A Message from Dr. Musselman

The Measures of Our Growth

January 6, 2025

For many of us, childhood growth was measured by pencil marks on a doorway. Every line was a sign of a new height.

Here at UT Dallas, we have a similar marker. Every time I walk past the construction site that will transform into our gleaming Student Success Center and Student Union, I notice a new piece in place.

And while the building’s ascent might not be quite as noticeable day to day, the progress we have witnessed in one year is exciting. It is on the precipice of leaping skyward.

Our growth in Academic Affairs is just as meaningful.

We have reached a stature that enables us to attract an ever-increasing number of outstanding students and faculty. More and more people in higher education know who we are and what we are doing.

We no longer are surprised when we rank among the top universities in the country, both overall and in various academic units and categories. It’s still thrilling, but we know we belong.

We continue to see our investment in research pay off with newsworthy accomplishments. During the fall 2024 semester alone, UT Dallas researchers announced that they had discovered:

a new way to make living skin transparent;
nanomedicine improvements that could aid treatment of kidney disease;
a link between long-term cannabis use and sleep difficulties, which lead to memory issues;
a 3D-printed femur that could help doctors prepare for bone surgeries;
a connection between childhood adversity and reduced development of a crucial region of the brain, increasing the risk for psychotic-like experiences during the transition from childhood to adolescence.

Those all are or could become groundbreaking developments. And speaking of groundbreaking, the opening of the Edith and Peter O’Donnell Jr. Athenaeum’s first phase in September coincided with beginning construction of Phase II, which will include a 680-seat concert hall and numerous music facilities for students.

I continue to be heartened by the way students have taken advantage of the opportunity to explore Phase I, which houses the Crow Museum of Asian Art, the Richard R. Brettell Reading Room, a multimedia gallery co-designed by a member of our faculty, Dr. Laura Hyunjhee Kim and galleries containing pieces from the Dallas Museum of Art and other collections.

It is clear students truly appreciate having such a beautiful, educational and inviting space within a few steps of their classrooms.

As we continue to march forward in the spring 2025 semester, our growth contains one important difference from those childhood lines on the doorway: We’re recording it in indelible ink, not pencil.

And we have just begun to make our mark.