University of Dallas

University of Dallas

File:University of Dallas logo.jpg
Motto	Veritatem, Justitiam Diligite (Love Ye Truth and Justice)
Type	Private University
Established	1956
Endowment	US $48 Million
President	Dr. Frank Lazarus
Academic staff	265
Undergraduates	1,400
Postgraduates	1,855
Location	Irving , TX , USA
Campus	Urban, 30 buildings, 744 Acres
Colors	Royal Blue and White
Mascot	Crusaders (Official) and Groundhogs (Unofficial)
Website	www.udallas.edu

The University of Dallas is a private Catholic university located in Irving, Texas. It is well known for its Core Curriculum, a series of required classes based in the Western Tradition. The University of Dallas Rome Program is regarded as one of finest study-abroad programs for American students. The current President of the University is Dr. Francis Lazarus.

History

The University of Dallas has 121 full-time faculty members and 35 part-time faculty members. 90% of the faculty hold a Ph.D. or highest degree in their field. The University has a student/faculty ratio of 12:1. Despite calls for change, faculty salaries at UD are the third lowest in Texas, according to a recent report in the campus newspaper.

The charter of the University of Dallas dates from 1910 when priests from the Society of St. Vincent de Paul took that name for the Holy Trinity College they had founded five years earlier. Holy Trinity closed in 1928 and the charter was placed with the Catholic Diocese of Dallas. In 1955 the Western Province of the Sisters of Saint Mary of Namur obtained it for the purpose of operating a new institution in Dallas that would absorb their junior college in Fort Worth, Our Lady of Victory. The Sisters, together with laymen Eugene Constantin, Jr. and Edward R. Maher, Sr., induced Bishop Thomas Kiely Gorman to have the diocese assume sponsorship of the new institution with ownership by its Board of Trustees.

Bishop Gorman announced that the University would be a four-year co-educational institution welcoming students of all faiths and races, and offering work on the undergraduate level with a graduate school to be added as soon as practicable.The University opened its doors to 96 degree-seeking students in September 1956, on a thousand-acre tract of rolling hills northwest of the city of Dallas now part of Irving/Las Colinas.

F. Kenneth Brasted, the first president, served until 1959; the second, Robert Morris, from 1960 to 1962; and the third, Donald A. Cowan, from 1962 until 1977. In 1976, Bryan F. Smith was appointed Chancellor to assist Dr. Cowan until John R. Sommerfeldt was appointed in 1978. Dr. Sommerfeldt returned to full-time teaching in 1980. During the search process, Dr. Svetozar Pejovich was acting president. From July 1981 to December 1995 Dr. Robert F. Sasseen served as the fifth president. Monsignor Milam J. Joseph served as the sixth president from October 1996 through December of 2003. Robert Galecke, senior vice-president for Finance and Administration, was interim president until July 2004 when Dr. Francis Lazarus took office as the seventh president.

Members of the Cistercian Order and the Sisters of Saint Mary, together with three Franciscan fathers and a number of laymen, comprised the original faculty of the University of Dallas. Dominican priests joined the faculty in 1958 and established Albert the Great Priory. The School Sisters of Notre Dame came in 1962. The Cistercians established a permanent abbey, church and an outstanding college preparatory school.

The faculty has become largely lay and counts numerous distinguished scholars among its members. Accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools came in 1963 and has been reaffirmed regularly. In November 1996 the University was the first institution accredited by the American Academy of Liberal Education. Significant honors have been won by University graduates since the first class in 1960 earned Fulbright and Woodrow Wilson awards for graduate studies. In 1989 it was the youngest school in the century to be awarded a Phi Beta Kappa chapter.

His Excellency Thomas Tschoepe succeeded Bishop Gorman and served as grand chancellor of the University until his retirement in 1990 when Bishop Charles Victor Grahmann, his successor, assumed the position.

A seven and one half million dollar grant from the Blakley-Braniff Foundation established the Braniff Graduate School in 1966 and allowed the construction of the Braniff Graduate Center, Tower and Mall. The Constantin Foundation similarly endowed the undergraduate college. In 1970 the Board of Trustees named the undergraduate college the Constantin College of Liberal Arts. Gorman Lecture Center and the Maher Athletic Center were completed in 1965.

Holy Trinity Seminary was founded in 1965. The Graduate School of Management, begun in 1966, offers the largest MBA program in the Southwest. Influential programs in Art and English also began in 1966. In 1973, the Institute of Philosophic Studies, the doctoral program of the Braniff Graduate School and an outgrowth of the Kendall Politics and Literature Program, was initiated. The School of Ministry began in 1987. The College of Business, incorporating Graduate School of Management and undergraduate business, opened in 2003.

In 1975 the student center was doubled in size and named for J.M. Haggar, Sr., and an addition was made to the Haggerty Art Center. The University Apartments, a facility for upper division students, opened in 1980. 1985 saw the completion of the Patrick E. Haggerty Science Center and the Church of the Incarnation. Anselm Hall, the first men's dormitory, was renovated in 1992; the Fr. Thomas Cain, O. P. courtyard was dedicated.

On June 11, 1994, the University dedicated permanent facilities for its Rome Program begun in 1970. The 12-acre Eugene Constantin Campus, Due Santi, near Albano, Italy, is 15 kilometers from the heart of Rome.

1998 saw the addition of a new baseball field. Major additions to the Haggerty Art Village were completed and the east side of campus was redeveloped in 2000. In 2002, a women's softball complex was added and the new Dominican Priory opened. A wellness center was added to the Maher Athletic Center in 2003.

Today the University enrolls over 3,000 students from all over the United States and the world, divided roughly into 1200 full-time undergraduates; 1500 largely part-time Graduate School of Management students; and 350 students in the various Braniff Liberal Arts programs.

The University began an 18-month series of events celebrating its 50th Anniversary at May 2005 Commencement by honoring the Sisters of Saint Mary. Other 50th Anniversary events included the Salute to Irving, thanking the city for its support over the years, special recognitions of the faculty and staff, and the 50th Anniversary Gala which welcomed over 1000 to celebrate the accomplishments and future of the institution.

Campus

Irving

The school is located on a 744 acre (3 km²) suburban campus in Irving, Texas, 12 miles (19 km) from downtown Dallas. It is just southeast of the upscale development of Las Colinas, Texas.

A light rail station operated by DART is scheduled to open within four miles of campus in December of 2010. Another light rail station is sheduled to open on campus the following year.[1]

Rome

In 1990, the University purchased a villa southeast of Rome in the Castelli Romani, the Alban Hills of ancient Roman history and legend. The new campus would serve as the base of the University of Dallas Rome Program. In June 1994, the newly renovated 12-acre property was inaugurated as the Eugene Constantin Rome Campus, and that fall it hosted its first students. Just south of Rome along the Via Appia, the campus includes a library, chapel, housing, a dining hall, classrooms, tennis courts, a swimming pool, an outdoor Greco-Roman theater, a forno (a traditional outdoor wood-burning oven), working vineyards and olive groves.

Academics

Undergraduate

Undergraduate students are enrolled in the Constantin College of Liberal Arts or the College of Business. All undergraduate students at the University of Dallas study a Core Curriculum, a series of specific courses that emphasizes the great ideas, deeds, and works of Western civilization from classical to modern times.

The core curriculum includes four classes in literary tradition (Epic Poetry, Lyrical Poetry, The Play (comedy and tragedy), and The Novel; four classes in history (two American and two Western Civilization); four philosophy (Philosophy and the Ethical Life, Philosophy of Man, Philosophy of Being and a Philosophy elective); two fine arts and one math, or one fine art and two maths. These requirements were recently reduced. Still required are: two of the same foreign language in the intermediate level or higher (modern or classical; German, French, Spanish, Italian; Latin and Greek); two theology classes (Understanding the Bible and Western Theological Tradition); one course in American politics and one course in economics.

UD offers Bachelor of Arts degrees in Art History, Biology, Business Leadership, Ceramics, Chemistry, Classics, Comparative Literary Traditions, Drama, Economics, Finance, Education, English, French, Funambulism, German, Ancient Greek, History, Latin, Mathematics, Painting, Philosophy, Physics, Politics, Psychology, Printmaking, Sculpture, Spanish, and Theology.

Graduate

Braniff Graduate School

A 1966 grant from the Blakley-Braniff Foundation established the Braniff Graduate School. Via the Braniff Graduate School of Liberal Arts, the University of Dallas offers Master's degrees in many disciplines including American Studies, Art, Catholic School Leadership & Teaching, English, Humanities, Philosophy, Politics, Psychology, Religious Education and Theology.

The Institute for Philosophic Studies

In 1973, the Institute of Philosophic Studies, the doctoral program of the Braniff Graduate School and an outgrowth of the Kendall Politics and Literature Program, was initiated. The Institute for Philosophic Studies (IPS) offers doctoral programs in Literature, Philosophy, and Political Philosophy.

Graduate School of Management

The Graduate School of Management (GSM) at the University of Dallas enrolls approximately 1,600 students in its programs, which are offered in the classroom (at the Irving, Tarrant County, and Frisco campuses), onsite at corporate partner locations, and online. It hosts the largest MBA program in the D/FW metroplex, and was founded in 1966 to provide practical graduate management education to working adults.

School of Ministry

The University of Dallas School of Ministry began in 1987 as the Institute for Religious and Pastoral Studies (IRPS). It offers Masters degrees in: Theological Studies (MTS), Religious Education (MRE), Catholic School Leadership (MCSL), Catholic School Teaching (MCST), and Pastoral Ministry (MPM). Masters classes are offered onsite at the University of Dallas main campus at Irving, Texas, and at Frisco,Texas, Shreveport, Louisiana as well as online. Onsite Classes are offered weekdays, weeknights and weekends. Online classes can be taken at any time during the week.

The University of Dallas School of Ministry is also one of the few Catholic universities in the U.S. that offer a comprehensive, four-year Catholic Biblical School (CBS) certification program. This program, which covers every book of the Bible, is also offered online and in both English and Spanish. The CBS is the largest program of its kind among all Catholic universities in the U.S. based on 2007 enrollment numbers.

School of Pharmacy

In October 2007, the University of Dallas Board of Trustees affirmed the addition of a School of Pharmacy and has begun searching for a Dean of Pharmacy. The school is scheduled to open in the Fall of 2009. The new School of Pharmacy would be the eighth Catholic pharmacy school in the nation. Currently, accredited programs exist at Creighton University in Nebraska, Duquesne University in Pennsylvania, University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, St. John Fisher College in New York, St. John's University in New York, and Xavier University of Louisiana.

As with the establishment of the Business School, student and faculty reaction to the new School of Pharmacy ranged from support to grave concern over maintaining the University's identity as a liberal arts institution.

Notable Faculty

Present Professors

• Leo Paul S. de Alvarez - Professor of Politics, noted scholar of Machiavelli and Thucydides
• Louise Cowan - Professor of English, recipient of the National Humanities Medal and close associate of the Southern Agrarians
• Philipp Rosemann - Professor of Philosophy, Director of the Dallas Medieval Texts and Translations series
• John R. Sommerfeldt - Professor of History, founder of the International Congress on Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University.
• Gerard Wegemer - Professor of English, founding director of the Center for Thomas More Studies, author of Thomas More: A Portrait of Courage.
• Thomas G. West - Professor of Politics, author of Vindicating the Founders, student of Leo Strauss and Harry V. Jaffa
• Denis Farkasfalvy, O.Cist. - Research Scholar, Abbot of Our Lady of Dallas Abbey and member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission.

Past Professors

• Mel Bradford - Professor of English, nominated for Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities by President Ronald Reagan.
• Willmoore Kendall - Professor of Politics, founded National Review with William F. Buckley Jr.
• Mitch Pacwa, S.J. - Assistant Professor of Theology, host on EWTN and founder of Ignatius Productions.
• Janet Smith - Assistant Professor of Philosophy, leading scholar on Humanae Vitae and the adverse effects of artificial contraception.
• Glen Thurow - Professor of Politics, noted expert on the political philosophy of Abraham Lincoln
• Frederick Wilhelmsen - Professor of Philosophy, notable Thomist scholar, co-founder of Christendom College

Students

The school is attended by 1,200 undergraduate students and 1,950 graduate students from 49 states and 18 countries; 71% of undergraduate students are Catholic. 56% of undergraduates are female. On campus residency is required of all students under 21 years of age who are not married, not a veteran of the military or who do not live with their parents in the DFW area. Tuition and fees for the 2006-07 academic year are $20,780 plus room and board of $7,332. In 2006 the University provided its students with $9 million in institutionally-funded scholarships and need-based grants.

Approximately 80% attend graduate school; over 85% of pre-med and over 90% of pre-law graduates are accepted by their first-choice professional school. There are over 40 clubs and organizations; varsity, club and intramural sports; lectures, films, exhibitions, concerts, plays; campus-wide annual celebrations.

Notable Alumni

• L. Brent Bozell III - Founder of Media Research Center, nephew of William F. Buckley, Jr.
• Ernie Hawkins - blues guitarist and singer who earned his Ph.D. in phenomenological psychology.
• Tadashi Inuzuka - Japanese politician and diplomat
• Katherine, Crown Princess of Yugoslavia - wife of Alexander, Crown Prince of Yugoslavia
• Peter MacNicol - actor whose notable appearances include Mel Brook's Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Ghostbusters II, Ally McBeal, and 24
• Helmuth A. Merklein, Fmr. Assistant Secretary of Energy for International Affairs

• Trish Murphy - singer-songwriter
• Susan Orr - headed the United States Children's Bureau
• Gary Schmitt - served as the co-founder and executive director of the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) from 1998 to 2005
• Jason Henderson Fantasy novelist.

Among the noted scholars who have attended UD are: (Name, Field, Institution)

• Arthur L. Boyer, Professor of Radiation Oncology, Stanford University
• Daniel Donaghue, Professor of English, Harvard University
• John C. Eastman, Dean, Chapman University School of Law
• Thomas Hibbs, Dean of the Honors College, Baylor University
• Michael McGaha, Professor of Modern Languages, Pomona College
• Eileen C. Sweeney, Professor of Philosophy, Boston College
• Brantly Womack, Professor of Government and Foreign Affairs, University of Virginia

Clubs and Organizations

The University has over 40 clubs and organizations; varsity, club and intramural sports; lectures, films, exhibitions, concerts, plays; along with campus-wide annual celebrations

Controversial Decisions

School of Ministry/IRPS Controversy

In 2001, the entire full-time staff of the Institute for Religious and Pastoral Studies program (since renamed the "School of Ministry"), including the director Douglas Bushman and associate director Timothy Herrman and David Twellman, resigned and moved to Ave Maria College (Crisis Magazine; Catholic World News.) Then Bishop of Dallas Charles V. Grahmann called the departure a "blessing." He said, "we are changing the direction of the program.” According to Grahmann, the Institute's then administrators had become, "advocates of an ideal orthodoxy and built walls that no one could penetrate.” (Catholic World News.)

Dr. Janet Smith, whose Millennium Evangelism Project was also pushed out around the same time was interviewed at length for the Catholic World News article. She indicates that the conflict can be traced to the controversial leadership of then president Msgr. Milam J. Joseph. Douglas Bushman’s account seems to support this conjecture. He is quoted as saying that he felt there was much evidence that "the current administration is antagonistic to the IRPS in its present form.” He stated that the decision to change direction was “the prerogative of the president and the Board. But it placed me in the awkward position of inviting hundreds of students and several bishops to make a significant commitment to a program that the university did not support.”

Of the move to Ave Maria (then in Michigan), Bushman said that the College "offered us a new home and more principled and enthusiastic support for our mission and our understanding of pastoral theology than has this [University of Dallas] administration." He stated, “I do think the current administration is more sympathetic to those who have difficulty with our emphasis on doctrine as the foundation of all pastoral activity in the Church. All along our concern has been to offer a program consistent with the mind of the Church, to teach in rigorous fidelity to the texts of the Catholic tradition, and to stress the universal call to holiness. A principal objective has always been to lead students to appreciate the interdependence of truth and love, doctrine and pastoral practice, and thereby to overcome the false oppositions between them.”

Our Lady of Guadalupe Art Print Scandal

On February 14, 2008 an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was stolen from the Upper Gallery of the Haggerty Art Village. The image, entitled "Saint or Sinner", was on loan from Murray State University in Kentucky and reportedly portrayed the Blessed Virgin Mary as an exotic dancer. Responding to the incident, President Frank Lazarus issued immediately the following statement:

"By committing an intrinsically evil act before the administration has had a reasonable chance to formulate a response, this theft severely damages the prospects of dealing with this issue in a measured and rational manner as befits the dignity of a university community. Nevertheless, I will respond in a timely fashion to the substantive issues surrounding the display of this work of art in view of our Catholic character, our religious values, and the urgent question of the proper meaning of academic freedom."

Reaction to Dr. Lazarus' statement prompted heated campus discussion. Opinions ranged from support of academic freedom to open hostility towards the university's administration and calls for the president to resign.

On February 24, 2008, Dr. Lazarus issued a statement entitled "Catholic Character, Academic Freedom, and Artistic Expression." The statement reiterated Dr. Lazarus' condemnation of the unauthorized removal of the image. Dr. Lazarus continued on to develop an argument concerning the nature of academic freedom at a Catholic institution:

"The print itself, in my view, asks a question and depicts biblical and mythological symbols that suggest literary, psychological, and religious archetypes of woman seen as the progenitor of the human race, the origin and cause of evil in the world, and the source of redemptive power in rebirth and conversion. While these questions are excellent ones, (and there are many other interpretations possible) and while the artist surely had noble intentions, the piece of art itself is objectionable, as would be the case if a sacred symbol in any other religious or ethnic tradition were to be similarly treated."

One opinion circulating Facebook discussions among students points out that the issue of censorship calls into question the reading of other controversial or non-/anti-religious views in the University's curriculum. For example, the Church found Caravaggio paintings using prostitutes for models of the Virgin Mary offensive, but art students continue to study these works.

On February 26, 2008, the University News, swamped with letters from concerned students and alumni, featured a special section in the issue showcasing the level of concern among the university community. Again, reactions ranged from concerns for academic freedom to distress over the perceived desecration of sacred images.

On March 8, 2008, the Dallas Morning News ran an article covering the controversy on its front page, entitled "Missing artwork of Virgin Mary as stripper stirs University of Dallas." The article quotes the print's artist, Joanna Gianulis, a senior art major at Murray State University, as saying,

"The work is a black and white woodcut relief print depicting a scantily clad stripper wearing a veil and holding a rosary. Other details in the work are scrolls saying 'Sinner or Saint?' in Spanish and referencing the Virgin [of] Guadalupe, and also a snake, some white lilies, a pair of scales, and also a small image of a bar of soap opposite a bottle marked 'xxx.'" (see Dallas Morning News Article.)

The article states

"Ms. Gianulis said she didn't meant to offend Catholics in Dallas or anywhere else, and didn't even know UD is a Catholic school. The purpose of the print, she said, is to raise questions about who is perceived as saint and who as sinner. 'How do we know that an exotic dancer is sinful?' she said in a prepared statement for the UD art department. 'What if she has the best intentions and strives only to help those in need?'" (see Dallas Morning News Article.)

The article then states

"Juergen Strunck is the UD art professor who helped arrange for the exhibit and was there for the installation. He said that if he had interpreted the work as sacrilegious or pornographic, he would have considered not displaying it. But he saw it as a serious work, so he went ahead."(see Dallas Morning News Article.)

The article states that University President did not respond to requests for an interview.(see Dallas Morning News Article.) The article does cite a statement that the President issued, in which he said, "A number of mistakes were made, and there are lessons to be learned here."(see Dallas Morning News Article.)

The article also states

"Dr. Lazarus was away from the school when the work was first exhibited, but when he returned he learned of complaints. He went to see for himself, and in his statement said that while 'the artist surely has noble intentions' he found the print objectionable. But Dr. Lazarus also had academic freedom concerns. Instead of having the work removed, he and other officials decided to put up signs at the exhibit warning that some images might be considered offensive."<ref(see Dallas Morning News Article.)

The image is believed to have been destroyed by one of UD's Roman Catholic students.

Additional University of Dallas Facts

• Youngest university in the 20th century to be granted a Phi Beta Kappa chapter
• Top 10 Colleges for American Values based on the Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s (ISI) Choosing the Right College
• The Harvard Business Review in May 2005 in an article titled, “How Business Schools Lost Their Way”, recognized the university as one of four business schools in the nation that had retained its professional focus and was an example of best practices
• The undergraduate class of 2005 contained nine Fulbright Scholars
• One percent of all MBAs in the world received their degree from UD
• Recognized by the Princeton Review for being “one of the best private school bargains in the nation” and in the top 20 for having outstanding professors
• Recognized by the Princeton Review for being one of the top 10 universities in the nation where students pray every day.
• Recognized by the Princeton Review for being one of the top 10 universities in the nation where students are most nostalgic for Ronald Reagan
• Ranked by Forbes as one of America's best 300 colleges.
• UD has maintained a campus in Rome, Italy for over 35 years where a large majority of its undergraduate students attend for a semester
• UD alumni are represented in over 150 countries around the world
• Despite having an excellent academic track record for its students, the University of Dallas has had continuous financial problems for many years. Problems persist, despite recent increases in enrollment as well as tuition.
• First university in America to be accredited by the American Academy of Liberal Education
• The only Ph.D. program in the United States with a core curriculum in the great books
• The Fiske Guide to Colleges states that the University of Dallas is without a doubt the best Catholic-affiliated school south of Washington, D.C.
• Recognized by the Dallas Business Journal as being the number one choice for graduate management education for working adults in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex
• The National Review ranks the University of Dallas as one of the top 50 liberal arts schools in the nation
• One of the few Universities to offer a bachelor's degree in Political-philosophy and a Masters of Politics degree.
• Religious life is served by the Chapel of the Incarnation. Dedicated in 1985 the chapel, the now Church of the Incarnation serves as an on campus parish that ministers to staff, faculty, administration, students and residents of Irving and surrounding communities.
• The University of Dallas was one of three finalists (together with Baylor University and Southern Methodist University) for the site of the George W. Bush Presidential Library. The University of Dallas withdrew itself from consideration on January 22, 2007.
• The University is located on the highest point in Dallas County and has excellent views of the Dallas skyline and the countryside
• In 1975 the University hosted one of the best known intellectuals in the world, Marshall McLuhan, and appointed him McDermott Chair. Edward Cowan notes that McLuhan spoke at a conference along with Malcolm Muggeridge, Jacques Barzun, and Hans Georg Gadamer.
• In 2007, the University hosted the former President of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, for its annual McDermott Lecture.
• In 2008, the University of Dallas hosted Francis Cardinal Arinze at the annual John Paul II Theology Lecture.

External links

• University of Dallas
• "The Dallas MBA" at the University of Dallas College of Business
• The University of Dallas School of Ministry
• The School at a glance, from USNews.com
• Info from collegeprofiles.com
• Handbook of Texas brief history
• Princeton Review
• Groundhog Rugby Homepage
• 2001 Crisis Magazine Article
• 2001 Catholic World News Article