Researching the University in Context of its Past
CCI supports scholarly research on all aspects of our institution’s history. Grounded in the value of scholarship as a tool of public education to educate our students as well as the general public about the university’s lesser-known past, this research also guides and supports the development of all our contextualization and commemoration efforts, including the designs for CCI’s two large commemorative construction projects. On an application basis, faculty were granted support to conduct the following CCI research projects:
Projects that Research UT’s Social Historical Processes of Inclusion
Archive of oral history interviews from the Precursors – the first Black students admitted to UT after desegregation – and Early Black Graduates as well as their significant documents and photos.
Review of the contributions of a group of pioneering early geneticists to uncover a history of science at the intersection of genetics, eugenics, racial science, and racial segregation at UT.
History of the unique role of The University of Texas in litigation seeking racial desegregation, and then racial integration, of public universities; UT’s role in legal history involving racial inclusion in US education, from Sweatt v. Painter to the Fisher cases and beyond.
Led by Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez, PhD
Led by Olivia Mena, PhD
Led by Steve Vladeck, JD
History and continuing impact of Mexican origin peoples in the emergence of UT Austin, spanning the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries and including material and cultural contributions central to the establishment and flourishing of the institution.
Review of the university’s demographic history in terms of student, faculty, and staff presence and participation in the UT community.
Chronicle of the stories of some of the Jewish change-makers of the Civil Rights era, as well as those who paved the way for them at UT Austin, including Jewish students, faculty, and community members with central roles in the movements for justice, equity, and human rights in the 1960s and 1970s.
Led by Monica Muñoz Martinez, PhD, and Annette M. Rodríguez, PhD
Led by Allison Kim, PhD
Led by Suzanne Seriff, PhD
The untold histories of Native peoples in Austin and Central Texas – a foundational layer of Texas history, often erased in dominant narratives of the region; account of a broader Indigenous history through a Lipan Apache family story in what is today known as “Austin.”
Past and present student activism has played a vital role in shaping UT as a local, national, and international institution. This project will create an accessible, open access digital archive of student activism at the university, documenting and digitizing historical materials and integrating content into pedagogy for UT students and the wider Austin community.
Review of the history of women at the university; presence and agency of women in the student body and of faculty women; origins of the program in “domestic economy,” which became Home Economics, today’s School of Human Ecology; and the gendered dimensions of campus history, including suffrage and feminism at UT.
Led by Luis Cárcamo-Huechante, PhD
Led by Ashley Farmer, PhD, and Ashanté Reese, PhD
Led by Stephen T. Russell, PhD
The history of disabled inclusivity at The University of Texas at Austin.
LGBTQ+ history at UT since the World War II period, including information about discrimination against LGBTQ+ people and a history of LGBTQ+ organizing by students, faculty, and staff at the university.
Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPI) voices and the university’s history of Asian inclusivity.
Led by Nick Winges-Yanez, PhD
Led by Lauren Jae Gutterman, PhD
Led by Allison Kim, PhD
Documentation of the Latina/o experience at UT, including the longtime participation and contributions of this group on campus.
Led by Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez, PhD
Projects that Research the Making of the University
History of the university’s expansion, including land acquisitions, developments, and local displacement histories.
History of early UT workforce, including the histories of Black and other people of color and of forced labor across all of UT’s workforce.
Examination of the contributions of Black builders, laborers, and craftsmen (and, generally, other persons of color) to the construction and physical development of the UT-Austin campus, focusing on the period from the university’s founding in 1883 through the 1930s building campaign.
Led by Edmund Gordon, PhD
Led by Talitha LeFlouria, PhD
Led by Tara Dudley, PhD
Contextualization of campus landscapes, buildings, and outdoor art through histories of their creation.
Led by Edmund Gordon, PhD