Celebrating Undergraduate Writing and Research at UT Austin
The Undergraduate Research and Writing Awards are a yearly reminder of the diverse talent of students at UT. On April 4th, the School of Undergraduate Studies (UGS) hosted its 3rd Undergraduate Writing and Research Awards ceremony in partnership with the UT Library. This partnership — as well as the faculty and staff from departments all across campus who judged the submissions and taught the courses — is reflective of UT Austin’s dedication to encouraging undergraduate research and writing.
The Dean of the School of Undergraduate Studies, Brent Iverson, opened the ceremony by highlighting the importance of undergraduate academic achievement. As Dean Iverson noted, undergraduate researchers and writers are a part of UT Austin’s future and their work deserves just as much recognition as other types of student achievements. Winners of the Research and Writing Awards were recognized with prizes of $100–300, and a showcase for the work of top winners in each category. Parents, friends, professors, and staff joined the students for the ceremony where 35 students were recognized for their research and writing on topics from blue bees to Facebook data permission policies.
The Writing Flag Awards, organized by the Center for Skills and Experience Flags in UGS, recognized winners in four separate categories — Collaborative, Research, Critical/Persuasive, and Creative/Reflective. Students submitted papers from courses spanning 44 departments and each carrying the Writing Flag. Students from 11 different colleges and schools, and representing over 70 majors submitted papers for the contest.
Many of the students wrote their papers in Writing Flag classes in their major. Caroline Leonard, Christine Archer and Geoffrey Tian, 2nd place winners in the Collaborative category, wrote their paper on a Catalonian lab while they were studying abroad in Spain. As engineering majors, they have appreciated how their Writing Flag courses have prepared them to write reports and gain professional skills for their careers.
Makenzie Kulhanek, Emily Garza, and Joey Saad, engineering majors who won Honorable Mention in the Collaborative category, wrote their paper on a chemical plant explosion following Hurricane Harvey. Each of the students enjoyed taking their first Writing Flagged course in their major and Makenzie felt that “the way our professor taught the course was seamless and they made a clear connection between the writing and the major.”
Other students took Writing-flagged courses outside their major to challenge themselves. Hailey Algoe, an architecture major and the 1st place winner in the Creative/Reflective category, spoke about how she wanted to improve her poetry by taking a course with the Writing Flag. One of her winning poems combined her love for poetry and architecture by describing the power and beauty of skylines and skyscrapers.
Anjali Ramachandran, a biochemistry major and the 2nd place winner in the Creative/Reflective category, talked about how she intentionally took a narrative writing class outside her degree requirements because she wanted the opportunity to work on her writing. “Creative writing is really important to me, and I am so glad that I got to take this class and work on my writing,” she explained. Whether students were taking courses within their majors or branching out to other disciplines, taking Writing Flag courses allowed them to hone their skills and pursue their interests.
The variety of courses with the Writing Flag makes it easy for students to explore different styles of writing or hone writing skills in their major. In 2018, there were over 34,000 students in courses with the Writing Flag. Mohit Gupta, a 2nd place winner in the Signature Course Information Literacy award, noted that “seeing the variety of Writing Flag courses makes me more open to taking a Writing Flag course outside my major.” Nitesh Kartha, a 3rd place winner in the Research category, said that “the ceremony made me more aware of the other research and writing opportunities at UT. After this, I am going to look for other things like this to get involved in.”
The Undergraduate Research and Writing Awards are a celebration of the diverse talent of students at UT Austin, but also a recognition of the variety of academic resources available to them. As more and more faculty from across campus teach Writing Flag courses and mentor undergraduates in research experiences, the richness of undergraduate research and writing at UT Austin continues to grow. The outstanding winners of this year’s awards exemplify the quality of work undergraduates are producing on this campus.
To find more information on the Writing Flag Awards and how to submit papers to the contest go here.
You can read each of the winning papers at the Texas Scholar Works at the University of Texas Libraries here.
To know more about undergraduate research at UT Austin, check out UT Research Week’s events from Monday, April 08, 2019 to Friday, April 19, 2019 here.
Student responses have been lightly edited for clarity.
By Abby Attia, Graduate Assistant at the Center for Skills and Experience Flags
