Sofia Sokolove News Today

Growing up, Sarah Bird’s fairy tales weren’t the usual classics. Instead, she was regaled with true-life tales from her mother—“who told the best stories imaginable”—about her childhood growing up on a farm in Indiana during the Great Depression. “It was a very dire time in our country’s history, and certainly in the life of my […]

Olympic athletes Kevin Durant and Cat Osterman. New York Times magazine editor in chief Jake Silverstein. Filmmaker Robert Rodriguez. Minister of Culture Matthew McConaughey and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. These extraordinary people aren’t just all Longhorns. Early in their careers, they all had the honor of being named an Outstanding Young Texas Ex.  This year, […]

By Sofia Sokolove in May | June 2021 on May 4, 2021 at 10:04 am | No Comments It occurs to me that you’ve now had a full year of Alcalde letters from me that muse about “the new normal” and the changes in every aspect of our lives—the alumni association experience being chief among them.   Even with all the disruption, we managed to bring fellowship and enrichment to Longhorns everywhere through virtual...

Full extent of Harvey’s aftermath starts to come into chilling focusby wpjljron Monday, August 28th, 2017.Full extent of Harvey’s aftermath starts to come into chilling focusHOUSTON — The full extent of Hurricane Harvey’s aftermath started to come into chilling focus Sunday in Houston and across much of Central Texas, as rain measured in feet, not inches, overwhelmed lakes, rivers and bayous, leaving several people dead and thousands displaced in a weather disaster described as “beyon...

Nearly a year after students left the Forty Acres for spring break 2020, campus is still far emptier than usual, with many of UT’s faculty, staff, and even students Zooming  from home. For the folks who keep campus running, that quiet feeling of a holiday break has become their new, eerie norm.  In some ways their lives look more “normal” than many of ours, as these campus workers continue to commute, pack a lunch, and say hello to the occasional co-worker in the halls, but COVID-19 has...

Around May of last year, after a few months of working (and doing just about everything else) from home, I decided to turn my concrete balcony into something a little more lush. Like anyone who has been confined to a very small condo during the pandemic, I became a bit obsessive over something that, pre-COVID, I had never even considered: creating a personal oasis out of an uninspired slab.   I spent lunch breaks wandering around outdoor garden centers and evenings scrolling through Central T...

These four Longhorns have achieved big success before even turning 40. Initiated in 1979, the Outstanding Young Texas Ex Award recognizes Texas Exes age 39 and younger who have made significant achievements in their careers and service to the university.  Gerardo A. Interiano,  BA ’03, JD ’06,  Life Member  Born in El Salvador, Gerarado A. Interiano moved to Texas when he was 8 years old. As the VP of government relations at Aurora, a company building self-driving technology, he lea...