University of North Texas at Dallas

University of North Texas at Dallas
Established	2000
Type	Public
President	John E. Price (designee)
Students	2040
Undergraduates	<2040
Location	Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Campus	Urban, 264 acres (1.07 km²)
Former names	University of North Texas System Center University of North Texas Dallas Campus
Colors	Blue and yellow
Mascot	Jaguars
Website	http://www.unt.edu/unt-dallas/

The University of North Texas at Dallas began in 2000 as a Dallas extension of the University of North Texas, offering upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses in fields such as education, business, criminal justice, applied arts and sciences, computer science, information technology and mathematics.

Enrollment on the UNT Dallas Campus has grown at an average annual rate of 14 percent per year and reached the full-time equivalent of 1,000 students during the spring semester of 2009. That figure, 1,000 FTE, had to be met under the terms of the legislation that created the school before it could separate from UNT. In April 2009, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board certified this enrollment and granted UNT Dallas status as an independent general academic institution. Now, the freestanding school is known as the University of North Texas at Dallas, the first public university within Dallas city limits. Freshmen and sophomores are being admitted for the first time in the Fall of 2010. In the summer of 2009, construction began on the second building on the school's 264-acre (1.07 km²) campus near the intersection of I-20 and I-35E.

Enrollment at the UNT Dallas Campus is certified by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

History and development

The initial building at the University of North Texas at Dallas campus

State Sen. Royce West suggested a feasibility study regarding the creation of a state university in southern Dallas County during the 75th Texas Legislature in 1997 (this area of Dallas County is predominantly African American and served only by the private Paul Quinn College). The campus was launched at a temporary location in the spring 2000 semester with an enrollment of 204 students, or a full-time equivalent enrollment of 55.

The Dallas City Council approved a resolution in June 2001 directing its city manager to secure up to $3 million by January 2002 to buy about 200 acres (0.81 km²) in southern Dallas' I-20 corridor for the future UNT Dallas campus. Private donations raised the size of the property for the new university campus to 264 acres (1.07 km²).

A 2001 bill passed by the Texas Legislature and signed into law by Governor Rick Perry authorized the UNT System to establish UNT Dallas once enrollment at the UNT Dallas Campus reaches 2,500. Another bill passed into law in 2003 changed the requirement, allowing work to begin on UNT Dallas once the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board certifies enrollment of the equivalent of 1,000 full-time students for one semester; it also allowed the system to issue bonds for the development of the current Dallas Campus.

A ground-breaking ceremony for the first building on the future campus took place in October 2005. The first 76,000-square-foot (7,100 m²), permanent building on the UNT Dallas Campus site was occupied in January 2007. The building was made possible by a state tuition revenue bond (TRB) initiative of $25.5 million. Under legislation signed by Gov. Rick Perry in May 2009, the state released previously authorized TRBs to construct the second building on the campus of UNT Dallas.

In March 2008, UNT System Chancellor Lee Jackson promoted the UNT Dallas Campus' chief executive officer, John Ellis Price, to the position of vice chancellor. Price was later named "president designate" of the school by the UNT System Board of Regents.

External links

• University of North Texas Dallas Campus – Official site.