Established in 1956, the University of Dallas is a private, independent Catholic regional university located in Irving, Texas that is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. According to U.S. News & World Report, 80% of 2010 graduates participated in international programs, which is the sixth highest percentage of students from any higher education institution in the US to study abroad.
The university comprises four academic units: the Braniff Graduate School of Liberal Arts, the Constantin College of Liberal Arts, the College of Business (accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)],) which includes the Graduate School of Management, and the School of Ministry.
Dallas offers several master's degree programs and a doctoral degree program with three concentrations. There are 136 full-time faculty and 102 part-time faculty, and the school has an 11:1 student-to-faculty ratio.
History
The University of Dallas' charter dates from 1910 when the Western Province of the Congregation of the Mission (Vincentians) renamed Holy Trinity College in Dallas, which they had founded in 1905. The provincial of the Western Province closed the university in 1928, and the charter reverted to the Diocese of Dallas. In 1955, the Western Province of the Sisters of Saint Mary of Namur obtained it to create a new higher education institution in Dallas that would subsume their junior college, Our Lady of Victory College, located in Fort Worth. The sisters, together with Eugene Constantin, Jr. and Edward R. Maher, Sr., petitioned the Diocese of Dallas to sponsor the university, though ownership was entrusted to a self-perpetuating independent board of trustees. "Bishop Gorman, as chancellor of the new university, announced that it would be a Catholic coeducational institution welcoming students of all faiths and races and offering work on the undergraduate level, with a graduate school to be added as soon as possible. The new University of Dallas opened to ninety-six students in September 1956 on a 1,000-acre tract of rolling hills northwest of Dallas."
The Sisters of Saint Mary of Namur, monks from the Order of Cistercians (Cistercians), friars from the Order of Friars Minor (Franciscans), and several lay professors formed the university's original faculty. The Franciscans departed three years later; however, friars from the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) joined the faculty in 1958 and built St. Albert the Great Priory on campus. The Cistercians established Our Lady of Dallas Abbey in 1958 and Cistercian Preparatory School in 1962, which are both adjacent to campus. The School Sisters of Notre Dame arrived in 1962 and opened the Notre Dame Special School for children with learning difficulties in 1963 and a motherhouse for the Dallas Province in 1964, which were both on campus. The sisters moved the school to Dallas in 1985 and closed the motherhouse in 1987. The faculty now is almost exclusively lay and includes several distinguished scholars.
A grant from the Blakley-Braniff Foundation established the Braniff Graduate School in 1966 and allowed the construction of the Braniff Graduate Center. The Constantin Foundation similarly endowed the undergraduate college, and, in 1970, the Board of Trustees named the undergraduate college the Constantin College of Liberal Arts. The Graduate School of Management, begun in 1966, offers a large MBA program. Programs in art and English also began in 1966. In 1973, the Institute of Philosophic Studies, the doctoral program of the Braniff Graduate School and an outgrowth of the Kendall Politics and Literature Program, was initiated. The School of Ministry began in 1987. The College of Business, incorporating the Graduate School of Management and undergraduate business, opened in 2003.
Since the first class in 1960, university graduates have won significant honors, including 30 Fulbright awards. Accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools came in 1963 and has been reaffirmed regularly. In 1989, it was the youngest higher education institution to be awarded a Phi Beta Kappa chapter.
Governance and leadership
The University of Dallas is governed by a board of trustees, which currently is chaired by Francis P. Hubach, Jr. According to the university's by-laws, the bishop of Dallas is an ex-officio voting member.
Kevin J. Farrell, bishop of the Diocese of Dallas, currently serves as the chancellor. The office, held by a Catholic bishop per the constitution of the university, is an unpaid, honorary position.
Previous chancellors include:
- Thomas Kiely Gorman (1954â€"1969)
- Thomas Ambrose Tschoepe (1969â€"1990)
- Charles Victor Grahmann (1990â€"2007)
Thomas W. Keefe became president of the University of Dallas on March 1, 2010. Since taking office, the percentage of alumni making annual contributions has risen to nearly 17%.
Previous presidents include:
- F. Kenneth Brasted (1956â€"1959)
- Robert J. Morris (1960â€"1962)
- Donald A. Cowan (1962â€"1977)
- John R. Sommerfeldt (1978â€"1980)
- Robert F. Sasseen (1981â€"1995)
- Milam J. Joseph (1996â€"2003)
- Frank Lazarus (2003â€"2009)
Campus
The university is located in Irving, Texas on a 744 acre (301 hectare) campus. The Las Colinas development is nearby. It is 10 miles (16Â km) from downtown Dallas. The campus consists mostly of nondescript, brown-colored rectangular or otherwise box-shaped brick buildings. The mall is the center of campus, with the 187.5 feet-tall (57.15 meters) Braniff Memorial Tower as its focal point.
Although the university is Catholic, the exterior of the campus lacks almost any religious art. The Princeton Review cites the University of Dallas for having the 4th least beautiful campus of the colleges and universities it ranks. Travel + Leisure's October 2013 issue lists it as one of America's ugliest college campuses, citing its "low-profile, boxy architecture that bears uncanny resemblance to a public car park", but noting that a recent $12 million donation from alumni Satish and Yasmin Gupta will bring new campus construction.
A Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Orange-Line light rail station opened near campus on July 30, 2012.
Enrollment
Undergraduate
- 1,356 students
- 44% in-state; 55% out-of-state; 1% international
- 98% full-time
- 51% female; 49% male
- 30% non-white
- 97% age 24 and under
- 82% Catholic
The 2012â€"2013 estimated charges, including tuition, room, board, and fees, for full-time undergraduates is $43,249.
80% of freshmen who began their degree programs in Fall 2010 returned as sophomores in Fall 2011. 67% of freshmen who began their degree programs in Fall 2005 graduated within 4-years.
Graduate
- 1,369 students
- 26% full-time
- 36% Catholic
Academics
Core Curriculum
There is a Core Curriculum, a collection of approximately twenty courses (two years) of common study covering philosophy, theology, history, literature, politics, economics, mathematics, science, art, and a foreign language. The curriculum not only includes a slate of required courses, but includes specific standardized texts which permit professors to assume a common body of knowledge and speak across disciplines. This emphasis on common readings fosters a tight-knit student body engaged in common intellectual endeavors. Classes in the Core typically have an average class size of 17 students to permit frequent discussion. Dallas is one of 22 schools graded "A" by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni for a solid core curriculum.
There is a similar Core Curriculum for graduate studies in the Braniff Graduate School of Liberal Arts.
Departments
Constantin College of Liberal Arts
- Department of Classics
:(includes philology, Greek, and Latin) - Department of English
- Department of History
- Department of Modern Languages
:(includes French, German, Italian, and Spanish) - Department of Philosophy
- Department of Theology
- Department of Biology
- Department of Chemistry
- Department of Mathematics
- Department of Physics
- Department of Economics
- Department of Politics
- Department of Psychology
- Department of Art and Art History
- Department of Drama
- Department of Music
- Department of Education
Braniff Graduate School of Liberal Arts
- Institute for Philosophic Studies
(Note that cepartments in Constantin College also teach graduate courses for Braniff.)
School of Ministry
- Undergraduate Department
- Graduate Department
College of Business
- Undergraduate Department
- Graduate Department
Undergraduate
Undergraduate students are enrolled in the Constantin College of Liberal Arts, the College of Business, or the School of Ministry. The university awards bachelor of arts (BA) and bachelor of science (BS) degrees.
Rome Program
In 1970, the university started its own study abroad program in which Dallas students, generally sophomores, spend a semester at its campus southeast of Rome in the Alban Hills along the Via Appia. In June 1994, the property was renovated (12 acres [4.86 hectares]) and dedicated as the Eugene Constantin Rome Campus. It includes a library, a chapel, housing, a dining hall, classrooms, a tennis court, a bocce court, a swimming pool, an outdoor Greco-Roman theater, working vineyards, and olive groves.
Graduate programs
Braniff Graduate School of Liberal Arts
The Braniff Graduate School of Liberal Arts administers master's degrees in American studies, art, English, humanities, philosophy, politics, psychology, and theology, as well as an interdisciplinary doctoral program with concentrations in English, philosophy, and politics.
College of Business
The University of Dallas Satish and Yasmin Gupta College of Business is an AACSB-accredited business school offering a part-time MBA program for working professionals, a Master of Science program, an Early Career MBA, an Experienced Professional MBA, a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA), Graduate Certificates, graduate preparatory programs, and professional development courses.
School of Ministry
The University of Dallas School of Ministry offers master's degrees in Theological Studies (MTS), Religious Education (MRE), Catholic School Leadership (MCSL), Catholic School Teaching (MCST), and Pastoral Ministry (MPM). Classes are offered onsite during weeknights and online. The University of Dallas School of Ministry also is one of the few Catholic universities in the US that offer a comprehensive, four-year Catholic Biblical School (CBS) certification program. This program, which covers every book of the Bible, is offered onsite and online in both English and Spanish. The CBS is the largest program of its kind among all Catholic universities in the US based on 2007 enrollment numbers.
Lectureships
The Aquinas Lectureship: The Aquinas lecture series, begun in 1983, is an annual event sponsored by the Department of Philosophy in which notable philosophers address contemporary topics in the spirit of Thomas Aquinas. Starting in 2013, the Aquinas Lectures are published by St. Augustine's Press of South Bend, Ind.
The John Paul II Theology Lectureship: In 2007, the theology department announced that a donor had endowed a new lectureship to be named in honor of Pope John Paul II.
The Landregan Lectureship: In 1999, the Institute for Religious and Pastoral Studies, which grew into the School of Ministry, established an annual lecture in honor of Steven T. Landregan for his distinguished service to the Catholic Church in North Texas.
The Eugene McDermott Lectureship: In 1974, the university established the Eugene McDermott Lectureship, an endowed lecture series created in honor of Eugene McDermott, the late scientist, businessman, civic leader, and philanthropist.
Rankings
Undergraduate
- Ranked No. 14 among Western regional universities by U.S. News & World Report (2011 edition).
- Ranked No. 33 among master's universities by The Washington Monthly (2011 edition).
- Ranked No. 64 among Western regional universities on the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities (2012 edition).
- Ranked No. 103 on Forbes list of America's Best Colleges (2011 edition).
- Ranked as one of the best Western colleges by The Princeton Review (2011 edition).
- Earned an A-grade on the 2011 "What Will They Learn?" project of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni.
- Endorsed by the Cardinal Newman Society, an association dedicated to the promotion and renewal of faithful Catholic education. (Twenty schools in the US received such an endorsement).
- Ranked as one of 26-best studio art programs in the US by Parade in 2010.
- Ranked the 3rd least beautiful campus and the 10th most LGBT-unfriendly college by The Princeton Review.
Graduate
- The Department of Art was ranked No. 206 by the U.S. News & World Report's Best Graduate School Rankings 2013.
- U.S. News & World Report Best Graduate School Rankings 2013 did not publish the ranks for the doctoral concentrations in English and politics because their scores were below the cutoff.
- The Graduate School of Management was unlisted in rankings of business schools in U.S. News & World Report (2013 edition), BusinessWeek, Forbes, The Economist, and the Financial Times.
- The doctoral concentration in philosophy was unlisted in The 2011 Philosophical Gourmet Report rankings.
- The 2010 National Research Council Assessment of Research-Doctorate Programs in the US ranked the University of Dallas' doctoral concentrations at or near the bottom (survey-based quality score) of those surveyed in the US: English: 116-119/119; philosophy: 82-90/90; politics: 105/105.
- A 2010 survey of political theory professors published in the journal Political Science & Politics ranked the doctoral concentration in politics 28th out of 106-surveyed programs in the US specializing in political theory.
Research
The on-campus editorial offices of Dallas Medieval Texts and Translations has been publishing a book series of medieval Latin texts with facing English translations. The goal of the series is to build a library that will represent the whole breadth and variety of medieval civilization. The series is open-ended; as of June, 2014, it has published 20 volumes.
Haggerty Art Village
The University of Dallas Braniff Graduate School of Liberal Arts features a small, graduate art program, located in what is called Haggerty Art Village. Haggerty Art Village is separated from the rest of campus by a wooded grove, and the social atmosphere around the village is considerably different from the rest of the university. One notable feature of the graduate art program is that it provides all accepted graduates a full tuition scholarship, allowing them to study for three years and receive both their MA and MFA degrees.
Offerings
Haggerty Art Village itself features printmaking (all forms, plus papermaking and letterpress studios), painting, sculpture (well-equipped and spacious woodworking and metalworking studios), and ceramics facilities, though graduate students are not bound to a single medium, and receive their degree as a broader "art" classification (despite this, students are required to choose an adviser, based on which medium they might employ the most). There is also a Mac lab for digital photography and web design seminars. The program is small and intimate, and allows students to exhibit work both on and off campus. University of Dallas MFA candidates typically go on to successful artistic careers nation-wide, and students come from a variety of backgrounds (there have also been numerous international students). Each student receives a private studio space in a collective studio environment. At this time, there are 16 graduate art students, indicative of the competitive nature of the acceptance process. In addition to flexible studio art courses and independent studio work, graduate art students are required to fulfill numerous art seminar credits, as well as take four art history courses throughout their time at UD (modern and contemporary art, plus two others; many students choose to create their own independent coursework). Because the UD art faculty are linked to the Dallas - Ft. Worth arts community, there are often graduate field trips to various Dallas - Ft. Worth art institutions, such as the Nasher Sculpture Center, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Modern in Ft. Worth, and several others.
Faculty Though students choose an adviser, most students are close to all of the professors. It is customary for them to invite each of the faculty to their studio for a one-on-one critique at least once a semester.
Galleries
Haggerty Art Village features the Upper Gallery, which can be merged for one, large exhibition, or separated into two distinct exhibitions. The Upper Gallery is fully equipped with track lighting and movable walls. Many students show in the Upper Gallery for their MA on-campus exhibition. In addition to the Upper Gallery, there is a small studio space gallery, which usually shows group exhibitions featuring recent graduate work. The art history building features the Haggerty Art Gallery, which hosts an eclectic array of exhibits, featuring works by artists from around the United States and the rest of the world. There are other places outside of the Art Village to show work: Gorman Lecture Center Foyer is commonly used, as is the Braniff Lounge (called "the fishbowl" by students for its many windows and natural light).
- Matrix Program
The Matrix Program invites visiting artists from around the country. It allows students to print an edition of that artist's work. Artists have included Endi E. Poskovic. Students who participate in printing the edition typically receive a finished, numbered print to add to their personal print collection. Matrix donors feature several citizens of the Dallasâ€"Fort Worth metroplex community appreciative of the arts. For their donations, they receive a print by every other Matrix artist (Matrix artists are divided into "small edition" and "large edition" semesters; donors receive "large edition" prints). The program also features a student-curated exhibition of the artists' work, complete with an opening reception and an artist demo session.
Vandalism and controversy
Graduate art students are required to have their first master's showing on campus. While undergraduate students were once required to take several hours of art or art appreciation, that requirement has been waived. A semester in Rome (viewing classical art) is substituted. Currently, graduate art students and faculty are attempting to bring back an art appreciation requirement.
Student life
Athletics
Interscholastic (NCAA Division III â€" Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference)
Club
- Men's Rugby (Texas Rugby Union, Collegiate Division II)
- Men's and Women's Ultimate Frisbee (USA Ultimate, Division III)
The Maher Athletic Center, built in 1965 and renovated in 2004, provides athletic as well as fitness facilities. The baseball team plays at Crusader Field, opened in 1997.
Media
The University of Dallas' student newspaper is The University News and its yearbook is The Crusader.
Residence life
On campus residency is required of all students who have not yet attained senior status or who are under 21 and are not married, not a veteran of the military or who do not live with their parents or relatives in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. These requirements change from year to year depending upon the size of the incoming freshman class; for instance, in 2009, all students with senior credit standing were required to live off campus. Freshmen live in traditional single-sex halls, while upperclassmen live either in co-ed dormitories or off-campus.
Notable people
Alumni
- Jeffrey Bishop - Philosopher, physician and bioethicist (Director of the Albert Gnaegi Center for Health Care Ethics)
- L. Brent Bozell III â€" Founder of Media Research Center and Fox News political commentator
- Robert Bunda â€" Hawaiian politician
- Oscar Cantú â€" Auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of San Antonio.
- John C. Eastman â€" Chairman of the Board, National Organization for Marriage
- Michael Duca - Bishop of Shreveport
- Emmet Flood â€" Special Counsel to President George W. Bush, 2007â€"2008
- Daniel E. Flores - Bishop of Brownsville
- Joe G. N. Garcia â€" Pulmonary scientist and physician
- John H. Gibson â€" Senior Defense Department official and business executive
- Ernie Hawkins â€" Blues guitarist and singer
- Jason Henderson â€" Best-selling fantasy novelist and comic book author
- Thomas S. Hibbs - Philosopher and dean at Baylor University
- Andy Hummel - Bassist and songwriter for Big Star
- Tadashi Inuzuka â€" Japanese politician and diplomat
- Emily Jacir-Palestinian-American artist and activist
- Anita Jose â€" Professor, business strategist, essayist
- Katherine, Crown Princess of Yugoslavia â€" Wife of Alexander, Crown Prince of Yugoslavia
- Joseph Patrick Kelly - Literary scholar studying James Joyce
- Peter MacNicol â€" Actor, notable performances include Ghostbusters, Ally McBeal, and Fox's 24.
- Patrick Madrid â€" Author, radio host
- John McCaa - American television journalist
- Trish Murphy â€" Singer-songwriter
- Carl Olson â€" American journalist and Catholic writer
- Susan Orr â€" Former Head of the United States Children's Bureau
- Mackubin Thomas Owens â€" Assistant Dean of Academics for Electives, Naval War College
- Tan Parker â€" Texas state representative from Flower Mound
- Tom Rafferty - Professional football player (offensive lineman for the Dallas Cowboys)
- Gary Schmitt â€" Co-founder of the Project for the New American Century
- Daryush Shokof- Artist "Maximalism",Filmmaker "Amenic Film", Philosopher "Yekishim"
- Gene Wolande - Actor (L.A. Confidential)and television writer (The Wonder Years)
- Brantly Womack â€" Professor of Government and Foreign Affairs, University of Virginia
- Eric McLuhan â€" Internationally known media theorist and son of Marshall McLuhan
- L. M. Kit Carson â€" Actor and screenwriter
Full-time, permanent faculty, past and present
- Mel Bradford â€" Professor of English (deceased)
- Louise Cowan â€" University professor of English (emerita)
- Willmoore Kendall â€" Professor of politics (deceased)
- Thomas Lindsay - Former president of Shimer College
- Wilfred M. McClay â€" Professor of history (former; presently at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga)
- Peter C. Phan â€" Professor of theology (former; presently at Georgetown University)
- Gerard Wegemer â€" Professor of English
- Thomas G. West â€" Professor of politics (former; presently at Hillsdale College)
- Frederick Wilhelmsen â€" Professor of philosophy (deceased)
References
Further reading
- Sweet, David, ed. University of Dallas: 50 Years of Vision & Courage, 1956â€"2006. (2006). 165 pp.
- University of Dallas. The University of Dallas honoring William A. Blakley. (1966). 19 pp.
External links
- University of Dallas
- University of Dallas Crusaders, the Official Athletic Site
- The University News: the student newspaper of the University of Dallas
- Dallas Medieval Texts and Translations
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