UTD to get $300 Million from State

UNTX · July 1, 2003

Just saw on Channel 5 news that Gov. Rick Perry signed a bill today to provide $300 million in additional funding for UTD. They will get the money over the next few years to bolster their engineering and computer science programs. These programs are seen as strategically important in order to provide for additional engineers within the DFW area and make the area ever more attractive to high tech firms.

Great. Terrific. I know we're just starting our engineering school, but I thought we had a pretty decent computer science dept. Aren't we older, larger and more comprehensive? Why is it that we always seem to miss the boat or just flat miss out period - all of the time?

Leading University of the Metroplex? Sure, maybe not for long. Damnit.

eagle60 · July 1, 2003

It's called, "Politics as usual."

Think of all the Austin people that probably would like to cut us out of the"pie."

UNTFan23 · July 1, 2003

Just saw on Channel 5 news that Gov. Rick Perry signed a bill today to provide $300 million in additional funding for UTD. They will get the money over the next few years to bolster their engineering and computer science programs. These programs are seen as strategically important in order to provide for additional engineers within the DFW area and make the area ever more attractive to high tech firms.
Great. Terrific. I know we're just starting our engineering school, but I thought we had a pretty decent computer science dept. Aren't we older, larger and more comprehensive? Why is it that we always seem to miss the boat or just flat miss out period - all of the time?
Leading University of the Metroplex? Sure, maybe not for long. Damnit.

Yeah, I saw that too. After the state has axed funding for some of UNT's great programs like TAMS, they give $300 million to a school with a third of the enrollment. <_< Budget cuts my ...

I wonder how UTA feels about all this...

Brian · July 1, 2003

It's called, "Politics as usual."

No kidding, I would love to hear what UTD did to get this $$.

Stan R · July 1, 2003

UTD has the strategic relationship with Texas Instruments. TI has agreed to build a 3 billion dollar, 225K sq. ft. wafer fab plant in richardson. This has been billed as the largest investment in North Texas (the region) in maybe 20 years. I also know that TI is continually giving monies to UTD for research purposes. So the state sees the connection there and is attempting to keep that money coming from the corporations. UTD is the rain maker it seems in this case. Thus, it gets additional state funding. But I don't think that UNT will be left out of all of this. Once the research park is completed and the engineering dept. is up and running smoothly, UNT will get a better slice. Incidentally, I know a good amount of this from what I hear from my father who is the head of the wafer fab R&D department. And worked for TI in R&D for almost 25 years.

Also... He's a mean green fan even though he's an Aggie...

UNTLifer · July 1, 2003

TI has agreed to build a 3 billion dollar, 225K sq. ft. wafer fab plant in richardson. This has been billed as the largest investment in North Texas (the region) in maybe 20 years.

Isn't this the same TI that built a huge facility in Denton, only never to move into it? And now this huge facility is our future School of Engineering and Research Park.