About UNT Dallas

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Accreditation

The University of North Texas at Dallas is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award baccalaureate, master’s, and juris doctor degrees. Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur GA 30033-4097 or call 404-679-4500 for questions about the accreditation of the University of North Texas at Dallas.

Mission Statement

Empower. Transform. Strengthen.

UNT Dallas empowers students, transforms lives, and strengthens communities.

Vision

Through education and community connectedness, UNT Dallas aspires to be the pathway to social mobility in its primary market.

Achieving the Vision

UNT Dallas’ plan for growth as a public university is shaped by its commitment to its students and its community. Our curriculum is structured around service leadership, partnerships and community outreach, global connectivity, technology, and social responsibility.

UNT Dallas has an underlying commitment to act as an agent for change in our communities and throughout the region. We embrace diversity, drawing a variety of voices into close conversation. We promote collaboration, which includes partnerships within the university as well as alliances with civic, corporate and non-profit organizations. These connections help move the university forward providing an atmosphere of learning that gives our students the confidence to lead productive lives.

History of UNT Dallas

In the late 1990’s, State Senator Royce West of Dallas and other city leaders cast a vision for a new, four-year public university in Dallas. After several university systems discussed their ideas for higher education in the city, the University of North Texas System Board of Regents came forward with a plan to establish an independent public university in the city-the first in the history of Dallas.

The Southern Dallas County Feasibility Study Community Task Force accepted the plan, and in January 1999 the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board approved the proposal from the UNT System. The THECB subsequently granted the UNT System permission to use the moniker “UNT Dallas Campus” for this endeavor. The campus was established in a DeSoto business park in January 2000 as an upper division, off-campus location of the University of North Texas.

On May 8, 2001, Governor Rick Perry signed Senate Bill 576 creating the University of North Texas at Dallas. State Representative Helen Giddings and State Representative Jesse Jones sponsored the companion bill in the House, HB 1417. Under the terms of the legislation, the UNT Dallas Campus would be allowed to open as a new four-year university when enrollment reached 1,000 full-time equivalent students (FTEs).

The City of Dallas contributed $3 million to purchase 202 acres of land in the southernmost portion of the city, and local developers, including Mike Boney and Vernon Jordan, donated additional acreage to bring the total size of the campus to 264 acres. In October 2003, the Communities Foundation of Texas awarded the UNT System a $500,000 planning grant to fund a master plan for UNT Dallas. That same year the Texas legislature authorized $25.4 million for the construction of the initial 75,000-square-foot academic building on the campus. In April 2009, the THECB officially certified enrollment at the University of North Texas Dallas Campus as greater than 1,000 full-time equivalent students. The certification enabled the legislation that created UNT Dallas, and the THECB declared UNT Dallas an independent, general academic institution.

With the enrollment threshold met, Gov. Perry signed Senate Bill 629 in May 2009. That bill allowed for the physical expansion of three university system centers in the state-Texas A&M Central Texas in Killeen, Texas A&M San Antonio, and UNT Dallas. With the release of $25 million in previously authorized tuition revenue bonds, UNT Dallas began construction on its second building in August 2009. The building was completed in August 2010 as UNT Dallas accepted its first freshman class, the Class of 2014.

On July 10, 2013, the University received separate accreditation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.  Accreditation as a separate entity was retroactive to January 1, 2013.  The institution is required to complete a Compliance Certification and a Quality Enhancement Plan and to receive a Committee in anticipation of reaffirmation of accreditation in 2018.

On September 1, 2015, the College of Law officially became part of UNT Dallas. UNT Dallas became the first public university with a professional degree in Dallas city.

UNT Dallas offers twenty undergraduate and eight graduate programs in high-demand fields such as criminal justice, law, teacher education, business administration, sociology and counseling.

For more information about UNT Dallas, call 972-780-3600 or visit the UNT Dallas web site (www.untdallas.edu).

Institutional Quality Enhancement

UNT Dallas is committed to continuous improvement in all of its operations. At both the institutional and the organizational-unit level, the University establishes expected outcomes for performance, assesses the extent to which the outcomes are attained, and makes changes to affect performance improvements on the basis of a careful review of outcomes assessment data.

With regard to student academic achievement, UNT Dallas regularly and formally evaluates student success in acquiring the skills, knowledge bases, and behaviors that are identified by faculty as critically important in the degree programs offered by the institution. The University also evaluates the effectiveness of its many services that support student learning. UNT Dallas believes that ongoing assessment of student learning and prompt implementation of improvements in curricula, pedagogy, and related educational support programs and practices when indicated are central to the efficacy of its academic mission.

Students should anticipate participating in a wide array of evaluation and assessment procedures throughout their educational careers at UNT Dallas. Students are expected to enter into these procedures openly and honestly so that they and UNT Dallas together can ensure continuous improvement processes are effective in maximizing each student’s educational experience.

Non-Discrimination Policy

It is the policy of the University of North Texas at Dallas not to discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, national or ethnic origin, religion, gender identity or expression political affiliation,  disability, marital status, ancestry, genetic information, citizenship, or disabled veteran status or veterans of the Vietnam era status in the university’s educational programs, activities, admissions or employment policies.

The university complies with federal and state equal opportunity laws and regulations, and through its diversity policy declares harassment, which is based on individual differences (including sexual orientation) to be inconsistent with the university’s mission and educational goals.

Direct questions or concerns to the Dean of Students in the Office of Student Affairs at 972-338-1775. 

Experiential Learning

Experiential learning is incorporated into one of the goals of our university: Grow. Increase enrollment, retention and completion rates with experiential learning while developing critical thinking and marketable skills for every student.

Experiential learning at UNT Dallas is two-fold: it serves to help students transition more gracefully from college to the work place setting by gaining marketable skills, real world experience, and industry networks; it also serves to improve the quality of learning by understanding how text book learning applies to the real world by increasing the likelihood of using the knowledge, critical thinking skills and habits of mind acquired in their studies.

Students will have the opportunity to: (1) apply their educational competencies through experiential learning in the community, (2) deepen their understanding of course content and develop critical thinking through direct research or service based activities, and (3) access resources to enhance their professional development and skillset to become more marketable. Experiential learning is a process of learning by doing and reflecting on the experience. Experiential learning first immerses learners in an experience and then encourages reflection about the experience to develop new skills, new attitudes, or new ways of thinking.

Services offered to students includes but are not limited to: assistance in identifying their learning style, assistance in finding appropriate placement at approved sites, appropriate trainings and informational resources, provided correct paperwork and assessments for university data collection, and recognition opportunities for the service they commit to the community.

Services offered to faculty includes but are not limited to: assistance in providing experiential learning opportunities for their students, showcasing the great work you and your students are doing around experiential learning, assistance in the capturing and recording process, providing educational presentations about experiential learning, internship course development, and informational materials and resources of the university policies, and best practices for experiential learning.

Services provided to community partners includes but are not limited to: opportunities to recruit and speak to students, assessments to ensure quality efforts and satisfaction, success stories featured, and resources for improved policies and best practices.

For more information, call 972-338-1764 or email Sarah.Davenport@untdallas.edu.

Directory of Frequently Called Offices

When seeking information about the University, please visit, call, or write the office most closely associated with the subject of your concern or inquiry. Letters intended for offices other than those contacted will be forwarded. Directory assistance for all university offices is available through the main switchboard at 877-868-9857 or the main campus number: (972) 780-3600.

Admissions Offices

General Offices