New and Noteworthy: News Highlights From 2018
Passport to Success
Thanks to the DDCE’s new Austin Future Global Leaders Initiative, 100 middle school students in the Neighborhood Longhorns Program will soon receive free passports. The students will participate in a yearlong academic program before embarking on a trip to Beijing, China in the summer of 2020. The initiative, led by Devin Walker, director of the Global Leadership and Social Impact program, aims to empower young scholars to develop a global mindset and prepare them for the global workforce.
Putting Diversity First
We raise our horns to Milly Lopez, director of institutional partnerships, who recently received the Texas Diversity Council’s Diversity FIRST Leadership Excellence Award. Among her many duties, Lopez takes the lead in managing collaboration and engagement efforts with 400-plus partner organizations, both on and off campus. Pictured here is Lopez (third from the left) with members of the National Diversity Council and the Central Texas Advisory Board at the Oct. 18 awards luncheon.
Ready, Set, Innovate!
Social and economic equity was the topic of the Community Engagement Center’s Front Porch Gathering event held on Oct. 16. Director of Inclusive Innovation and Entrepreneurship Rubén Cantú (sixth from the left) shared thoughts and ideas for helping underserved residents enter Austin’s robust tech and startup industry.
On the Job
This fall, the Longhorn Center for Academic Excellence partnered with the University Co-op on a new College-to-Career internship program that offers on-the-job learning for students of all disciplines at the large retail store with a unique business model. The program is part of the DDCE’s new Academic Creativity and Design Initiative to prepare students for the new world of work.
New Semester, New Look
Little Longhorns were in for a big surprise when they arrived at a newly remodeled campus on their first day of the fall semester. Over the summer months, new classrooms were added to the UT Elementary School campus and existing classrooms were renovated. Updates include new floors and outdoor decks, freshly painted buildings, a covered sports area and modernized classroom technology.
Booking It
DDCE staff members Virginia Cumberbatch and Leslie Blair presented their newly published book “As We Saw It: The Story of Integration at the University of Texas at Austin” at a standing room-only panel event at the Texas Book Festival on Oct. 28.