Awards and Special Recognition
The Humanities Institute is pleased to announce the following awards and recognition that it has received for its programs and projects.
Humanities Institute Wins Grants for Free Minds Project
The Humanities Institute has been awarded grants from three local charitable foundations in support of the Free Minds Project,
a challenging year-long humanities class for adults who seek to start or resume their college education.
The Webber Family Foundation has awarded the Humanities Institute $15,000 to help defray the instructional,
materials, and student support costs of the 2007-8 Free Minds Project. A $25,000 grant from the KDK-Harman Foundation has been
instrumental to the support of the twenty inspired and inspiring adults enrolled in the Free Minds class, and has allowed the Project to provide healthier meals and enriched child care
services in its second year. Most recently, the Sooch Foundation has awarded the Institute a three-year $24,000 grant to implement
comprehensive measurement and evaluation as well as alumni tracking and support.
Teachers as Scholars Program Awarded UTOPIA Grant to Launch Online Teacher Toolkit
The UTopia K-12 website awarded the Humanities Institute a grant to launch a new component of its Texas
Teachers As Scholars program: The Online Teacher Toolkit. Available in fall 2006, the Online Teacher Toolkit will provide lesson plans, audio clips, and multimedia resources, adapted from the Institute's UT faculty-designed seminars, for participating TAS teachers to use and share with their colleagues, schools, and districts.
Writing Austin's Lives Chosen for the 2005 Mayor's Book Club
Writing Austin's Lives: a community portrait was chosen as the 2005 Mayor's Book Club selection to celebrate the diverse range of Austin writers and citizens who contributed to the anthology. Program events featured discussion groups led by Austin celebrities, readings by contributing writers, a website called Write On, Austin! where residents can post new stories, and a film contest called Filming Austin's Lives.
Writing Austin's Lives Receives Austin Chronicle, "Best of Austin" Award
The Humanities Institute made headlines again with its award-winning collection of Austin stories, Writing Austin's Lives: a community portrait. The fall of 2004 brought new honors and acclaim to the book in the form of an Austin Chronicle "Best of Austin" award, recognizing the 127 citizen contributors as the "Best Austin Writers" of the year, as well as a public reading at the Texas State Capitol featuring five of these writers during the weekend of the Texas Book Festival.