Monday, August 4, 2008

UNT Dallas now a success in Oak Cliff

By Khalil El-Halabi of Cliff Dweller

When the University of North Texas Dallas Campus was planted in southern Dallas County in 2000, what began with only 55 full-time equivalent students has now blossomed into a thriving campus at a new location in south Oak Cliff. During the past year, larger numbers of students from southern Dallas County have started taking advantage of the affordable, high-quality education available at the campus’ new site at 7300 Houston School Road.

Enrollment is not only a benchmark of success at the school, but brings a specific goal: when the student full-time equivalent enrollment reaches 1,000, the UNT Dallas Campus can become a freestanding, degree-granting institution – the first public university within the Dallas city limits. The university will be known as UNT Dallas.

Student headcount rose to 1,874 in the fall 2007 semester, a 22 percent increase over the previous fall term. However, most important for the UNT Dallas Campus was the fact that our student full-time equivalent numbers rose to 814, a 32.2 percent increase over the previous count of 616.7 in fall 2006. The goal of 1,000 students is in sight and campus administrators are optimistic about reaching that goal in the fall 2008 semester.

The potential for the new UNT Dallas is great. The campus is moving forward with its plans for new academic programs, faculty and staff hiring, and student recruitment. In 2009, the UNT Dallas Campus will begin recruiting its first freshman class to complement its existing upper-division programs. The resulting university will hold out hope for a better Dallas, and a brighter future for Oak Cliff.

In short, the administration and staff of the UNT Dallas Campus are vested in Dallas and the surrounding metropolitan area. The campus has added programs that meet needs in public health and healthcare information management. In fact, all of the classes in these fields were full in the past few semesters. The campus is also offering a graduate program in counseling, and a new business program designed to provide skilled managers for the city’s growing industrial and transportation sectors.

What accounts for the rapid increase in campus development and student population? The answer is that the UNT Dallas Campus is meeting the unique needs of the citizens of Dallas and surrounding cities. Here are a few examples.

School districts in North Texas will be searching for as many as 12,000 teachers and administrators in the next five years, according to one recent study. The master’s degree program in educational administration with principal certification at the UNT Dallas Campus reflects this need and is providing a solution. In 2007, new graduate admissions rose an incredible 205 percent, based on the success of that program and others in education.

The UNT Dallas Campus’ Texas Instruments Foundation Math Scholars program is also underway. In this $1.1 million program, students are provided with full scholarships to prepare for service as math teachers in the Dallas, Cedar Hill, DeSoto, Duncanville and Lancaster Independent School Districts. The campus is ready to provide more TI Foundation undergraduate math scholarships for qualified students who want to teach the next generation of Texans.

Additionally, on July 1, the UNT Dallas Campus announced a new scholarship program called the “Stars & Stripes Fund.” This assistance fund for the families of military service members will fill the gap for our patriots until the new GI Bill enacted by Congress in June takes effect in August 2009. The scholarship may be taken by a veteran service member who has exceeded his or her GI Bill benefits, and the spouse and children of soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines. They have paid for freedom; the UNT Dallas Campus believes they should be able to afford an education.

The UNT Dallas Campus also recently established its daytime incentive program, also known as the daytime cohort model. Undergraduate students can enroll in 15 credit hours of daytime courses with a cohort, which means that they will keep the same classmates throughout a full academic year. The “incentive” is a $2500 scholarship for enrolling in 15 credit hours in business, criminal justice, sociology, human services management and leadership.

Further, new administrators have joined the campus in the past month, such as Peter Johnstone, who is now serving as deputy vice provost. Dr. Johnstone is originally from the United Kingdom, but came most recently from Penn State University’s Abington College in Philadelphia where he helped launch a new university campus. He will be leading the UNT Dallas Campus to develop its first programs in international education.

Maxine Rogers, formerly vice chancellor for administration and finance with the Baton Rouge Community College System, also joined the staff in July. She had served the community college system in Baton Rouge since 2002, but is returning home to Dallas to help grow the new UNT Dallas.

The UNT Dallas Campus is committed to providing easy access to education for the citizens of Dallas and the North Texas region. The campus has pioneered agreements with Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) to provide free transportation to the campus for enrolled students. Leaders of the campus continue to build relationships with Dallas’ mayor and the mayors, city councils, and chambers of commerce in prominent Southwest cities.

The UNT Dallas Campus also has one of the finest teaching-focused faculties in the city. In fact, the faculty makes choosing the UNT Dallas Campus much easier. The professors are passionate about their subjects, and their excitement is contagious. Coupled with the cost of tuition, already among the lowest in North Texas, the UNT Dallas Campus is a fine investment.

According to recent statistics from the Dallas ISD, the twelfth largest urban school district in the nation, more than 158,000 students were enrolled in Dallas schools in the 2007-2008 academic year. Slightly more than 38,000 were in high school, creating a large pool of potential applicants for a new university in southern Oak Cliff. If growth projections for the UNT Dallas Campus are correct, as many as 4,000 students could be enrolled when the new UNT Dallas opens in 2010. It will also be one of the most ethnically diverse campuses in the nation. But these students won’t come unless education is affordable.

Most exciting among the recent developments at the UNT Dallas Campus is the construction of a second building. As it is currently planned, the new building will feature laboratories for a life sciences curriculum, and spaces for engineering, technology and math. Administrators hope to move forward with construction immediately following the 2009 biennial session in Austin.

There’s little doubt that the Oak Cliff area of Dallas will benefit greatly from the Trinity River Project approved by voters in November 2007. After a long, hard-fought campaign, the city has begun the process of reconstructing the shallow valley that divides Dallas north and south. Soon, new highways and lakes will transform the area, as will fanciful, well-lit bridges.

Bridges, however, can only unite geographical areas. Bridges are things, constructed with the wit and strength of human beings. Bridges lack the qualities of institutions that transform lives by infusing education and changing minds. Only an institution comprised of people can do such a thing.

What is needed to transform southern Dallas County and Oak Cliff is a new university committed to focusing its efforts on raising the high school graduation rate and seeing that more citizens in the area better their lives through higher education. A new university is the key to revitalizing the economic and cultural life of all points south of the Trinity.

This revitalization will have far-reaching implications for the surrounding cities and the entire region. Communities will be better educated and have more opportunities to contribute to the greatness of Dallas. Large companies such as Oak Cliff’s Army-Air Force Exchange Service and others that will be taking part in constructing the International Inland Port of Dallas will also be looking for skilled workers, who will be readily available once the educational climate improves.

The good news is that Oak Cliff residents do not have to wait for their new university. It already exists.

Pegasus News content partner - Cliff Dweller

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