A University of the First Class: Elizabeth Richmond-Garza

By Elizabeth Richmond-Garza in A University of the First Class, Features, May | June 2013 on April 30, 2013 at 9:56 am | No Comments

On the occasion of the Alcalde’s 100th anniversary, we asked Longhorns what “a University of the first class” means to them.

Elizabeth Richmond-Garza

Associate Professor, English

Our excellence is solidly based on our particularity, on those unique things that UT-Austin shares with the world. While some suggest that a book becomes part of world literature because everyone can relate to it, my experience is that it also needs rich, local texture. Burnt orange and Bevo, James Michener’s legacy, and Alexander Phimister Proctor’s Mustangs give the Forty Acres its special feel, just as the cultural history of the state of Texas shapes our community. A university of the first class should share excellence with other great institutions. It should share academic ambition and success with our world. Finally, it should share its own character with all who step onto its campus. The University of Texas offers a warm—and very Texan—welcome to our state, region, and world.

Read more takes on the phrase “a University of the first class” here.

Illustration by Sean McCabe.

Tags: Alexander Phimister Proctor, Elizabeth Richmond-Garza, James Michener