University of Texas at Dallas


The University of Texas at Dallas is a public research university with its main campus in Richardson, Texas. The institution was initially established as a private research arm of Texas Instruments in 1961 as the "Graduate Research Center of the Southwest " and later renamed to the "Southwest Center for Advanced Studies ". In 1969, SCAS was bequeathed to the state of Texas and joined the public University of Texas System, officially creating The University of Texas at Dallas. Approximately one-third of the college is located within Dallas County and includes an on-campus DART train station on the Silver Line. Some UTD buildings such as the Center for BrainHealth and Callier Center are located in downtown Dallas next to The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
The university has been characterized by rapid growth in research output and its competitive undergraduate admissions policies since its inception. Less than 47 years after its founding, the Carnegie Foundation had classified the university as a doctoral research university with "Highest Research Activity"—faster than any other school in Texas. The university is associated with four Nobel Prizes, and has members of the National Academy of Science and National Academy of Engineering on its faculty. Research projects include the areas of Space Science, Bioengineering, Cybersecurity, Nanotechnology, and Behavioral and Brain Sciences.
The University of Texas at Dallas offers more than 140 academic programs across its eight schools and hosts more than 50 research centers and institutes. From July 2018 to June 2019, the university granted 4,225 bachelor's degrees, 3,430 master's degrees, and 238 PhDs for a total of 7,893 degrees.
The school has a Division III athletics program in the American Southwest Conference and fields 14 intercollegiate teams including a co-ed varsity eSports program. The university recruits worldwide for its chess team and has a nationally recognized debate team.

History

Establishment

Before they founded UT Dallas, Eugene McDermott, Cecil Howard Green and J. Erik Jonsson had purchased Geophysical Service Incorporated on December 6, 1941 – the day before the attack on Pearl Harbor. With the rapid increase in defense contracts, the General Instrument Division of GSI grew substantially and was later reorganized under the name Texas Instruments, Inc. in 1951.
However, qualified personnel required by TI were not readily available in the Dallas-Fort Worth area because the region's universities did not provide enough graduates with advanced training in engineering and physical sciences. Texas Instruments was forced to recruit talent from other states during its expansion, and the founders observed in 1959 that "To grow industrially, the region must grow academically; it must provide the intellectual atmosphere, which will allow it to compete in the new industries dependent on highly trained and creative minds."
To compensate for a shortage, McDermott, Green, and Jonsson established the Graduate Research Center of the Southwest on February 14, 1961. While the institute initially was housed in the Fondren Science Library at Southern Methodist University, a nearby empty cotton field was later acquired by Jonsson, McDermott, and Green in Richardson, TX in 1962. The first facility, the Laboratory of Earth and Planetary Science, opened in 1964. The Graduate Research Center of the Southwest was renamed the Southwest Center for Advanced Studies in 1967.
On June 13, 1969, Gov. Preston Smith signed House Bill 303, which added the institution to the University of Texas System and created the University of Texas at Dallas. When Texas Instruments and UTD co-founders officially bequeathed the young university to the UT System, they boldly stated that they envisioned it would one day become the “MIT of the South.” At the time, the college only accepted graduate students for Masters and PhD programs – no undergraduate Bachelor degree programs were offered. Francis S. Johnson served as initial interim president before Bryce Jordan was selected in 1971.

Expansion and growth

Founded at the dawn of the Information Age and steeped in science and technology, The University of Texas at Dallas has been more intent on creating the future than on preserving its history. As a result, not all relevant early historical details were documented carefully and fully; which is a reflection of the nature of a youthful institution's disregard for archiving. While some details were preserved, detailed historical documentation for the university did not start until around the late 2000s.
In July 1971, Bryce Jordan became the university's first president and served until 1981. At that time the campus consisted of only one facility and only admitted graduate students. During Jordan's 10-year tenure the university received of land in 1972 from the Hoblitzelle Foundation. This allowed the campus to expand with the addition of a number of new facilities including most notable the Cecil H. Green Hall, the Eugene McDermott Library, and a campus bookstore. The school received accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in 1972, and the first diplomas were awarded in 1973.
The first bachelor's degrees were awarded in spring 1976. The Callier Center for Communication Disorders became part of the UTD in 1975 and the School of Management opened in 1975. Enrollment increased from 700 in 1974, to 3,333 in 1975, and later to more than 5,300 students in 1977.
UT Dallas's first Nobel laureate, the late Polykarp Kusch, was a member of the physics faculty from 1972 to 1982.
The first art installation, the Love Jack by Jim Love, was added to UTD's campus in 1976. The Visual Arts Building opened in 1978.
Robert H. Rutford, an Antarctic explorer recognized with the naming of the Rutford Ice Stream and Mount Rutford in Antarctica, became the second president of UT Dallas in May 1982. He served in this post until 1994. During his tenure as president, the university secured approval for a school of engineering, added freshmen and sophomores to its student body, and built the first on-campus housing.
The school became a four-year institution in fall 1990. The initial incoming freshman class was about 100 students. The state mandated that admission criteria for entering freshmen "to be no less stringent than the criteria of UT Austin".
Franklyn Jenifer became the third president of UT Dallas in 1994 and served until 2005. Under Jenifer, UT Dallas's enrollment increased over 61% - from less than 8,500 to nearly 14,000.
The chess club and debate program were founded in 1996, and later began offering academic scholarships for those skilled in either area. The Galerstein Women's Center also opened that year.
UT Dallas' ceremonial mace contains a university seal surrounding a wafer embedded with Texas Instruments microchips, representing TI's role in the founding of the college. A steel band in the headpiece and the metal foot of the staff fashioned from a scientific instrument designed by the UT Dallas Space Sciences Institute and were flown aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavor in September 1995.
In June 2005, David E. Daniel was appointed the university's fourth president. He previously served on the faculty at UT Austin and was the Dean of Engineering at the University of Illinois from 2001 to 2005. He has continued the expansion of the campus by adding the Natural Science and Engineering Research Laboratory, the Center for BrainHealth, and almost 600,000 square feet of new facilities added from 2007 to 2010.
The first campus mural was introduced in July 2008. The first fight song was written in September 2008; it was written to the music of Tiger Rag.
In November 2008, improvements included the addition of a tree-lined pathway to an entrance roundabout, and created a central mall area on campus that featured reflecting pools lined with magnolia trees, a chess plaza, the plinth, and misting column.
In 2010, the Student services building was added and UT Dallas had hit a record enrollment of over 17,000. In 2011, the new university Visitor Center & Bookstore opened.

Attempted DFW area UT System Mergers

In July 2001, the 77th Texas legislature failed to pass two proposed bills which had very different plans for the future of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex UT System intuitions.
The first plan, 77 HB 3568 proposed by Kenn George, would have consolidated the 2 universities and 1 medical school under the name "The University of Texas at Dallas". It would have established UT Dallas in Richardson, TX as the main flagship campus, UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas as its medical school, and would have designated UT Arlington as a UT Dallas satellite campus. The purpose of the bill was to consolidate all DFW UT System institutions into one, creating single cohesive flagship-level university for the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. However, the bill was unpopular with supporters of UT Arlington and the House Bill ultimately failed to pass. Despite this, UT Dallas has continued a close relationship with UT Southwestern. UT Dallas' Center for BrainHealth and Callier Center were built right next to UTSW's main campus in downtown Dallas. Additionally, UT Southwestern later established a Clinical Center in Richardson next to UTD's main campus.
The second plan, 77 HB 3607 proposed by Domingo Garcia, would have transferred UT Dallas, UT Southwestern, and UT Arlington to the University of North Texas System. The Denton, TX campus would have remained as the flagship university while the 3 Dallas-Fort Worth UT System institutions would have been designated as separate degree-granting sister UNT System colleges. Their names would have changed to the "University of North Texas at Dallas" located in Richardson, TX, the "University of North Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas", and the "University of North Texas at Arlington". The law was left pending due to objections from both UT Arlington and UT Dallas, as both preferred to remain under the UT System.

Recent history

On July 15, 2016 Dr. Richard C. Benson was appointed the fifth president of the University of Texas at Dallas. Previously he was Dean of the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech University, which saw record growth from 2005 to 2016 after the number of engineering applicants nearly doubled during his tenure. He has continued the expansion of the UTD campus with the addition of The Bioengineering and Sciences Building, The Engineering & Computer Science West Building, a new Science Building, The Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center, and Northside Phase 1 & 2. Since 2016, UT Dallas' national US News ranking has jumped up from 140 to 129, tying it with University of Missouri, University of Kansas, University of Alabama, University of Nebraska – Lincoln, and Catholic University of America. Undergraduate applications have increased by 5%, undergraduate enrollment has increased by 16%, 6-year graduation rates increased by 4.5%, freshman retention rates have improved from 84% to 87%, and UTD was ranked #1 among universities under 50 years old.
In fall 2017, The University of Texas at Dallas adopted a secondary logo, the UTD Monogram. It is typically used to retain UT Dallas’ identity across digital platforms, as the primary logo does not adapt well to mobile devices or smaller screens. UT Dallas also adopted its first mascot logo for Temoc. Later in spring 2017, Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center opened.
In 2018, the University inherited the Barrett collection of Swiss art which will be housed in a new building as part of the Edith O'Donnell Institute of Art History. In January 2019, the family of Trammell and Margaret Crow donated the entire collection of the Crow Museum of Asian Art to the University of Texas at Dallas, along with $23 million in support funding to help build a structure on the university campus to show more of the artworks.
In fall 2019 UT Dallas marked its 50 years as a Texas public university, 44 years of undergraduate junior/senior enrollment, 29 years of incoming freshmen enrollment, and 58 years as a research center.

Academics

Rankings

In 2019, U.S. News and World Report in Best Colleges ranked UTD at 129th nationally and 61st among public universities. The 2017 Academic Ranking of World Universities placed UTD at 71st–99th in the United States. Washington Monthly's 2015 Annual College and University Rankings placed UTD at 99th in the United States. Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine's 100 Best Values in Public Colleges 2016 ranked UTD at 33rd in value for in-state residents and 38th for out-of-state students.
Other rankings include:
U.S. News and World Reports 2021 rankings of graduate school programs ranked the UTD's Engineering School at 62nd in the nation, Electrical Engineering at 50th, Computer Engineering at 52nd, and Computer Science at 64th. The undergraduate Engineering program is ranked 75th nationally and 4th in Texas, after UT Austin, Texas A&M, and Rice.
Beginning in 2016, the Business School's graduate programs has been ranked 33rd nationally, tying with Rice University and University of Wisconsin-Madison, while the part-time MBA program was ranked 29th nationally by US News. Additionally, the Online MBA's Graduate Business program was ranked 2nd nationally, and the MBA specialty of information systems was ranked 16th nationally. Bloomberg Business Week Best Business Schools 2018 rankings places UTD 37th nationally and 3rd in Texas. The 2017 ARWU rankings placed UTD's studies in Economics/Business at 41st internationally.
In 2018, The Master of Science in Marketing program was ranked #5 nationally by College Choice.
In 2021, UTD's program in Audiology was ranked at 2nd nationally by US News while UTD's program in Speech-Pathology was ranked at 10th nationally.
UTD's graduate program in Game Design was ranked 21st in the Princeton Review 2019 list. Beginning in 2011, the undergraduate program was ranked in the Top 10.
In 2018, the UTD's program in Geography and Geospatial Sciences programs were ranked 1st in the nation for GIScience/Computation and Spatial Analysis/Statistics by Geographical Perspectives. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the U.S. Geological Survey designated the program a Center of Academic Excellence, the only one in Texas and one of 17 nationwide. In, 2010 they were ranked 16th nationally by Academic Analytics of Stony Brook, N.Y.
In 2017, the Social Sciences programs were ranked 51st-75th internationally by the ARWU.
In a 2012 study, assessing the academic impact of publications, the UTD's program in Criminology was ranked 5th in the whole world. The findings were published in the Journal of Criminal Justice Education. UT Dallas is also home to the #2 Most-Cited Criminologist, Dr. Alex Piquero and one of the Top Women in Criminology, Dr. Nicole Leeper Piquero.

The UTD Top 100 Business School Research Rankings

The Naveen Jindal School of Management annually releases its own ranking list for business schools based on research quantity and frequency. The list named "The UTD Top 100 Business School Research Rankings" uses a database that tracks the number of faculty publications in the 24 leading business journals, credits them to each business school, and ranks them in order by most publications in the past 5 years.

Colleges and Schools

For fall 2015, The University of Texas at Dallas offered 138 academic programs across its eight schools including 48 baccalaureate programs, 57 master's programs and 31 doctoral programs. The school also offers 33 undergraduate and graduate certificates. The school offers a number of interdisciplinary degree programs.
The eight schools of UT Dallas:
In 2019 overall ethnicity population proportions, including undergraduate and graduate students, was Asian American 28%, White American 28%, International 19%, Hispanic 14%, African American 5%, Two or more races 3%. Fall 2017 first-time undergraduate acceptance rate was 69%, with some of the most selective graduate programs only accepting 4% of applicants. The top majors among undergraduates are biology, computer science, arts and technology, accounting, business administration, mechanical engineering, finance, neuroscience, psychology, and electrical engineering.
In the fall 2017–18 academic year, UTD enrolled 160 National Merit Scholars in its freshmen class, which was the highest total number in Texas and one of the highest in the nation. The fall 2017 entering freshmen class had an average SAT composite score of 1323 and an average ACT composite score of 29. These freshman SAT/ACT scores are the highest averages in UTD's history – which surpassed Texas A&M's and matched UT Austin's averages of that year. For spring 2018 commencement, the university granted 2,314 bachelor's degrees, 2,109 master's degrees and 99 doctoral degrees for a total of 4,843 degrees.

Scholarship programs

All freshmen admitted to the university are automatically considered for an Academic Excellence Scholarship Award. For the fall 2017 incoming freshmen class, the awards range from $3,000 per year for tuition and mandatory fees up to complete coverage of UT Dallas tuition and mandatory fees plus $3,000 per semester cash stipend to defray the costs of books, supplies and other expenses.
The McDermott Scholars Program, established at UT Dallas in 2000, provides full scholarships and unique cultural and civic opportunities to academically talented high school students.
The National Merit Scholars Program, established at UT Dallas in 2011, provides professional and cultural development, full tuition and mandatory fees and a generous additional stipend.
In 2006, UT Dallas became one of 13 universities in Texas affiliated with the Terry Foundation Scholarship. The Terry Scholars Program is a cohort experience that offers academic, cultural, service, mentoring, and other unique opportunities to traditional and transfer students awarded the prestigious scholarship.

Research

UT Dallas is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and had research expenditures of $113.3 million for the 2018 fiscal year. Research projects include the areas of space science, bioengineering, cybersecurity, nanotechnology, and behavioral and brain sciences. The university has more than 50 research centers and institutes and the UTD Office of Technology Commercialization, a technology transfer center.
probe. NASA's CINDI instrument is installed on C/NOFS.
The William B. Hanson Center for Space Studies, affiliated with the Department of Physics, conducts research in space plasma physics. It has its roots in the Earth and Planetary Sciences Laboratory of the university's predecessor. The center conducts a NASA-sponsored mission, Coupled Ion-Neutral Dynamics Investigation, which was launched in April 2008 in cooperation with the United States Air Force. CINDI, which is part of the payload for the Communication and Navigation Outage Forecast System program, seeks to uncover information about the equatorial plasma bubbles that interrupt radio signals. Under the leadership of John H. Hoffman, the center designed the mass spectrometer for the Phoenix Mars Lander as part of the Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer experiment in cooperation with the University of Arizona.
UT Dallas conducts cybersecurity research in a number of areas including cross-domain information sharing, data security and privacy, data mining for malware detection, geospatial information security, secure social networks, and secure cloud computing. The university is designated a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Research for the academic years 2008–2013 by the National Security Agency and Department of Homeland Security.
The Alan G. MacDiarmid NanoTech Institute was established in 2001 when Ray Baughman, a pioneering nanotechnologist, became the Robert A. Welch Distinguished Chair in Chemistry and director of the university's NanoTech Institute. In 2007, it was renamed in memory of the late Alan G. MacDiarmid, who shared the 2000 Nobel Prize in chemistry with Alan Heeger and Hideki Shirakawa. The NanoTech Institute has produced more than 200 refereed journal articles, 13 of which have been published in Science or Nature, and given over 300 lectures in the United States and abroad. Ray Baughman was ranked number 30 on the March 2, 2011, Thomson Reuters list of the top 100 materials scientists.
The Natural Science and Engineering Research Laboratory, a four-story, research facility, was completed in December 2006 after two years of construction. Including ISO 7 cleanroom facilities, the $85 million building provides open floor plans that allows chemists, biologists, nanotechnologists, materials scientists and other specialists to conduct multidisciplinary research. The laboratory provides extensive wet lab, fabrication, instrumentation, and high performance computing facilities to foster biomedical engineering and nano-technology research. The Nanoelectronics Materials Laboratory, on the fourth floor, includes a system that allows researchers to deposit thin film materials one atomic layer at a time. In May 2011 a $3 million JEOL ARM200F scanning transmission electron microscope with an atomic resolution of 0.78 picometers, was added to the research laboratory, already home to two transmission electron microscopes.
The Center for BrainHealth, both its own facility and part of the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, is a research institute with clinical interventions focused on brain health. The center is located near the UT Dallas' Callier Center for Communication Disorders and adjacent to the north campus of University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in the city of Dallas. Brain research is concentrated on brain conditions, diseases, and disorders including, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, autism, dementia, stroke, traumatic brain injury, and working memory.
The Callier Center for Communication Disorders became part of the University of Texas at Dallas in 1975 as part of the School of Human Development. Research, at the center, includes the causes, prevention, assessment and treatment of communication disorders and the facilities include laboratories for research in child language development and disorders, autism spectrum disorders, speech production, hearing disorders, neurogenic speech and language, cochlear implants and aural habilitation.
Additional ongoing research initiatives at UT Dallas include researchers overseeing the long-running British Election Study. Harold Clarke, the Ashbel Smith professor of political science in the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences, and Marianne Stewart, professor of political science are the co-principal investigators for the study, which began in 1964 and is one of the world's oldest continuous political research projects. The other two co-investigators are David Sanders and Paul Whiteley of the University of Essex in England.

Campus

Main Campus

The main campus is located in Richardson, Texas next to Dallas' Telecom Corridor, north of downtown Dallas, on the boundary of Dallas and Collin counties. UT Dallas owns land in Richardson, Texas consisting of approximately for campus development and another adjacent to the campus. The Princeton Review's Guide to 332 Green Colleges: 2014 Edition recognized UTD for their green campus efforts.
While the main campus' address is officially within the jurisdiction of Richardson and Collin county, approximately one-third of the college today is physically located within the border of Dallas county. This section contains major areas in the south end of campus, including the Visitor Center, Bookstore, the Naveen Jindal School of Management, Athletics District and facilities, half of the Founders Building, parking lots, and some on-campus student housing. When UT Dallas started growing in the 1960s, the university needed to coordinate with one of the cities for water, electricity, sewer, police, and fire services. Dallas agreed to let Richardson officially host the university because it did not have the ability or capacity to support UTD at the time. Today, UT Dallas and Richardson share a close relationship and have strongly supported each other's growth for the past 50 years.

Other Locations

The first campus development plan called for brutalist-style concrete architecture, a monorail, and skywalks. While not everything was implemented, some of the original elements outlined do remain today. The overall modern look and feel of the campus was inspired by the founders' vision of a "college of the future" – intentionally straying far from the traditional "red-brick" styles of older universities.
Early architecture on the campus exhibits typical characteristics of Brutalism, a popular civic style when the structures were designed and built. In accordance with this style, many of the early buildings are pale, off-white, precast concrete with repetitive structures. Most of these buildings are concentrated towards the north end of the Mall area, the most notable being the Founders Building, Eugene McDermott Library, and Administration Building.
Later architecture exhibits late modern or postmodern features such as bronze glass, bronze aluminum frames, unadorned geometric shapes, unusual surfaces, and unorthodox layouts. This styling is seen in the Engineering and Computer Science building, School of Management, Cecil and Ida Green Center, and Natural Science and Engineering Research Lab facility. To provide protection from inclement weather and extreme temperatures, many of the buildings on campus are connected by a series of elevated indoor walking paths also referred to as skybridges.
The Student Services building, completed in 2010, is the first academic structure in Texas to be rated a LEED Platinum facility by the United States Green Building Council.

Landscape

A $30 million Campus Landscape Enhancement Project, largely funded by Margaret McDermott, was started in October 2008 and completed in late 2010. The project encompassed all aspects of landscape architecture from campus identity to pedestrian strategies, future growth patterns, sustainability and establishing a campus core. The first enhancement included the reforestation of the main entry drive with more than 5,000 native trees. Each tree was hand-picked and individually arranged by the landscape architect after study of native stands in Texas.
The next major enhancement a included the commitment to a riparian corridor, consisting of a densely planted natural creek bed along the central entry median to the campus Allée. The main Mall includes 116 hand-picked columnar 'Claudia Wannamaker' Magnolias alongside five reflecting pools and four human-scale chess boards. At the northern terminus of the Mall is a pavilion-sized plaza, referred to by many students as "The Plinth". The plaza includes a granite fountain complete with mist column, an overhead trellis covered in wisteria vines, and a temperature-modifying shade structure design.
The most recent major phase of the campus landscape upgrades began in 2013, which included to the main pedestrian walkways and corridors on campus, the outdoor space between the Founders and University Theatre buildings, and other areas on campus. As a result of the Campus Enhancement Plan, the University was earned recognition by Tree Campus USA in the summer of 2017. About 6,800 trees can be found on the main campus representing 65 species. In order to maintain this designation, the University created the Tree Advisory Committee, a subcommittee of the Campus Sustainability Committee, and gave each tree a metal tag and GPS locator to manage tree health.

Construction and development

Current projects

The first building on campus was the Laboratory of Earth & Planetary Science, later renamed to the Founders Building. Notable campus buildings added in the 20th century include the Eugene McDermott Library, Student Union, Administration Building, Waterview Apartments, and the Activity Center.
Campus development in early 21st century included the additions of the School of Management and the Natural Science & Engineering Research Lab "Mermaid Building". Starting in 2009, UT Dallas began experiencing major growth due to a rapidly increasing undergraduate population, new research opportunities, and donations. This spurred a series of campus developments that continues to present day. As a result, most of the signature landmarks on main campus are just a decade old. Below is a timeline of the largest recent additions to UTD's main campus in Richardson, TX.
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018

Activities

The University of Texas at Dallas has 300+ registered campus organizations and 26 national Greek-letter fraternities and sororities. UTD's Activity Center contains a fitness center, racquetball courts, squash courts, basketball courts, a multi-purpose room, and indoor swimming pool. Also available are sand volleyball courts, soccer fields, tennis courts, softball fields, baseball fields and a disc golf course. Campus culture is generally more academically inclined compared to other major Texas universities, as traditional athletic sports are not a major focus of the institution.

Recreation and education teams

Chess

The internationally ranked UT Dallas chess team was launched in 1996 under the direction of two-time president of the U.S. Chess Federation, Timothy Redman. The university recruits worldwide for its chess team and 24 Grandmasters and International Masters have played for UT Dallas from 1996 to 2018. The UTD chess team has won or tied for first place in the Pan-American Intercollegiate Chess Championship more than 10 times since 2000. As a result of the program's success, human-sized chess boards were installed in the campus' Mall. The university offers chess scholarships to qualified student players and several full four-year tuition tournament-based scholarships.
Achievements include the following:
Established in the fall of 1996, UT Dallas Debate has consistently ranked in the top 25 debate programs nationally. Students engaged in college debate devote hundreds of hours per season researching and defending a specific policy resolution, in the process gaining a graduate-level understanding of complex social and political issues. UTD's Debate program is generally run under the Honors College and offers competitive scholarships to students. Since 2019, UTD has made 16 consecutive appearances at the National Debate Tournament, which is attended by the 78 best teams in the country.
Achievements include the following:
The school fields teams in the pre-law competitions: Moot Court, Mock Trial and Mediation. UTD is one of the few schools in Texas to field teams in all three major undergraduate legal advocacy competitions.
Achievements include the following:
The University of Texas at Dallas opened the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life in 1992 with Kappa Sigma and Alpha Gamma Delta as the first fraternity and sorority on campus, respectively. Since then, it has grown to a community of 900 students among its 26 Greek organizations as of Spring 2018. Each Greek organization is a member of one of the four councils on campus: the Interfraternity Council, the Collegiate Pan-Hellenic Council, the National Pan-Hellenic Council, or the Multicultural Greek Council. The IFC and CPC are the largest councils by number of students, while the MGC, third in population, is the largest by number of entities.
The Interfraternity Council is composed of eight men's fraternities: Alpha Lambda Mu, Chi Phi, Delta Tau Delta, Kappa Sigma, Phi Delta Theta, Phi Gamma Delta, Pi Kappa Phi, Sigma Alpha Epsilon.
The Collegiate Pan-Hellenic Council is composed of four women's sororities: Alpha Gamma Delta, Delta Delta Delta, Delta Zeta, Kappa Alpha Theta.
The National Pan-Hellenic Council, chartered on November 11, 2001, is composed of historically African-American fraternities and sororities that make up the "Divine Nine". Four of those nine entities are represented at UT Dallas: Alpha Kappa Alpha, Alpha Phi Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, Sigma Gamma Rho.
Established in the Fall of 2002, The Multicultural Greek Council, composed of both fraternities and sororities, is the largest of the four councils by number of entities. Its member organizations are among the youngest national Greek organizations in the world and promote diversity among their membership, although some of them promote a specific cultural ethnicity or nationality. The nine entities are: Beta Chi Theta, Delta Epsilon Psi, Delta Kappa Delta, Kappa Delta Chi, Lambda Theta Phi, Omega Delta Phi, Sigma Lambda Alpha, Sigma Lambda Gamma, and Sigma Sigma Rho.
In addition, UT Dallas hosts four Greek-letter professional fraternities:
The Mercury has been the official student newspaper of the University of Texas at Dallas since 1980. It publishes 5,000 copies every other Monday during the fall and spring semesters, and every third Monday during the summer. It is distributed free around campus and at the UTD newsroom in the Student Union. The Mercury also publishes online at utdmercury.com. In April 2011, The Mercury won 12 awards at the 101st annual Texas Intercollegiate Press Association IPA convention.
In 2004, another student print named A Modest Proposal was formed. In contrast to The Mercury, which is almost all news articles, AMP is a magazine and features mostly editorial content. AMP is published once a month, eight times a year. Any student, faculty, or staff of UTD can contribute to the paper. Copies of AMP are available for free at the first of each month around the campus, and can also be downloaded in PDF format from their website. Radio UTD, the university's student-run, Internet-only, radio station offers streaming music 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and broadcasts UTD sports games. Radio UTD has also been featured on XM Satellite Radio Channel 43 on The Student Exchange Program. The radio station was nominated for three college radio awards at the 2010 College Music Journal annual Music Marathon and Festival. The nominations were for the following categories: Best Use of the Internet, Best Use of Limited Resources and Station of the Year.
In 2009, UTD TV, an internet-based campus TV station, was founded and launched by students. It webcasts a range of student-interest programs from campus news and amusing serial stories to student affairs coverage.

Residential housing

On-campus housing for the 2015–2016 academic year consisted of the University Commons five residential halls and 1,237 apartments. The apartment buildings 1–37, which make up 696 units and buildings 38–67, which make up 541 units, are owned by the university and privately managed by American Campus Communities under the name University Village. Buildings 1–37, previously known as the Waterview Park Apartments, were owned by the Utley Foundation and purchased by UTD on July 1, 2013. Apartment floor plans vary from 1-bedroom to 4-bedroom units and amenities include swimming pools, volleyball courts, outdoor grills, and study centers. According to a UTD Mercury article on September 18, 2011, both graduate and upperclassman housing continues to be in short supply due to the increase in enrollment.
On August 12, 2009, a residence hall opened, providing housing for 384 full-time freshmen residents and 16 peer advisers. The building includes a mix of three-bedroom, single-bath suites for freshmen and one-bedroom, one-bath units for peer advisers. On each wing and each floor are several communal study areas and the ground floor features a glass-enclosed rotunda with pool and ping-pong tables, large-screen televisions, couches and chairs. A second, residence hall,, was officially completed June 27, 2011, and a third freshman residence hall adjacent to the two existing halls was completed in August 2012. A fourth residence hall opened in time for the fall 2013 semester. Construction for a fifth residential facility was started in July 2013 and completed in 2014. The 339,000-square-foot 600-bed facility includes a dining hall with seating for 800 and a recreation center. Residence Hall West houses the Living Learning Communities program that groups students with similar interests and majors together.
Construction has begun on two new apartment-style housing complexes known as Phase VI and Phase VII. The two complexes will offer a total of 800 beds and are expected to open in time for the fall 2017 semester.
In 2015, co-developers Balfour Beatty Campus Solutions and Wynne/Jackson began construction of a private mixed-use development known as Northside on leased university land directly adjacent to the main campus. Opened in time for the fall 2016 semester, the development offers 600 beds through a mix of one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments and townhomes. Northside also includes 20,000 square feet of space for retail and food vendors, bringing an integrated residential and retail complex to the edge of campus for the first time.

Dining

Students have a selection of food sources on campus, including commercial restaurants, primarily within the Student Union, and a traditional dining hall near the residence halls. Firehouse Subs, Chick-fil-A, Moe's Southwest Grill, Smoothie King, Halal Guys, Panda Express, Starbucks, Einstein Bros. Bagels, and, IHOP are some of the most popular restaurants. The Student Union dining hall opened on August 12, 2009 in conjunction with the opening of the first residence hall and was later replaced by a new dining hall within the Residence Hall West complex. The former Student Union dining hall was later replaced by an extended food court area featuring an expanded Chick-fil-A and a Panda Express, among other options. The Student Union building houses The Pub which features a sit-down restaurant atmosphere. Beginning in the fall 2016 semester, UT Dallas Dining began hosting local food trucks on campus. All first-year students living on campus are required to purchase a meal plan; meal plans are optional for all other students who live on campus.

Traditions

UT Dallas has many distinct traditions that students, alumni, faculty, family, friends, and fans regularly partake in. The student body is collectively known as the Comets, while the college's mascot is Temoc. The official university colors are flame orange, brilliance white, and evergreen. "Flame" orange remains as a nod to the "burnt" orange UT Austin, and white now represents the color of a comet in the sky. Green has become representative several iconic landmarks – the surrounding cotton field, the on-campus magnolia trees, and the green neon color of the Dallas skyline at night produced from the Bank of America Plaza building. The Whoosh is a way for students to show campus unity. The salute and hand gesture was named the "Whoosh" by students because it is the sound a comet would make if there was sound in space.
Some of the traditions that give UT Dallas its distinctive flavor are Homecoming, Annual Oozeball Tournament, Ceremonial Mace, Legacy Lane, Welcome Week, Family Day, Splatterdance, Springapalooza and Cecil Green's Head. Cecil Green helped found the University of Texas at Dallas and outside Green Hall there is a bronze bust of Cecil Green. Rubbing Green's head for good luck has become a tradition for many students on their way to exams or presentations. Holiday Sing is one of the oldest traditions on campus, the annual Holiday Sing started in 1976 and is hosted by the School of Arts and Humanities during the month of December. Resting in the courtyard of the Edith A. O'Donnell Arts and Technology Building is the sculpture Jack, created in 1971 by artist Jim Love. Margaret McDermott, wife of UTD founder Eugene McDermott, presented the sculpture to the university in 1976. The sculpture is affectionately known on campus as the Love Jack. Recently added is the Spirit Rock in front of the Activity Center building. Students and organizations are allowed to paint whatever they like on the rock, provided it conforms to rules of student conduct.

Athletics

UT Dallas has DIII varsity athletics, competitive club teams, and intramural sports teams. Athletic teams are known as the Comets, while the mascot is Temoc

Varsity

The University of Texas at Dallas' Varsity athletics program started when UTD provisionally joined the NCAA Division III and the American Southwest Conference in 1998 and was granted full membership in the ASC in 2002. Varsity sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, esports, golf, soccer, softball, tennis, and volleyball. In total, there are 300 student athletes and 14 intercollegiate teams officially supported by the university. Below is a list of varsity team achievements.
Baseball & Softball
Basketball
Cross country
Women's cross country team won their first ASC conference crown in 2016 and their second in 2017. The men's cross country team won their first ASC conference crown in 2018.
eSports
On September 24, 2018, the university added a co-ed Varsity eSports team managed under the athletic department. The team officially competes in collegiate competitions for League of Legends, Overwatch, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Golf
Women's golf won its first ASC conference championship title in 2008, and placed 3rd in 2015.
Soccer
Tennis
Volleyball
In addition to varsity sports, the university's Club Sports program offers recreational and competitive opportunities across approximately 30 teams. UT Dallas' Recreation Center hosts many recognized student organizations that have been formed, organized, managed, and maintained by students leaders. While they are not part of the Varsity program, many do compete and officially represent the university.
UTD club sports include: Archery, Badminton, Climbing, Cycling, Fencing, Gymnastics, Japanese Karate, Jujutsu, Kung Fu, Lacrosse, Mixed Martial Arts, Weightlifting, Powerlifting, Rugby, Running, Soccer, Swimming, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis, Ultimate Frisbee, and Wrestling.
Club Sport Achievements
The UTD Rugby Club Sports team won the Texas Rugby Union Collegiate Division III state championship in February 2012.

Intramural sports

UT Dallas has several intramural sports teams. These teams compete only within UTD, as all teams are organized groups of current students. While available sports and teams can vary each year, teams offered in Spring 2019 include: Badminton, Basketball, Battleship, Cricket, eSports, Flag Football, Sand Volleyball, Soccer, Table Tennis, Tennis, Ultimate Frisbee, Wiffleball, and Xtreme Dodgeball.

Notable people

Notable UT Dallas faculty, staff, and alumni include an Antarctic explorer, an astronaut, members of the National Academies, four Nobel laureates, a writer and folklorist, a member of India's Parliament, the founder of the world's first molecular nanotechnology company