Office of Legal Affairs

UT Dallas retains and disposes of all official records in accordance with records and information management policies and procedures. If you have any questions about UT Dallas Records Management, please contact the Records Retention Officer (RecordsManagement@utdallas.edu).

This office does not work directly with the records of applicants, current students, or alumni.  Students and Alumni needing services such as copies of their transcript or students applying for admission should contact the Registrar.

If you work at UTD and are responsible for maintaining files and records for your department, please join our distribution list.

To Dispose of Records:

  • UTD employees and departments must not dispose of State Records without approval from the Records Management Officer. Records must have met their retention period in the UT Dallas Records Retention Schedule to be approved.
  • Complete the Records Disposal Request Form (xlsx) and submit it to the Records Management Officer here. Refer to the Records Retention Schedule (pdf) or Searchable Retention Schedule to complete the form.
  • The Records Management Officer will email you a signed copy of the Request for Disposal of State Records once your request is approved.
  • Dispose of your records. If you need a secure shred bin, contact Facilities Management at Shredding@utdallas.edu.
  • Have the Request for Disposal of State Records form signed by the requestor and the Department Head and email it to the Records Management Officer with the date the disposal occurred. We recommend departments maintain their own Departmental Disposition Log (xlsx) to track details of dispositioned records.

Resources and Training

When do I need to fill out a Records Disposal Request?

Before disposing of record copies (i.e. the final copy in your or your department's possession) of any State Records, a Records Disposal Request MUST be submitted and approved by the Records Management Officer. The Records Disposal Request form is to be completed for records that (1) have met their required retention period according to the UT Dallas Records Retention Schedule, (2) have no further legal, fiscal, administrative, or historical use, and (3) when all versions of records (paper, electronic, microfilm, etc.) in the department will be destroyed.  Do not submit a Records Disposal Request if you will be keeping a copy (paper or electronic) of the records.

Conversely, a Convenience Copy is a duplicate copy of a master record that is created for convenience, reference, or research. Convenience copies can be retained until they are no longer needed but not longer than the master record. Convenience copies to not require a Records Disposal Request to be completed and may be disposed of at the user's discretion without approval.

Disposing of State Records without receiving the approval of the Records Management Officer is a violation of Texas Government Code Section 441.187.

What is a State Record?

It is any recorded information created or received by or on behalf of a state agency documenting activities in the conduct of the state business or use of public resources.  So, almost everything we do at work results in State Records.  However, the term does not include:

(A) extra copies of recorded information maintained only for reference (aka Convenience Copies);

(B) library or museum material made or acquired and maintained solely for reference or exhibition purposes;

(C) a stock of publications or blank forms; or

(D) records of a personal nature (because they are not documenting state business).

These documents may be disposed of without completing a Records Disposal Request.

One last exception to the destruction approval requirement is Transitory Information. Transitory Information are records of temporary usefulness that are not an integral part of a records series of an agency, that are not regularly filed within an agency’s recordkeeping system, and that are required only for a limited period of time for the completion of an action by an official or employee of the agency or in the preparation of an on-going records series. Transitory records are not essential to the fulfillment of statutory obligations or to the documentation of agency functions. Some examples of transitory information, which can be in any medium (voice mail, fax, email, hard copy, etc.) are routine messages; telephone message notifications; internal meeting notices; routing slips; incoming letters or memoranda of transmittal that add nothing of substance to enclosures; and similar routine information used for communication, but not for the documentation, of a specific agency transaction. Use caution in classifying a records as Transitory Information to make certain they are not part of another record series listed in this schedule.

Still having trouble determining whether a document is a State Record?  Review our info page on Transitory and Non-Records.

How do I determine the correct series for my records?

The best question to ask when trying to determine which series a record belongs in is, “what is the purpose of this record?”

Records are classified into their series based on their content and purpose, not on their medium. A student educational record, for example, belongs in the same series regardless of whether it is an email, a letter, a video, or an electronic file.

We have developed a Searchable Retention Schedule and Faculty Cheat Sheet (pdf) to assist you. If you still have questions, please contact our office.

Once you have identified the proper series for your records, make note of it for future use. We recommend each department create its own Records Inventory (xlsx). This form is designed to help identify each type of records held in a department, whether they are the record copy or a convenience copy, and each location where they are stored. This is useful if there is turnover in the office to assist new employees in learning the filing system. When disposing of records, it can aid in confirming that disposal of every series ready for disposition was requested and that all versions of a record are destroyed.

To Request Storage for Records:

  • Legal Affairs is currently not accepting records for storage
  • Submit a Request for Records Storage (PDF) form to the Records Retention Officer. Refer to the Records Retention Schedule (PDF) to complete the form.
  • The Records Retention Officer will notify you once your request is approved.
  • Schedule a time to meet with Records Retention Officer to have your records properly inventoried before being moved into the Records Management storage space.
  • Arrange to have your records moved into the Records Management storage space.

Policies and Regulations