UNT Dallas gets $1 million donation from city council candidate

by Christopher Cyrek of North Texas Daily

A UNT alumnus pledged to donate $1 million to the UNT-Dallas campus, the largest private donation so far to the fledgling university.

G. Brint Ryan, 45, donated the money April 6. It is meant to pay for scholarships and student assistance. The money will be distributed over five years starting next month.

To put the donation in perspective, the gift translates to about $1,000 per student at the Dallas campus. The Denton campus totaled $7 million in donations over the last fiscal year, which translates to about $210 per student.

"These scholarships will provide the resources necessary for many families that are struggling now with the costs of higher education and the downturn in the economy," said UNT-Dallas President John Ellis Price.

This is not the first donation from Ryan. He donated another $1 million to create a permanent endowment for the accounting department in the College of Business in 2006.

Ryan graduated from UNT in 1998 and is the founder of Ryan & Company, the largest independent state tax-consulting firm in America. With the donation, he will become the first member of a proposed nine-member Founder's Circle unique to UNT-Dallas.

The Founder's Circle will serve in an advisory capacity to the school administration, offering updates and feedback for future programs at the Dallas campus.

"We want input from people who are driving the economy in Dallas," said Joseph Breshears, executive director of development for UNT-Dallas.

Ryan, Breshears and Texas Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, who has been involved in developing UNT-Dallas from the beginning, are currently identifying potential candidates for the Founder's Circle board. They are approaching prominent business people and influential Dallas residents about accelerating the development of the school, but are not yet ready to say who the candidates are. The aim is to have the board filled before UNT-Dallas becomes independent in 2010.

Estimates vary, but the Founder's Circle could generate millions of dollars in donations.

"The financial potential is transformational," Breshears said.

The Founder's Circle is a private-public partnership initiated by Price and Breshears. No such formalized donor relationship exists at the Denton campus "where donors don't usually get involved" in the sort of advisory role projected for the Founder's Circle, said Molly Tampke, assistant vice president for development at UNT.

Ryan said he is excited about working with the Dallas administration in developing school opportunities.

"Seeing UNT-Dallas grow and prosper is tremendously important to me and to the Dallas community," Ryan said. Price approached Ryan about joining the Founder's Circle as the two were both studying for their master's degrees at the same time at the Denton campus in the department of accounting.

Ryan has earned multiple degrees from the College of Business Administration, and was named Alumnus of the Year in 1997. He is currently running for the District 13 seat in Dallas.