Thursday, August 14, 2008

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Garrison Hall, will surely cause a twinge of jealously among those of us confined to tiny offices in crumbling, outdated buildings.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.

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