2000s
- All
- Academics(6)
- Campus(12)
- Culture(10)
- Faculty & Staff(8)
- Honors(12)
- Philanthropy(2)
- Research(2)
Margaret McDermott donates $32 million to establish the Eugene McDermott Scholars Program, a highly competitive program which seeks to provide scholars with leadership, cultural and educational tools to enrich their academic experience. Because of McDermott’s generosity, all McDermott Scholars attend UT Dallas on a full scholarship with a stipend package.
After Margaret McDermott’s kind donation, the first class of McDermott Scholars arrives at UT Dallas ready to fulfill their leadership potential.
Dr. Ray Baughman becomes UT Dallas’ first Robert A. Welch Chair in Chemistry.
Dr. Andy Blanchard joins UT Dallas as a professor of electrical engineering and senior associate dean of the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science.
Led by Dr. Ray Baughman and Dr. Anvar Zakhidov, the Nanotech Institute is founded in 2001.
As a tangible reminder of their time at UT Dallas, students can purchase a class ring complete with UTD shield, a comet encircling a star, and the Texas flag. The University presents the rings after sealing them in a wooden box sourced from the original Founders Building and enclosed with equipment used in NASA missions. The ceremony includes dunking the rings in a reflection pool on the Margaret McDermott Mall.
UT Dallas joins other UT System schools in the Archer Fellowship program, a professional fellowship that gives students the opportunity to intern in Washington, D.C. Students from UT Dallas have worked everywhere from think tanks to the White House and Senate offices.
From the generous donation of UTD alum James Von Ehr MS’81, the James Von Ehr Distinguished Chair in Science and Technology is established. Dr. Alan G. MacDiarmid, winner of the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2000, is the first to hold the chair.
UT Dallas’ women’s soccer team wins the American Southwest Conference championship for the first time.
A 152,000-square-foot addition to the Engineering and Computer Science North building opens in August. The new ECS South building includes additional equipment, classrooms and the Texas Instruments Auditorium.
Oozeball — an annual mud volleyball tournament — debuted at homecoming in fall 2002.
The School of Human Development changes its name to the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences.
Texas Instruments, the state of Texas, and the UT System announce Project Emmitt, a bold public-private partnership formed to build a chip fabrication plant in Richardson and infuse up to $300 million for expanding the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science.
Dr. Russell A. Hulse, winner of the Nobel Prize for physics in 1993, joins UT Dallas as a visiting professor. He is appointed Regental Professor and associate vice president for strategic initiatives in 2004.
Dr. Bhavani Thuraisingham joins UT Dallas as professor of computer science and director of the Cyber Security Research and Education Institute.
The McDermott Library acquires its one-millionth book: Flora Londinensis, a landmark 18th-century botanical set by William Curtis.
Dr. Larry D. Sall, director of libraries since 2000, is appointed dean of the McDermott Library.
The men’s soccer team wins its first American Southwest Conference tournament.
The UT Dallas alma mater, with music by Dr. Robert Xavier Rodríguez and lyrics by professional songwriters Bill Dunn and Neely Reynolds, debuts at spring commencement.
Dr. Brian Berry is appointed dean of the School of Social Sciences.
The men’s basketball team wins its first American Southwest Conference title.
Dr. David E. Daniel is appointed fourth president of UT Dallas. An engineer whose work was recognized by the American Society of Civil Engineers, Daniel worked at UT Austin and the University of Illinois before arriving at UT Dallas. Under his leadership, UTD triples its research expenditures, allocates $600 million for building construction, adds 40 new degree programs and raises $210 million in private funds.
Eugene McDermott Scholar Sophie Rutenbar BA’06 becomes the first UT Dallas student to be awarded both a Truman Scholarship and Marshall Scholarship.
Eugene McDermott Scholar Kassandra McLean earns the first Goldwater Scholarship awarded to a current UTD student.
UT Dallas’ first Ceremonial Mace is presented to President David Daniel. The mace is made of wood from the 600-year-old Treaty Oak Tree in Austin and bears a metal University Seal that was carried into space.
The School of Social Sciences is renamed the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences.
At UT Dallas’ inaugural Investiture Ceremony, President David E. Daniel presents “Creating the Future” — his strategic plan for UT Dallas that outlines how the University will become one of the nation’s best public research universities and one of the great universities of the world.
The Natural Science and Engineering Research Laboratory opens. Its colorful anodized shingles earn it the nickname “The Mermaid Building.”
The Francis and Mildred Goad Building, the new home for the Center for BrainHealth, opens.
Dr. Denise C. Park joins UT Dallas as professor of Brain and Behavioral Science and the T. Boone Pickens Distinguished Chair in Clinical Brain Science.
McDermott Scholar Rachel Markowitz becomes UT Dallas’ first Fulbright Scholar.
The UT Dallas volleyball team wins its first American Southwest Conference championship.
Director of the NanoTech Institute and the Robert A. Welch Distinguished Chair in Chemistry, Dr. Ray Baughman is elected to the National Academy of Engineering.
UT Dallas partners with the Confucius Institute, a global network of partnerships that promotes a greater understanding of China’s languages and civilization.
Improvements across campus begin, including renovation of the Founders Building and construction of the school’s first residence hall and the Science Learning Center.
The first phase of the Campus Landscape Enhancement Project begins. The project includes planting 6,000 trees, constructing a small amphitheater and renovating roads.
Spirit Rock, an ever-changing public art piece consisting of three large boulders, is installed for students to paint messages and artwork.
Artist Randy Johnson reveals his mural, depicting various scenes at UT Dallas, outside the Pub.
UTD premieres its fight song, written to the tune of “Tiger Rag,” a famous jazz ballad produced in 1917 by the New Orleans group Original Dixieland Jazz Band.
The School of General Studies is renamed the School of Interdisciplinary Studies, offering programs in health care, American studies and exercise studies.
Dr. Mark W. Spong is appointed dean of the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science.
The first residence hall (Residence Hall South, renamed Sirius Hall in 2023) and the Dining Hall open for students, followed by four more residence halls in the following five years. The group of residence halls is known as University Commons.
Gov. Rick Perry visits UT Dallas to sign House Bill 51. The legislation offers funding to reward research productivity and match private funding. It also establishes goals based on national standards that encourage UT Dallas and other universities throughout the state to expand research and improve academic excellence.
On Sept. 1, 2009, UT Dallas receives 16 individual donations — seven of which are greater than $1 million.
Presidents David E. Daniel, Franklyn Jenifer and Robert H. Rutford gather on a panel to reflect on the University’s 40-year trajectory.