The University of Texas at Dallas  |
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A Top Public University
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Dear Friends of UT Dallas/colleagues/?,
In October, we officially dedicated the new Texas Instruments Biomedical Engineering Science Building in Dallas. I shared at that time a quote attributed to J. Erik Jonsson, a co-founder of Texas Instruments and The University of Texas at Dallas: “We must dream no small dreams. We must envision great, ambitious goals.”
With that in mind, I would like to share some of the great, ambitious goals we accomplished in 2023, beginning with the opening of the TI Building.
- The robust partnership between UT Dallas and UT Southwestern received a major boost with the opening of the $120 million, five-story, 150,00-square-foot building located on the East Campus of UT Southwestern. The collaborations that will take place there between UTD and UTSW faculty and students have the potential to turn North Texas into a hub for biomedical innovation.
- Driven by stellar programs of which bioengineering is but one, 30,885 students chose UT Dallas for their education this year. We welcomed our second largest freshman cohort with 4,160 first-time-in-college students, just shy of the 2022 record of 4,218. And we continue to be one of the top three public universities in Texas in degree completion for undergraduates (75% six year, 63% four year).
- A $40 million gift from the Harry W. Bass Jr. Foundation led to the naming of our art school as the Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology.
- An accelerated hiring plan paid off handsomely in the fall with the addition of 56 new tenured and tenure-track faculty. We now have 615 and expect to hit our target of 625 in the next academic year. Two of our faculty were recognized by The University of Texas System for outstanding teaching, Dr. Salena Brody and Dr. John Zweck.
- We reached a record $145 million in research expenditures, including a major initiative supported with a $30 million grant from the Department of Defense to establish a center to build and sustain the next generation of energy storage technologies.
- Our athletics program is in the application phase for transition to Division II NCAA athletics. We have accepted the invitation to join the Lone Star Conference which spans Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma.
J. Erik Jonsson would be proud of what we are achieving at UT Dallas. No doubt, that ability is one of the reasons that we have risen in the national rankings. We moved 14 places, from 72 to 58, in the U.S. News & World Report ranking for the top public universities in the nation.
We are committed to the great, ambitious goals that accompany a national research university. I am confident that there are many opportunities ahead for UT Dallas to achieve its goals and fulfill its mission.
Sincerely,
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