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|University of Texas System Board of Regents Academic Retreat
October 11-12, 2004
The Westin Galleria Dallas
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It's my privilege to address you this morning. I appreciate the great city of Dallas and the staff of this beautiful hotel for making us all feel so welcome. Yesterday was a great day, and the message from President Garcia and President Cardenas earlier this morning was an outstanding one. I'm looking forward to many of this afternoon's sessions as well.
But I want to talk to you briefly this morning about transforming the "commuter campus" into a traditional one. This is something personal to me, because it's an issue we've been dealing with at U.T. Arlington for years. UTA has long been considered a commuter campus-and that notion wasn't entirely false. As recently as 10 years ago, our campus had 20,000 students and just four residence halls ... two of them quite small. There was no need for more, because most of our student body commuted from various parts of the Metroplex. There wasn't much to do on campus besides study-and the events we did schedule were sparsely attended. No building was open 24/7. Our average student age was 27.
I don't quote these statistics like they're bad things. There is certainly a place in this world-indeed, in the U.T. System-for commuter universities. They hold a very important purpose, and they attract very important constituencies. The tag "commuter campus" should not be viewed negatively by students, faculty, staff, administration, or alumni. Catering to a commuter enrollment is more necessary today than ever, and some of this nation's most well-respected universities have large commuter populations such as The University of Utah; Cal State-Long Beach; Hawaii-Manoa; The University of Akron; and Loyola University in New Orleans.
These universities-and others like them-boast a large population of students who live off campus. Some embrace that concept. At Loyola, they offer a shuttle service to outlining areas of New Orleans to pick up students. Others spend time, energy, and resources fighting that tag ...like it's a poor academic reputation, or a "party school" label. It's just not. I want to make this point perfectly clear. Being a commuter university makes you no less a great university. But being perceived as a commuter university does present unique challenges that administrators must overcome.
The most obvious, I guess, is how to create a sense of community. Where can your students gather? What can they do for a break between classes? How can they think of their alma mater as something other than a diploma mill. We've been looking at that at UTA, and we've found, I think, some very viable solutions.
For one, we started a new tradition this August, which I believe was a resounding success. Our campus's main event building was filled on the first day of class for MavsMeet, our first-ever new-student convocation. Our new students learned university history and traditions, met administrators and faculty ... were thoroughly indoctrinated into all things UTA. The feedback has been nothing but positive.
We have several programs that foster an increase in student life. One is Freshman Leaders On Campus, or FLOC. That program encourages our newest students to take a leadership role in giving back to our campus. The results have been overwhelming. We've had similar success with UTA HOSTS! and our Ambassadors program, groups of enthusiastic students who serve as tour guides, participate in campus events, serve as peer mentors, and more. We've also begun a program called Campus and Community Involvement Record. This creates an official university document that catalogs a student's participation in campus organizations and community involvement ... like a non-academic transcript, if you will. This has become a valuable tool our students can include with job applications, graduate school applications, resumes, and more.
As UTA's enrollment has increased over the last decade-we're at an all-time of 25,297 this semester-campus life has increased dramatically. I believe the two go hand-in-hand in many cases. But at UTA, in the U.T. System, in the city of Arlington, no one ever sat down and said, "UTA needs to be a traditional university teeming with activities and residence halls and student organizations." These things just happened with our enrollment increases. What we did well, though, was embrace the changes, adjust our mind-set, and adapt. These ideas are crucial. A commuter university won't become a traditional university by staying status quo. A university must adjust itself to its student population.
As I mentioned earlier, there was little demand for student housing at UTA until the last few years. Before we opened Arlington Hall in 2000, we hadn't had a new residence hall in 35 years. Thanks to the enrollment increases, the waiting list was becoming longer and longer. Our solution was to construct new facilities-both apartments and residence halls-to meet the demand. Arlington Hall opened four years ago. Kalpana Chawla Hall opened in August. We have also built four apartment complexes, with two more on the way. UTA now has more than 4,200 students living in university-owned and operated housing, the largest percentage in the U.T. System. Our resident population has grown by about 1,500 students in fewer than five years.
Because of that, we've seen a dramatic increase in usage of our Health Center, our Campus Recreation usage, our participation numbers in Greek life and other of our 270 student organizations. Attendance at our Homecoming and Welcome Week events have skyrocketed. We're seeing larger crowds at our athletic events.
All of these things I've mentioned are important aspects of becoming a traditional university. But there's more to it than at. A traditional university must be defined as much by its academics as its activities. When looking for the "traditional" you can't forget the "university."
Our Central Library is at the core of this value. It's open 24/7. As with most buildings on our campus, it's equipped with wireless networking capabilities. Students may check out laptops. There are multiple computer labs in the library. And a coffee bar. The Central Library has become the place to be on our campus, and I'm proud to say that. It's because of the work and dedication of so many people at UTA that that's true.
We also have a 24/7 computer lab called Ransom Hall. It's the renovated administration building. Students have computer access any time of day or night. They can even buy software here at discounted rates to aid their studies-meaning they don't have to go off campus to Best Buy or Circuit City. This has been wildly popular.
These buildings-and more-have made UTA a definite 24/7 campus. A year ago, our student magazine ran a series of photos called "UTA After Dark." The spread, taken over a couple of weeks, took four pages in the magazine and featured students pulling all-nighters in their room, playing sports around campus, sipping coffee in the library. Our student newspaper did a similar story last month-a full two pages of photos. Students are playing sports at 10 p.m. in our new Campus Rec Complex. At odd hours all over campus, you can find students tossing a Frisbee, kicking a hacky-sack, even playing cricket in empty parking lots. The fact is there are people out and about campus around the clock. Our campus teems with life after 5 p.m. That's not the indication of a commuter university. And that's not how UTA used to be.
Our newest construction projects have focused on our influx of on-campus residents. We recently expanded our student center by 11,500 square feet, much of it to completely remodel our dining areas. Students can also now rent movies in the University Center. We've added more classroom space to our Fine Arts Building, constructed an studio art annex, and we're building a chemistry and physics building. We've also updated the technology available in many of our existing classrooms and labs. These things are crucial because they attract students and keep them here. As I said, a traditional campus isn't just about having a social life.
We give our students a chance to succeed academically-and that's what traditional universities must never overlook. Our student support services include a writing center, a math clinic, and a language acquisition lab, all free to use. We have one of the state's only independent Honors Colleges.
Something I'm proudest of is the living-learning arrangement in our new residence halls. Students are grouped by shared majors, disciplines, or common interests. This creates instant study partners and instant friends. It eliminates the guesswork in new roommates. Our young scholars can talk about class with their roommates, their suitemates, and others on their floor. We believe the results will be outstanding. We have these Freshmen Interest Groups, or FIGs, for nearly every major on campus. We also have a Leadership FIG-a unique idea that clusters together students with potential to be the next campus leaders. They take leadership classes together, work with current campus leaders, and develop their skills and university ambassadors. This keeps the cycle going.
These residence halls are also equipped with group study lounges and computer labs, with staff academic advisers and student peer counselors. We foster an environment that makes students want to be on campus. They want to attend events, they have the resources to pass their classes, they have the help to take a full load and graduate on time. These are important things. Succeeding in academics is a good step forward in retaining your best students. That's the mark of a traditional campus.
UTA is quite a different place than it was even 10 years. And we're still changing everyday. We will always be a home for the best commuter students in North Texas. But we're also becoming a home for traditional students. That's an usual mix, and we're proud of that.
Thank you for your time this morning. For the next few minutes, I'd be happy to answer anyone's questions.
