In our new series SEC Connections, we take a quick look at coincidences, partnerships and parallels between The University of Texas at Austin and our sister schools in the Southeastern Conference. This week, the University of Georgia.
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Texas and Georgia both have had dogs for mascots. While we all know Georgia’s bulldog mascot is Uga, from 1914 until the first Bevo was introduced in 1916, UT’s mascot was a pit bull named Pig Bellmont, the pet of Athletics Director Theo Bellmont.
Austin and Athens are both known as music towns. Bulldog students constituted the original fan base of R.E.M., The B-52s and Widespread Panic, while Longhorn students filled clubs for Willie Nelson, Stevie Ray Vaughan and indie rock band Spoon, which plays this Saturday before the game at Longhorn City Limits northeast of the stadium.
A dozen students in the UGA Entrepreneurship Program spent spring break in Austin participating in the inaugural Domestic Field Study Fellows Program. Students visited Austin’s many business incubators and high-tech startups and also UT’s Harkey Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at the McCombs School of Business, where they met with Longhorn students and faculty and showcased the UGA Entrepreneurship Program.
Within the last five years, Texas and Georgia faculty have done extensive joint research in molecular biosciences and integrative biology, earth and planetary science, population health and chemical engineering. Ahead of this week’s game, UT’s Steve Hicks School of Social Work is hosting Georgia’s dean of social work, Philip Hong, as a distinguished speaker.
