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University of North Texas Looks to Expansion to Meet Growth

Posted on: Wednesday, 30 November 2005, 18:00 CST

By Patrick Mcgee, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas

Nov. 30--The University of North Texas System hopes to live up to its name by greatly expanding its campuses in North Texas and eventually doubling the number of students.

Recent land and building acquisitions in Denton, Fort Worth and Dallas have paved the way for expansion on those campuses, and the university system has undergone intensive planning to map out its future.

"We're in a growing state and a growing metropolitan area, and a rising tide is lifting all three of our boats," UNT Chancellor Lee Jackson said.

Gayle Strange, a UNT system regent and chairwoman of the facilities committee overseeing the expansion plans, said the campuses are growing to meet North Texas' rising population and to help the state meet its goal to enroll half a million Texans in college by 2015.

The system serves nearly 35,000 students, nearly all of them in Denton. The University of Texas at Arlington, by comparison, has about 25,000 students. The University of Texas at Austin has a little more than 50,000, and Texas A&M University has about 44,500.

Jackson said he tries to keep the planning at the campus level with a strong focus on what North Texas needs. He noted that his university system can move more quickly than others because it does not have to coordinate with campuses in faraway parts of the state.

"We need to be more purposeful," he said. "We can't do everything; the state won't fund everything."

During this year's session, legislators declined to approve tuition revenue bonds for public universities, which means UNT and others must wait at least two years to request bonds for construction. UNT asked for $94 million in bonds to build a new College of Business and renovate parts of its Denton campus. It also hoped for $42.1 million to buy the abandoned hospital across the street from its Health Science Center in Fort Worth.

Regents established the UNT Health Science Center by founding a graduate school of biomedical sciences at its College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1993. The regents' facilities committee is scheduled to be briefed on the Health Science Center's master planning process Thursday in Denton.

Strange said regents won't approve any new project until funding is secured. But officials have pressed ahead with planning and noted that not all buildings are funded by the tuition revenue bonds that must be approved by the Legislature.

Richard Escalante, vice chancellor for administrative services, said residence halls, for example, can be paid for by bonds funded by the fees students pay to live in the dorms.

As director of the system's planning efforts, Escalante oversees plans for intensive growth at each campus.

The Denton campus is still filling 550,000 square feet of building space it bought from Texas Instruments four years ago. The university recently bought a private school, which it plans to use for athletic programs and classes. In August, regents approved plans to add two dorms at the Denton campus.

Through seven name changes over its 116-year history, the Denton campus has emerged as the largest university in North Texas with more academic programs than any other public university in the area. It's known for its strong music program, visual arts program and biology department, among other things.

In Fort Worth, UNT's Health Science Center is also set to expand on the hospital land it bought with commercial bonds after the Legislature did not approve tuition revenue bonds. Kay Colley, a Health Science Center spokeswoman, said officials are studying what to build on the site once the building is demolished. She said officials expect to choose a master plan consultant by early next year.

A master plan for UNT's Dallas campus was recently approved, and officials broke ground on the campus's first building last month at Camp Wisdom and Houston School roads in southern Dallas county.

"To actually have 260 acres without a building on it of any kind is a rare opportunity," Jackson said.

Most of the land was donated by the city of Dallas. Students are taking classes at a nearby building UNT is leasing. The 25-year-old master plan envisions developing the site to serve 25,000 to 30,000 students.

Escalante said people keep asking him when the Dallas campus will be completed, but he has to tell them he does not know.

"I tell them, 'We are over 100 years old here in Denton, and we're still building,'" he said.

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Copyright (c) 2005, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas

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Source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, Texas)

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