Content from our friends over at Richardson Echo
Monday, June 29, 2009
UT Dallas in Richardson celebrating its 40th anniversary
Photo credit: UTD
Just the other day, Texas Governor Rick Perry signed HB 51, a bill designed to set up incentives for the state’s emerging research universities to become so-called “tier one” schools. This bill aims to encourage three universities in North Texas in that quest: UT Arlington, UNT, and most importantly for us in Richardson, UT Dallas.
This is happy news for UTD, which celebrated its 40th birthday just days before the signing of HB 51. 40 years – that got me to thinking about my experiences at UTD in its very early years.
UTD, Forty Years Ago
Forty years ago, there was a program at UTD called the Clark Foundation Summer Program (it still exists in a modified form). This program, supported by an endowment from the Anson L. Clark Foundation of Dallas, offered positions to selected students as summer participants in the research activities at U.T. Dallas, primarily in science, mathematics, and engineering. This program must be one of the longest running programs in UTD history, because I was in it near the very beginning.
UTD was formally created in 1969, when the Southwest Center for Advanced Studies (formerly the Graduate Research Center) was donated to the University of Texas System. The institution was about a mile west of my parents’ house in Canyon Creek in north Richardson, which, in those days, was more vacant lots and empty fields than homes or commercial buildings.
When I spent two summers in the Clark Foundation program in 1970 and 1971, the school was still commonly known as the Graduate Research Center or even the Southwest Center for Advanced Studies, since the name of UTD had not really taken hold yet in the popular consciousness. Indeed, in looking back at my personal experience, I didn’t even realize that the school had been renamed a year before I first participated in the Clark Foundation summer program.
Photo credit: UTD
There were only two buildings that I can recall at UTD in 1970, the Founders’ Building and the building next to the microwave tower, whose name escapes me. The most prominent feature on campus was that microwave tower looming over the campus, which connected UTD to other schools in the area through TAGER. TAGER was a microwave-enabled transmission system that connected a number of area universities through video and audio feeds, enabling students from one university to attend classes at another university. In fact, in the early 70s, one of my student jobs at the University of Dallas (the one in Irving) was being the camera technician for ancient Greek and business classes (an interesting combination, typical of UD) originating in Irving.
I am not even sure that any classes originated from UTD in those days; I suspect that UTD was more important in the TAGER network for geographic reasons – microwaves travel by line of sight, and the schools farther to the north (like Austin College) needed connectivity with the Dallas-based schools (like SMU).
UTD Growth
As I noted, in those days, UTD was a couple of buildings in the middle of a treeless field in a remote corner of the city. I don’t know, perhaps there were a couple of hundred people in the facility, which awarded only graduate degrees in a few select scientific and engineering disciplines. Today, UTD, a fully accredited four-year institution, has 30+ buildings (not counting the student residences) on that cotton field prairie with 15,000 full- and part-time students, offering more than 125 academic programs across its seven schools. And now it’s working on that tier one status.
Photo credit: UTD
Think about it: Today, UTD has nearly 400 faculty members alone, not counting the 500 or so other instructors and approximately 1,900 administrative staff who work there. This makes UTD the 6th largest employer in Richardson, with a huge impact on the local economy. The 15,000 students have their economic impact as well.
Now compare UTD to UT, the premier tier one school in Texas (assuming that you are not an Aggie or a Rice Owl). In the mid-60s, the main university enrolled 27,345 students, including 4,307 students in the graduate school, and the faculty numbered more than 1,800. So, at that point, while UTD was a couple of hundred people, UT was about twice as big as UTD is now.
But UT didn’t stop growing. Today, forty years later, UT is home to more than 50,000 students, 2,900 faculty and 21,000 staff members. So what can we expect UTD to do over the next several decades, given that UTD has plenty of land on which to expand? If UTD proceeds on track, we can expect the faculty to grow from its current level of 400 or so to 1,000 (because even today UTD does not believe it has sufficient faculty for its current student population), the staff to grow from 1,900 to perhaps 5,000 or more, and the student population to grow from 15,000 to nearly 30,000.
Note that the largest employer in Richardson is the RISD, with about 4,700 employees today. Since that number is not likely to change much over the years, UTD is on track to become the largest employer in Richardson.
Photo credit: UTD
Now, these are my personal estimates based on what has happened at UT in Austin, but UTD’s own strategic plan (PDF) for the next 10 years calls for an increase in the student population of about 50% and for an increase in the faculty of almost 60%. And since the staff is to faculty ratio is typically 5, 6, or 7 to 1 or so, this will lead in the next decade to a total non-faculty staff count of more than 3,000.
And this is counting only the direct employment of the University. The fact is that “[b]usinesses want to establish themselves around large universities,” as Texas State Representative Dan Branch (R-108) said recently in support of HB 51. The University of Houston, in its own bid to become one of the next generation of tier one universities in Texas spawned by HB 51, says the following about the impact of a research university on the community:
“Funds invested in a university's research enterprise multiply throughout the economy. Economists estimate that every $10 million in research expenditures:
• Creates 334 new jobs
• Adds $8.6 million in wages to the regional economy
• Draws $500,000 in additional state revenue, including tax revenue
• Generates $13.5 million in local sales”
(see http://www.uh.edu/about/tier-one/index.php)
A school is considered to be tier one when it spends at least $100 million to $150 million in research annually, so you can do the arithmetic yourself on the school’s potential impact.
So, a much larger university, new hi-tech businesses, and thousands of new jobs – the obvious questions are: Where are these people going to live and where are they going to spend their money? The answer to a large extent will be “Richardson.”
UTD, Good Neighbor to Richardson
But the huge economic impact of UTD to Richardson is only half the story. What many residents don’t realize is that the university is not subject to Richardson zoning laws. That is, the school can build whatever roads and buildings it wants in whatever locations on campus that it wants, and there is nothing that the city can legally do about it. In many university cities, there exists a persistent tension between the school and the local municipal government, as each tries to stop the other from negatively affecting its constituents.
However, for decades, the UTD administration and our city government have made a point of developing strong relations with each other. Rather than unilaterally building roads and buildings, the school informs the city about its plans and is more accommodating than they are required to be when the city asks for changes. A good example is the main entrance to the school. While the original street entrance to UTD back in the 60s and early 70s was on the south side of the campus from Campbell Road on North Armstrong Parkway, at that point in time the school did not own the land that fronted on Campbell. So when the school decided to design and create a main entrance, it chose to do it at Floyd and Lookout because the school already owned the frontage on this intersection. However, the neighborhoods to the east of the school feared that this choice of a main entrance would lead to a huge increase in traffic through residential streets, and after much discussion with the city, the school agreed to acquire the frontage along Campbell and move the main entrance to the south side of campus, rebuilding and renaming North Armstrong Parkway in the process.
UTD cooperates with the city on a variety of areas:
• Trails – the trail along Floyd Road north of Campbell was built with money that the city of Richardson secured in a grant from Collin County, but actually lies on UTD property. This trail becomes part of the larger trail system in Richardson.
• Parks – part of Point North Park (between UTD and the residential neighborhoods to the east just south of Renner) actually lies on UTD property, but the city has a 50 year lease on the property (which it is in the process of renewing)
• Drainage – UTD is aware of the potential impact that accelerated rain runoff from future development can have in the Richardson neighborhoods just to the south, and not only keeps the city informed of its development plan, but also considered amending its own plans – such as possibly adding a retention pond in the future – to ameliorate the impact of construction.
• Sewer services – UTD in the last couple of years, UTD was part of a multi-jurisdictional swap to enable the better provision of sewer services to a property on the north end of campus.
• Public safety – even though all the buildings on the west side of Waterview north of Cullum (i.e., most properties north of ITT and Lennox) are actually in Dallas, UTD, Richardson, and Dallas worked out an arrangement so that Richardson police and fire cover the one building that UTD owns on this side of the street, so that all UTD properties are covered by the same department.
Forty yeas ago, UTD was a couple of buildings on a treeless plain in the middle of nowhere on the edge of Richardson, but far-sighted leaders both at UTD and in the city government made sure that UTD and the city would grow together, to the lasting benefit of both. That’s four UTD presidents, three Richardson city managers, and twenty city councils in Richardson. We should remember to thank all these leaders as UTD – Richardson’s university – evolves into its well-deserved tier one status in the 21st century.
William "Bill" McCalpin is a longtime Richardson resident.
The author of this editorial is solely responsible for its content and the stated opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the The Richardson Echo. This editorial was unsolicited.
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Pavel Lishin, says:
Woosh Heil, etc.
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5 months, 1 week agoLink to this comment | Suggest removal
William McCalpin, says:
Mein kleiner Pavel, so a positive story deserves but one 'heil'? Surely it merited 2 or 3, nicht wahr?
Bill
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5 months, 1 week agoLink to this comment | Suggest removal
Jesus Valadez, says:
I go to UTD...
Why was I not aware of this?
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5 months, 1 week agoLink to this comment | Suggest removal
Pavel Lishin, says:
Eh, it's an inside joke, really. The little spirit salute thing basically looks like Hitler is hitting a beer bong.
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5 months, 1 week agoLink to this comment | Suggest removal
William McCalpin, says:
Jesus, if you're talking about the big impact that UTD already has and will have even more in the future, I imagine that most people in Richardson don't know this, either - which was really the genesis of this article.
It's in the nature of the human condition that when things are screwed up, it's front page news, but when people actually do the right thing, nobody hears about it (and I certainly don't mean just you - I mean most of the voters in Richardson). So I figured it would be good to remind people of 2 things: UTD is going to be the largest single employer in Richardson in the years to come (it's already #6), and UTD really could negatively impact its neighbors (legally) but chooses not to - and the leaders in the Richardson City government are smart enough to encourage this behavior.
Occasionally, we do really have a win-win ;-)
Bill
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William McCalpin, says:
Ah, Pavel, I'm not on the inside, so the joke went right over my head (flap flap)...although I would appreciate a link to this spirit thing - I am dying to see Herr Schicklgruber abusing his vegetarian temple of a body with large amounts of C2H5OH ;-)
Bill
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5 months, 1 week agoLink to this comment | Suggest removal
jtmbls, says:
Sassy!! I'm digging this guy!
Great article - Keep the positivity coming!
Anonymous
5 months, 1 week agoLink to this comment | Suggest removal
Scott Doyle, says:
UTD is going to be the largest single employer in Richardson in the years to come
A bit presumptuous, imo. Texas - specifically DFW - is a pretty attractive place to headquarter a company considering cost of office space/living, mid-point between the coasts, central time zone that goes with it, etc.
Rapid growth north of the metroplex and the fact that 75 horrid at rush hour would make me think Richardson will become more of a bidness town than it is today. If UTD becomes the largest employer, I wouldn't necessarily consider that a good thing as that means the city probably botched opportunity to house many more businesses.
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Pavel Lishin, says:
mccalpin: can't really find it right now, but basically you closer your fingers around an imaginary beer bong, then go woosh while extending your arm in a Bellamy salute. (I think maybe you're actually supposed to keep pretending you're grasping something, but the whole thing was so ridiculous to me, I didn't bother remembering how to finish it.)
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Jon Ostrowski, says:
Go Comets! UTD Class of 2007
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jtmbls, says:
Gosh Doyle! Why do you always have to snuff out the flame of limitless potential with your raincloud of practicality?!?!
Anonymous
5 months, 1 week agoLink to this comment | Suggest removal
William McCalpin, says:
Scott, not so presumptious (although I will admit that I'm using my guesstimate over the next 20+ years, not UTD's published strategic plan for the next ten years). The thing is, Richardson is largely built out, and we are going to have difficulty acquiring any more corporate headquarters the size of of the new BlueCross BlueShield in the years to come.
However, UTD sits on 500-700 acres (I get different numbers), and there is still land up there being swapped around. This puts it up to twice the acreage size of UT-Austin...meaning that UTD has plenty of room to grow...as it will if it succeeds in becoming a tier one university. In addition, there is a large chunk of land to the west of UTD owned by Texas A&M (in Dallas), that one hopes that UTD may someday own (I have no inside track here, but I would rather that UTD own it than it be a million apartments).
So, you saw the statistics for UT-Austin. Following UT-Austin's statistics and estimates from the strategic planning department at UTD, it's normal to have 5 to 7 non faculty ("faculty"=profs and asst. profs, not instructors and TAs) employees for every faculty member. Thus, if UTD eventually has 1,000 faculty (even UTD predicts 600+ in just the next 10 years), this gives us 5,000 to 7,000 employees PLUS the faculty members. These numbers are as much as 70% more than the current largest employer ( (8,000-4,700)/4,700) ); Richardson just isn't going to get a single company with that size employee base...and given the problem we have had with the telcos and Countrywide, we probably don't want to ;-)
And the nice thing about universities is that, unlike private companies, they don't tend to relocate.
So, was I being optimistic? Sure. Was I being presumptuous? Ah, no. After all, I saw it when it was an empty cotton field and watched it get to where it's gotten today, and it is nowhere close to where it's going to be when it reaches tier one status. I have watched UTD and the City work together, and between them and the North Texas state congressional delegation, the money for development is going to continue to pour into UTD.
IMHO... :-)
Bill
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Scott Doyle, says:
*And the nice thing about universities is that, unlike private companies, they don't tend to relocate.*
The other nice thing is state funding.
I'm not arguing whether UTD will become tier one or when that might happen. Being the only public 4-year U. in north Dallas area for 40 years and still only being the 6th largest employer in Richardson isn't exactly an accomplishment, imo.
Whole point is that it wouldn't be a grand ordeal if UTD became largest employer, because that likely means Richardson squandered away opportunity to greatly expand its business tax base. You don't become great by milking arguably effortless resources. If Richardson wants to make a name for itself, it will build just as strong relationships with private sector companies.
Richardson being "built out" is hardly an argument, btw. You don't need vast amounts of uncultivated land for corporations to come. And comparing UTD to UT-Austin is laughable at best. UT essentially is Austin, whereas UTD only exists because it's a commuter school near Dallas.
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William McCalpin, says:
Being the only public 4-year U. in north Dallas area for 40 years and still only being the 6th largest employer in Richardson isn't exactly an accomplishment, imo
Scott, this statement is disingenuous, since UTD was several different things in the last 40 years...it didn't become a 'normal' 4-year university until 1990. And as you know, plans change. UTD certainly didn't start out 40 years ago trying to be a tier one school...it took many years of people arguing and planning to figure out just what it was going to be...that discussion is pretty much settled as everyone in the school and in the state government are agreed that UTD is going to become a university with a huge research budget...and this will bring the faculty and the non-faculty employment.
I am puzzled about your remark about Richardson squandering its opportunity to greatly expand its business tax base. I believe that it was the Richardson Chamber of Commerce that said that the Telecom Corridor is already the second largest employment center in the Dallas area, second only to the Central Business District. And my recollection from the last budget process (which the City is about to begin again) is that Richardson already derives a high percentage of its revenue from business property tax rather than taxes on homeowners (compared to other suburbs). And having watched the City closely for some time, it's clear that they are aggressively chasing business, not squandering opportunities.
If Richardson wants to make a name for itself, it will build just as strong relationships with private sector companies.
Indeed, what do you suppose the "Telecom Corridor" was all about? How about working with BlueCross BlueShield to not only keep its 2,700 employees in Richardson, but persuading them that the location was so good that their planned 1.1 million sq ft facility will have space for up to 5,000 employees? And how about the obvious fact that companies want to be near tier one schools. I am puzzled; what makes you think that Richardson is squandering its opportunities? Do you have any examples?
Richardson being "built out" is hardly an argument, btw. You don't need vast amounts of uncultivated land for corporations to come.
This non-argument doesn't make sense. Our recent history shows that corporations tend to come as very large employers only if they can build their own space (see BlueCross BlueShield and all the HQs in Plano). Countrywide was an exception, because it was able to use an unusual amount of empty office space left behind by the telecom bust. In a healthy economy, this won't be possible (that is, for a very large corporation to bring in 5,000+ jobs in such a way) because there won't be enough contiguous empty office space to use - hence the remark on undeveloped land.
(continued)...
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William McCalpin, says:
And comparing UTD to UT-Austin is laughable at best. UT essentially is Austin, whereas UTD only exists because it's a commuter school near Dallas.
I can't tell if you are being argumentative or really don't understand the concept of 'Analogy'. The point in becoming a tier one school is that UTD won't be just a 'commuter' school as you derisively put it. Actually, it's already NOT just a commuter school - the current student population comes from over 90 countries; you think they're all commuters?
And certainly, as UTD grows along its projected path of getting towards the $100 to $150 million floor for research spending to be considered a tier one school, there are going to be a lot more undergraduate and graduate students coming here from around the world to take part in it - just like what has happened at UT.
I didn't say that UTD was UT; I compared what had happened at UT as it progressed to tier one status to what is likely to happen to UTD as it proceeds along the same path. Aside from your disbelief, I haven't heard any evidence that these developments are not likely to happen...do you have any?
Bill
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Andrew Laska, says:
Doyle,
I might suggest in the future that you post these kinds of comments to the Richardson Echo where this article originally appeared.
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Scott Doyle, says:
Andrew, I'll make it a point to only comment on Richardson/UTD after confirming future status as a centenarian. Christ.
*I didn't say that UTD was UT; I compared what had happened at UT as it progressed to tier one status to what is likely to happen to UTD as it proceeds along the same path.*
And I very much disagree UTD will be remotely similar given the surroundings of each school. I completely understand it's an analogy, however UTD will never hold a candle to the influence UT had/has on Austin.
I didn't say Richardson is already squandering opportunity, simply conjecture that if UTD becomes largest employer it likely isn't something to be proud of. Also, not sure why you're sticking to available office space - even if you can't build out (which you still can in Richardson), anybody relocating enough people would probably build up. Believe it or not, we've figured out how to construct multiple floors...on top of each other!
I don't see much point in bickering here, your erection for UTD isn't going down anytime soon. I fully support it becoming a great tier one school and everything that goes along with that, just don't feel it's going to be a massive crutch for the area (love that it's not even in Dallas, btw).
Certainly need to freeze this bait for future use. =p
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William McCalpin, says:
Scott, I see that you misinterpreted my position from the get-go. I nowhere said that UTD was going to have the same influence on our area as UT-Austin has in Austin; I was pointing out to the citizens of Richardson that UTD already has a larger impact on Richardson than most people realize, and that this influence is going to grow as UTD makes the run to tier one status, as we can see by the numbers coming out of Austin and the projections from U of H.
If you look at the numbers I gave, UTD may grow to employ 5,000 in 20 years or whatever; but even if it's the #1 employer in Richardson, it would be only primus inter pares (first among equals) in terms of employment - that is, it wouldn't be 25% or whatever of Richardson's total employment (well under 5% would be more like it), but it would be a much larger influence on the city's employment scene than most people realize.
My goal was to educate the people of Richardson about the current and future impact of UTD, and to remind them that UTD and the Richardson City government have been working hand-in-hand for decades to help make this happen.
It's unfortunate that you feel the need to reduce my support for this relationship to a vulgar image. But it doesn't matter to me - I saw what UTD was 40 years ago (2 buildings in an empty field), I see what it is today (15,000 full and part-time students), and I see where a lot of people in influential positions are driving it ($100 to $150 million in research spending alone)...and that's what people need to hear, not 'bickering'...
Bill
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Scott Doyle, says:
Erections are very natural and healthy for most people, Bill - you should be honored that I didn't use something truly vulgar. This isn't public school here, methinks we're OK to discuss how these things work.
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William McCalpin, says:
"...are very natural and healthy for most people..."
LOL, Scott!...but so are other natural functions...and I imagine most people would just as soon you left them out of sight...good talking to you... ;-)
Bill
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