Posted on January 19, 2022 by COLFA
The College of Liberal and Fine Arts (COLFA) is proud to announce the initial release of Beyond Boundaries, an open-access, student organized academic journal designed as an inclusive forum for UTSA graduate students to demonstrate original work.
Along with a digital platform, Beyond Boundaries focuses on the diverse experience of students earning a master’s degree in the College of Liberal and Fine Arts. The journal is interdisciplinary and welcomes student authors and editors from all departments within COLFA in an effort to build a supportive academic environment that encourages mentorship, scholarship, and publication.
Beyond Boundaries was cofounded by four intrepid Department of History graduate students: Cindy Chavez, Catarina Garza Cristóbal López, and Bryan Morales who envisioned creating a new platform to engage with other students and faculty through research and projects direct from the student experience.
The creators spoke on the significant opportunities that a publication like this would offer the UTSA community as a whole. “This inaugural issue is a testament to the capabilities and endless possibilities that graduate students have at the University of Texas at San Antonio. When we envision Beyond Boundaries in the near future, we see it in the capable hands of UTSA’s graduate students. We hope incoming, interdisciplinary editors will make this journal an enduring part of the UTSA experience.”
Endeavoring to tackle a project as ambitious as this would be a challenge during any normal year, but with 2021 bringing with it all the complications of COVID-19 in full-swing along with the school and workplace modality shifts, it presented a whole new set of obstacles.
“Creating a journal with relatively no experience during a pandemic had its fair share of challenges. Nevertheless, we persevered and moved forward. We enlisted, and are very grateful for, the help of interdisciplinary reviewers and editors. This journal would not exist without the participation of students and faculty across COLFA. We have had the incredible support of our advisor, Professor Catherine Clinton, and Dr. Jason Yaeger. Without either of them, this project would not have achieved realization.”
While most journals carry with them a limited scope in terms of which fields are accepted into their publication, Beyond Boundaries sets no such limits. The journal accepts submissions from graduates across the myriad of Departments and major disciplines across COLFA. “It brings us great joy to see the participation of such departments like Anthropology, Art and Art History, History, English, and Modern Languages and Literatures.”
Dean of COLFA, Dr. Glenn Martinez, expressed his support for Beyond Boundaries and the opportunities that it could provide graduate students. "Beyond Boundaries will become a platform for MA students in COLFA to actively explore the multiple connections and tensions between our varied disciplines in the liberal and fine arts and a showcase of the extraordinary talent that exists in our programs.
For more information or to view articles already produced by the Beyond Boundaries team, please visit the Beyond Boundaries website. If you are a graduate student with COLFA and you would like to submit content for Beyond Boundaries, you can reach out to the editors directly via e-mail at beyondboundaries@utsa.edu.
— COLFA
