Office of the President

Letter from the President

As we consider the previous year, it's clear that The University of Texas at Dallas is one of the best-quality and
best-positioned universities in America.

In recent months, UT Dallas has taken a role in advancing the idea that Texas, as a whole, needs more national research universities and that the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex in particular needs and can support them.

UT Dallas is unique among the Texas universities striving toward this goal because our challenge is simply to grow—in enrollment, in faculty numbers and in infrastructure. Our quality is unquestioned. Our potential is unlimited. We can move more quickly to greatness with assistance from our state, but with or without it, we remain aimed at that goal.

Other universities in the state and the area will benefit from these efforts, as well. Any time any university in the region improves, we are all better for it. And so we see our work toward this goal as a service not only to our institutional objectives, but also a service to our region and Texas.

As reflected in this report, we are rapidly evolving into a major research university. Research expenditures are one important measurement of that status. But acquisition and use of this money is not an end in itself. It is a means to build the institution. It is the fuel that carries us forward on our journey.

Without the research dollars you can’t buy the equipment, you can’t attract the students, and you cannot create the reputation that’s nationally and internationally competitive. I am extremely pleased by our excellent progress in both funded research and in the informal research culture permeating the entire institution.

While we see growth—in enrollment, in faculty size, in research funding, in facilities—as essential to scaling up toward so-called Tier One status, we remain mindful of our responsibilities to our students. Our Number 1 reason for coming to work every day is to help our students succeed, and they do, as reflected in some of the stories we tell here.

As we approach the University’s 40th anniversary, it’s appropriate to consider how we began, and how far we have come in realizing our founders’ dreams. Because of their foresight in providing Dallas/Fort Worth with the ingredients for an extraordinary university, because of the quality and excellence that has been and will continue to be the hallmark of this institution, and in view of the very reasonable prospects for continued growth, I believe we will produce the kind of great university that the founders had in mind and that this region urgently needs to secure its continued success.

David E. Daniel
President