University of North Texas at Dallas

The University of North Texas Dallas Campus, sometimes known as the UNT System Center, is the Dallas extension campus 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.

When the UNT Dallas Campus' on-site enrollment reaches the full-time equivalent of 1,000 students, the system can establish the free-standing University of North Texas at Dallas, the first public university within the Dallas city limits. (The University of Texas at Dallas is actually in Richardson.) Enrollment at the UNT Dallas Campus is certified by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.Fact|date=September 2008

History and development

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 2000 directing its city manager to secure up to $3 million by January 2002 to buy about convert|200|acre|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 convert|264|acre|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 convert|76000|sqft|m2|sing=on, permanent building on the UNT Dallas Campus site was occupied in January 2007. The building was made possible by a state tuition revenue bond initiative of $25.5 million. Under current legislation, an additional $25 million will be released for the construction of a second building when the UNT Dallas Campus reaches 1,500 student full-time equivalents.

In addition to faculty who teach from the UNT flagship in Denton, the Dallas campus has 27 faculty with plans to increase that number to 45 (an increase of 18) by the beginning of the 2008-2009 academic year. On-site enrollment at the UNT Dallas Campus increased to a headcount of 1,874 students in the fall 2007 semester. That figure represented a 22 percent increase of headcount of 1,538 in fall 2006.

Most important for the campus was its increase in student full-time equivalent (FTE) enrollment. The campus reached 814 full-time equivalents, a 32.2 percent increase over the fall 2006 figure of 616.7.

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.

External links

* [http://www.unt.edu/unt-dallas/ UNT Dallas website]
* http://www.unt.edu/unt-dallas/