 9am - 5pm
    Saturday and Sunday: Closed

  • Center for American History: Sid Richardson Hall, Unit 2. The Center is an archive, rare book library, and museum that focuses on Texas, Southwestern, and Southern history, and also holds nationally significant archival collections of materials related to the U.S. news media and the U.S. Congress. Its Natchez Trace Collection includes an enormous body of plantation records and other eighteenth- and nineteenth-century materials on the history of the lower Mississippi Valley. The news media collections held by the Center include the original reference "morgues" of the New York Times, the New York Herald Tribune, and the New York Journal American, as well as the papers of Walter Cronkite and other leading broadcast journalists. The Center also houses the Archives of American Mathematics, the extensive historical collections of the Exxon Mobil Corporation, many runs of newspapers, and a large trove of materials related to the history of music, the performing arts, and the entertainment industry.

    Hours:
    Thursday: 10am - 5pm
    Friday: 10am - 5pm
    Saturday and Sunday: Closed

  • The Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection: Sid Richardson Hall 1.108. The Benson houses one of the largest and best collections of Latin American historical materials in the United States. Its extensive collections of manuscripts, rare books, microfilms, newspapers, periodicals, and other printed documents make it possible for students to delve deeply into the history of any of the major Latin American countries for either the colonial or modern periods.

    Hours:
    Thursday: 9am - 5pm
    Friday: 9am - 5pm
    Saturday: 1pm - 5pm
    Sunday: Closed

  • Tarlton Law Library: Located near the intersection of Dean Keeton and Robert Dedman. The Tarlton is the fifth-largest academic law library in the country and includes many materials of value for historical research.

    Hours:
    Thursday: 7:30am - midnight
    Friday: 7:30am - 10pm
    Saturday: 9am - 6pm
    Sunday: 10am - midnight

  • The Classics Department Library: Located on the first floor of Waggener Hall. The library primarily serves the needs of faculty, graduate students and upper-division majors in classics, archaeology, art history, philosophy, architecture and comparative literature. The library has a strong collection focusing on classical philology, Greek and Latin literature, Greek and Roman history and classical civilization (including art, archaeology, epigraphy, and numismatics).

    Hours:
    Thursday: 8am - 5pm
    Friday: 8am - 5pm
    Saturday and Sunday: Closed
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Sites on campus:
  • Blanton Museum of Art: Located at MLK at Congress. Located across the street from the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum, where Congress Avenue meets The University of Texas, the new Blanton is home to an inspiring collection of over 17,000 works of art, recognized for its European Old Master paintings, modern and contemporary American and Latin American art, and an encyclopedic collection of prints and drawings.

    Hours:
    Thursday: 10am - 5pm (Admission is FREE)
    Friday: 10am - 5pm
    **On April 4, the Blanton will be open from 6 - 11pm for its monthly Bscene event. It is a "happening night of art, libations, and live music!"
    Saturday: 11am - 5pm
    Sunday: 1 - 5pm

  • Lyndon B. Johnson Museum: Located at 2313 Red River St. The museum provides year-round public viewing of its permanent historical and cultural exhibits. The museum presents traveling exhibitions related to American history in its changing exhibition gallery. Special exhibitions are produced in-house and shown in the same space. For information on the current exhibits, check out the LBJ Exhibits website.

    Hours:
    Open every day from 9am to 5pm

  • UT Tower: Located in the center of campus and can be seen from anywhere on campus. Though the tower has seen some dark days, it has, through the years, the Tower has served as the University's most distinguishing landmark and as a symbol of academic excellence and personal opportunity. The observation deck of the UT Tower offers a spectacular view of the UT Campus and the Austin area in all directions. Thanks to the cooperative effort of students, staff, and the University administration, the observation deck has recently been remodeled and reopened to the public for the first time in nearly three decades.

    Hours:
    Regularly scheduled Tower Tours are offered on Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 7pm on the hour. Cal ahead for reservations: 475-6633 or 1-877-475-6633 (toll-free).

  • Cactus Cafe: Located in the UT Union. Also highlighted on our Austin page under music venues, the Cactus Cafe is one of Austin's great acoustic music traditions. The Cactus is an intimate live music performance venue, and since the Cafe opened in February 1979, the Cactus has acquired a national reputation, showcasing the top local, regional, national and international acoustic music acts on the circuit today. Billboard magazine listed the Cactus as one of fifteen "solidly respected, savvy clubs" nationwide "from which careers can be cut, that work with proven names and new faces." For a calendar of events, check out the Cactus' website.
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