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|President James D. Spaniolo
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON
office of the president
August 23, 2004
Dear Colleagues:
The beginning of a new semester is always an exciting time at a university. This one will be memorable in a number of respects with the arrival of what we expect to be a record number of students and new faculty and major building additions on campus.
Kalpana Chawla Hall opens, and with it, UTA's first residence hall to be fully devoted to a living-learning community. This innovative initiative is a source of great pride, and the benefit to UTA will be immeasurable. It also means 400 additional students living on campus. More than 4,000 students will be living in UTA's residence halls and apartments this fall - a record high.
Other important university construction projects now completed include the Studio Arts Center near Maverick Stadium, which officially opens in October, and renovations to the University Center, Fine Arts Building, and several campus streets and parking lots. In addition, construction continues on the state-of-the-art science building, to be completed by the end of 2005.
We have completed 45 successful searches for new faculty members, many of whom will be in the classroom today. And we're not finished yet. Five searches are still underway, and we plan to conduct 30 more next year. These new faculty not only add to our instructional capacity, they also will contribute to enhancing our research strengths.
We're also beginning a new tradition for the entire university. Our first fall convocation, where the campus will come together to welcome our new students, is at 4 p.m. today in Texas Hall. Our new students will ceremonially join the UTA family by learning campus rituals, meeting past and present campus leaders, and discovering a bit of university history. I urge to you attend.
Though I've been at UTA for almost seven months, this will be my first fall semester, and I'm excited about the year ahead. All in all, it's a proud day for UTA. Let's continue to "expect great things" from each other and work together to make them happen.
Have a great first day.
Sincerely,
James D. Spaniolo
President
