Texas tea

The University of Texas is one of those rare public universities that does well when everyone else is suffering. Black gold, Texas tea. Skyrocketing oil profits mean a bump up in Texas endowments, not to mention giving from petroleum-rich alums.

History at Texas is one of the beneficiaries. UT, already a strong department, is going on a binge. Its luxe quarters, in newly renovated Garrison Hall, will surely cause a twinge of jealously among those of us confined to tiny offices in crumbling, outdated buildings. In recent years, Texas has poached off hotshot Spanish colonial historian Jorge Canizares-Esguerra from SUNY and Pulitzer Prize-winner David Oshinsky from Rutgers. And it's home to two HNN Top Young Historians, Madeline Hsu and Mark Lawrence.

The latest to join the Texas constellation: Bancroft and MacArthur Genius Grant winner, Jacqueline Jones, formerly of Brandeis. She'll be donning her ten gallon hat in Austin any day.