What does a school do for homecoming if it doesn’t have a football team? In the case of The University of Texas at Dallas, which does have a national championship chess team and a nationally ranked debate team, it tries a little harder. It hosts four days of events that range from a campus parade and various intramural competitions to a “battle of the bands,” a black-tie dance and casino games.

And then it caps off the festivities with the unveiling of the first-ever official UTD ring.

Although the university was founded in 1969, more than three decades ago, and has since conferred more than 40,000 degrees from the bachelor to the doctoral level, it never has had an official school ring. But this year a group of students and several alumni got together with some craftsmen from a ring manufacturer and designed what will become “The UTD Ring.” The unveiling will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 26, outside the Green Center on campus.

Meanwhile, the UTD Alumni Association plans to establish a Ring Award Endowment – to be used to provide permanent funds to enable the university to award rings to several outstanding students each year. Those who contribute to the endowment prior to the unveiling will be given an opportunity to select their ring by number. The alumnus making the largest contribution to the ring endowment will have an opportunity to select the very first official UTD ring ever produced – numbered 000001. For more information about the Ring Award Endowment, please contact the Alumni Association at alumni@utdallas.edu.

Over the years, some UTD graduates have purchased rings of various designs to represent their connection to, and history with, the university. For the next year, they will be able to trade those rings in for one of the newer, official models at no cost, if they wish.

“As UTD grows in both size and prestige, we think it is time for our graduates to have their own unique official university ring, if they wish,” said Carlos Peña, vice president for advancement at the university. “I think this will be great for morale and will identify the wearer of the rings as graduates not only of one of the fastest growing public universities in the country but also of one of the public universities with the highest academic standards.”

The UTD Homecoming will run from Oct. 24 to 27, with most of the major events scheduled for that Friday night and Saturday. And alumni reception will be held Friday night, immediately following the unveiling of the UTD ring, and a battle of the bands will kick off later that night, at 10 p.m.

On Saturday morning, Oct. 27, a parade will be held on campus, followed that evening with the dance and casino games. Winners of the casino games will be able to use their chips to bid on various prizes.

About UTD

The University of Texas at Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart of the complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor, enrolls more than 7,000 undergraduate and 5,000 graduate students. The school’s freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas state universities in terms of average SAT scores. The university offers a broad assortment of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs. For additional information about UTD, please visit the university’s Web site at www.utdallas.edu.