at texasMay/June 2010

When I RiseBarbara Smith Conrad’sinspiring voice reachesa new generation

You may be a University insider

and not even know it.

If you have included The University of Texas at Austin or Texas Exes in your estate plans you’ve already earned membership in the

Texas Leadership Society. I invite you to let us know of your estate plans so you can start reaping the benefits of this prestigious society.

Even more important, letting us know you have made an estate gift helps us ensure that your good intentions are carried out as you wish. Estate gifts support faculty and research, provide scholarships and graduate fellowships, and keep our libraries, laboratories, and facilities up to date. What do you want your gift to do?

I am eager to welcome you to the Texas Leadership Society. You’ll receive invitations to exclusive University events, a complimentary subscription to the Texas Leader, and a silver Texas Leadership Society pin. Please contact us confidentially at http://giving.utexas.edu/recognition/tls/jointls

or call us at 866-488-3927 and let us know about your estate gift.

You’re part of a special group of people. Let us treat you like it.

William Powers, Jr.President

CONTENTS

Reprinted from

May/June 2010

Coming soon: Thanks to support from alumni and friends, a much- needed new home for the College of Communication is on the way.

CO

VER

PH

OTO

BY

RIC

K P

ATR

ICK

; C

ON

TEN

TS I

MA

GE

BY

LAW

REN

CE G

RO

UP

ARCH

ITEC

TS

WHEN I RISEDonors help bring an alumna’s extraordinary journey to life in new film

HORNS OF PLENTYWhat private giving is making possible

GIFT PLANNING 101No income limit for charitable deductions — but only this year

P h i l a n t h r o p y a t T e x a s M a y / J u n e 2 0 1 0

A new film revisits a

difficult piece of UT’s past

WHEN

IRISE

PH

OTO

S C

OU

RTE

SY

BR

ISC

OE

CE

NTE

R F

OR

AM

ER

ICA

N H

ISTO

RY

EXC

EP

T M

AT H

AM

ES

PH

OTO

, C

OU

RTE

SY

ALP

HE

US

ME

DIA

The Alcalde May/June 2010

A Philanthropy at Texas

PH

OTO

S C

OU

RTE

SY

BR

ISC

OE

CE

NTE

R F

OR

AM

ER

ICA

N H

ISTO

RY

EXC

EP

T M

AT H

AM

ES

PH

OTO

, C

OU

RTE

SY

ALP

HE

US

ME

DIA

was a dark chapter in the University’s history — and one that many of today’s

students and younger alumni don’t know much about. That’s one reason the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History drew on its archives to help produce a new film about it.

Made possible by AT&T and other Briscoe Center donors, When I Rise is a potent documentary about Distinguished Alumna Barbara Smith Conrad, who came to UT as a gifted music student hoping to develop her considerable talents and explore a world beyond her East Texas upbringing.Conrad instead found herself the subject of national headlines as a target of racial prejudice. Cast in Dido and Aeneas opposite a white male classmate in 1957, not long after UT’s undergraduate integration began, the young mezzo-soprano was expelled from the production when then-president Logan Wilson caved into pressure from members of the Texas Legislature.

The story has been told before in these pages and elsewhere, and in recent years Conrad has returned to campus from her New York City home to perform, teach master classes, and work with the Briscoe Center on its American Spirituals Initiative. But even to those already familiar with the events, the full extent of the bigotry she endured at the University is shocking. It was decades before she was able to truly make peace with what happened.

There are poignant moments in the film when Conrad, having long since ascended to the heights of her field at the Metropolitan Opera and on other stages around the world, recounts episodes of being threatened and even spit upon by classmates. Friends and contemporaries, including Harley Clark, BA ’57, MA ’60, JD ’62, Life Member, describe the tumultuous race relations on campus in the late 1950s. Hundreds rallied against discrimination,

but the atmosphere was overwhelmingly hostile to students of color. After the story broke, national figures such as Sidney Poitier and Eleanor Roosevelt voiced their support for Conrad; Harry Belafonte offered to pay for her to attend another university. Even so, she chose to complete her UT education. As the film makes clear, Conrad, BM ’59, Life Member, is no quitter. “In the world of performing arts,” she tells the camera at one point, “it’s called survival.”

When I Rise was directed by Austin’s Mat Hames, whose previous work includes Last Best Hope, about the Belgian Resistance in World War II, and Fighting Goliath: Texas Coal Wars. Hames also directed and produced the 13-part series State of Tomorrow. That Emmy winner, which focused on cutting-edge research at UT and other top Texas universities, aired on Texas PBS stations and was distributed to K-12 schools throughout the state.

So how can you see When I Rise? A packed Paramount Theatre was the

jubilant setting for its world premiere at Austin’s South by Southwest Film Festival in March, and it’s now making the rounds at other festivals. It’s an official selection at Toronto’s Hot Docs, the largest documentary festival in North America, in May. Don Carleton, executive director of the Briscoe Center — and executive producer of the film — says he and everyone else behind When I Rise are making every effort to get it before a wide audience. A broadcast on PBS or another outlet in the near future is likely; meanwhile, campus screenings will share this important piece of UT and civil rights history with today’s students.

“Our involvement with this film is an excellent example of what makes the Briscoe Center unique among history research centers,” Carleton says. “We not only serve as a repository for the evidence of history

— we bring that history to life.”

Learn more at whenirisefilm.com.

IT

facing page: Barbara Smith Conrad as Carmen with the New York City Opera, 1976. above: Clockwise from right, Conrad performs as Amneris in Aida with the Cincinnati Opera, 1976; in the Texas Capitol Rotunda, 2009; film director Mat Hames, left, frames a shot on campus for When I Rise.

Talk about returning a favor. The parents of Justin Murray, BS ’03, Life Member, had loaned him money to help pay for law school, and he wanted to pay them back. There was just one problem: They wouldn’t take the money. Murray decided if he couldn’t pay it back, he’d pay it forward. He and his wife, Megan, BS ’03, endowed a scholarship like those that had helped them during their undergraduate years at UT. The Thomas and Harriett Murray Endowed Scholarship in Engineering honors Justin’s parents, a police officer and nurse who live in Magnolia, north-west of Houston. “We established the scholarship in their honor,” Justin says, “as a way to acknowledge the love, support, and encouragement they’ve provided to us and the local community.” The endowment will forever benefit engineering students, preferably those in the Longhorn Band, where the younger Murrays met as fellow chemical engineering students. Justin, having completed law school, is now an intellectual property attorney at Bracewell & Giuliani LLP in Houston; Megan is an engineer with BP America, whose matching-gifts program helped make the endowment possible. Both say a lack of money should not keep people out of school. “Life would have been much more difficult for us if not for scholarships like this,” Megan says. “We just want to provide other students with the same opportunities we had.”—Angela Curtis

Thomas, Justin, Megan, and Harriett Murray

Breaking new ground is nothing new for the College of Communication, home to national top-10 programs in journalism, radio-television-film, advertising, communication sciences, and other areas. But the recent groundbreaking of a new building for the college, across Dean Keeton Street from its current home, signifies a new era. Slated for completion in 2012, the $50.6 million, five-story Belo Center for New Media will add substantially to Communication’s tight existing space. Plans include new classrooms, production labs, a 300-seat auditorium, areas for seminars and student organizations, and a café. The building will also house the KUT Broadcast Center, which for the first time will bring together the public radio station’s newsroom, on-air hosts, producers, and student interns to collaborate and engage the community. The Belo Center is named for Texas newspaper pioneer Alfred Horatio Belo. In 2007 Dallas’ Belo Foundation helped launch the project with a $12 million lead gift. Robert W. and Maureen H. Decherd, BA ’73, Life Members, the estate of James M. Moroney, Jr., BA ’43, and the Jim and Lynn Moroney Family Foundation donated $3 million. While those gifts and many others of all sizes have been essential to the expansion, there are still many giving opportunities. To learn more visit communication.utexas.edu/support.

The Belo Center for New Media will open in 2012.

PHO

TOS

FRO

M L

EFT:

CO

URTE

SY M

UR

RAY

FAM

ILY;

LAW

REN

CE G

RO

UP

ARCH

ITEC

TS; R

AND

AL F

OR

D

HORNS OF PLENTYWHAT PRIVATE GIVING IS MAKING POSSIBLE

A Philanthropy at Texas

This is an unusual tax year. For 2010 only, there is no income limit for taking itemized charitable deductions — unlike in previous years and unlike what may again be the case in 2011. As of this year, there also are no income limits for those converting a traditional Individual Retirement Account (IRA) to a Roth IRA. If you expect your 2010 taxable income to be higher than in previous years, or if you’re considering converting an IRA, supporting what you love at UT in 2010 can save a significant portion of the increased income from taxation.

Many retirement planning experts suggest that now is a good time to convert to a Roth IRA, even if it means paying income taxes to do so. Individual income tax rates are likely to rise, not fall, in coming years, while the top income tax rate is set to increase in 2011. By reporting all the converted income in 2010, you could pay a smaller amount in taxes; meanwhile, as the economy recovers, your investment can grow in a tax-free rather than a tax-deferred ac-count. For 2010 only, you can choose to pay tax on the conversion now or you can defer, paying half in 2011 and half in 2012. If you change your mind later you can revert to a traditional IRA until Oct. 15 of the year of the conversion with no penalty.

For many taxpayers, giving to UT with funds outside the IRA could completely offset the converted income and result in tax-free income in retirement, no required minimum distributions, the ability of heirs to enjoy tax-free growth and income, and the possible reduction of estate taxes. Only you and your tax adviser can help decide what is best for you. The UT Austin Gift Planning team is ready to work with you and your advisers in confidence and without obligation.

To learn more, call UT’s Gift Planning team at 512-475-9671 or toll-free 866-4UTEXAS (488-3927), e-mail giftplan@www.utexas.edu, or visit giving.utexas.edu/giftplanning.

“Philanthropy at Texas” is compiled and edited by Jamey Smith in the University Development Office. Your feedback and suggestions are welcome at jjsmith@austin.utexas.edu. For more philanthropic news and information, including ways you can give to UT, visit campaignfortexas.utexas.edu.

No Income Limit for Charitable Deductions — But Only This Year

PLANNING101

“The generosity of Sarah and Ernest Butler continues to amaze me,” says Glenn Chandler, director of the Butler School of Music. The school, still on cloud nine after the Butlers’ $55 million gift in 2008, recently was able to add even more scholarships to its repertoire — thanks once again to the Butlers. Last summer the couple pledged matching funds for any scholarship gifts between $25,000 and $50,000 received through the end of 2009. Ten gifts qualified, and the result, including the matches, was $700,000 in newly endowed funds benefiting students across the musical spectrum. One of the scholarships came about when musicology professor Michael Tusa spearheaded a fundraising effort among his Butler School colleagues. Chandler calls that effort a testament to his faculty’s dedication to students; he’s particularly moved that it happened during a belt-tightening year at UT, one in which no one received merit pay raises. The rest of the donations are from the more traditional source of UT philanthropy: alumni and friends. Life Members John McFarlane, BA ’65, and wife Suzanne McFarlane, BA ’65, BS ’67, MEd ’92, endowed two scholarships — one in vocal and choral arts, the other in winds. “When we see the great things the Butler School of Music is doing, plus the high quality of its students, it makes us want to be a part of something bigger than ourselves,” John says. “And when we learned that the But-lers would be matching our contribution, we realized we could split our money and create two!” Just what Sarah and Ernest hoped would happen.

Ernest and Sarah Butler

PHO

TOS

FRO

M L

EFT:

CO

URTE

SY M

UR

RAY

FAM

ILY;

LAW

REN

CE G

RO

UP

ARCH

ITEC

TS; R

AND

AL F

OR

D

The Alcalde May/June 2010