Dallas deeds land to UNT

Last month the city of Dallas officially purchased approximately 202 acres in the I-20 corridor of southern Dallas and immediately deeded it to the UNT System for the development of the first public university inside the Dallas city limits.

As a result, the UNT System will move forward with its plans for UNT at Dallas in southeast Oak Cliff near the intersection of Houston School Road and Camp Wisdom Road.

The Dallas City Council unanimously approved a resolution Nov. 14 to buy the land from MBJH Corp. for $3 million with the intention of giving it to the UNT System to establish the new university.

System Chancellor Alfred F. Hurley expressed his gratitude to city officials and noted that this is truly a historic time for UNT and Dallas.

The UNT System will ask the 2003 Legislature to fund construction of the first building on the UNT at Dallas campus. With that approval, as well as the approval of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, construction could begin in late 2004 or early 2005, Hurley says.

"This building would house the core faculty and staff needed to serve the first students enrolled at the new university, which is projected to open in 2007," he says.

"Now," Hurley says, "we are on our way to bringing to the citizens of the Greater Dallas community, especially those in southern Dallas and Ellis counties, the promise of an accessible and affordable public university education."

Near the close of the 77th legislative session last spring, both the Texas House and Senate unanimously passed the UNT-Dallas bill that statutorily established UNT at Dallas. Then on May 8, Gov. Rick Perry came to the UNT System Center at Dallas to sign the legislation into law.

As soon as the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board certifies that UNT System Center enrollment has reached 2,500 full-time equivalent students for one semester, the UNT System can begin the required processes to secure state approvals and accreditation to offer courses and grant degrees from UNT at Dallas.

Now that the UNT System has a campus site for UNT at Dallas, it is placing important priority status on involving community residents to help plan for the new university. Already it has set two community meetings at the System Center. More meetings will be scheduled in 2002.

The first meeting was held Nov. 28., The second meeting will be at the System Center, located at 8915 S. Hampton Road (three blocks south of I-20), from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Dec. 17.

UNT's University Center for Economic Development and Research estimates that the UNT System Center at Dallas already is generating $10.5 million in economic activity in Dallas. That economic impact is expected to expand to nearly $20 million by 2004, and the long-range forecast is that it will continue to grow along with the system and community efforts to complete the transition to a full-fledged university.

Once again, Hurley cited the ongoing efforts of Sen. Royce West, who was on hand for the property closing and who has actively championed the case for a public university in southern Dallas ever since he introduced the idea for a feasibility study in the 75th legislative session during the spring of 1997. West and the Southern Dallas County Higher Education Feasibility Study Task Force selected UNT in September 1998 to be the educational partner in addressing the public university needs of southern Dallas.

The effort to establish the System Center was supported by an initial state appropriation of $4.2 million, which was supplemented by $2.6 million raised by area business and civic leaders in February of this year. In May, the Legislature approved an additional $2.25 million for the System Center that raised its appropriation to $6.45 million for the 2002-03 biennium.

UNT has offered upper-division and graduate courses at the 78,239-square-foot System Center facility since January 2000.

Enrollment at the System Center jumped ahead of all expectations this fall when 1,081 students signed up for classes. Headcount figures have been growing steadily since the first 250 students enrolled in January 2000.

The first 13 students to complete the major portion of their upper-level course work at the System Center will receive their degrees at UNT's Dec. 15 graduation ceremony in Denton.

BY RODDY WOLPER rwolper@unt.edu

Other featured articles in this issue

• UNT to square off with Colorado State in inaugural New Orleans Bowl Dec. 18
• TI use planning to start soon
• Regents approve science space construction
• UNT Health Science Center president to speak at fall commencement
• School of Visual Arts faculty member to participate in Leadership Texas program
• UNT employees raise more than $141,000 for SECC
• Future engineering school, TI plant purchase topics of November Faculty Senate meeting
• Severe winter weather closing information
• Holiday contribution drives in full swing
• UNT experts prove to be useful media resources

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