History

The charter of the University of Dallas dates from 1910 when the Vincentian Fathers took that name for the Holy Trinity College they had founded five years earlier. Holy Trinity closed in 1928 and the charter was placed with the Catholic Diocese of Dallas. In 1955 the Sisters of Saint Mary of Namur obtained it for the purpose of operating a new institution in Dallas that would absorb their junior college in Fort Worth, Our Lady of Victory. The Sisters, together with laymen who directed the drive for funds, Eugene Constantin, Jr. and Edward R. Maher, Sr., induced Bishop Thomas K. Gorman to have the diocese assume sponsorship of the new institution with ownership by its Board of Trustees.

Bishop Gorman announced that the University of Dallas would be a four-year 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 practicable.

The new University of Dallas opened its doors to 96 degree-seeking students in September 1956, on a thousand-acre tract of rolling hills located northwest of the city of Dallas, now part of Irving/Las Colinas.

The first president, F. Kenneth Brasted, served until 1959; the second, Robert Morris, from 1960 to 1962; and the third, Donald A. Cowan, from 1962 until 1977. In 1976, Bryan F. Smith was appointed Chancellor to assist Dr. Cowan and to oversee the university until the next president, Dr. John R. Sommerfeldt, was appointed in 1978. Dr. Sommerfeldt returned to full-time teaching and research in 1980. During the search for his successor, Dr. Svetozar Pejovich served as acting president. In July 1981, Dr. Robert F. Sasseen became the fifth president of the university. In December of 1995 Dr. Sasseen returned to teaching. Monsignor Milam J. Joseph was named the sixth president of the university in October of 1996 and served until December of 2003. Robert Galecke, senior vice-president for Finance and Administration served as interim president until July 2004, when Dr. Francis Lazarus took office as the seventh president of the university. When Dr. Lazarus retired in August 2009, Galecke again assumed the position of interim president. Thomas W. Keefe became the university’s eighth president on March 1, 2010 and served until May 2018. Dr. John Plotts served as the Interim President until July 1, 2019 when Dr. Thomas S. Hibbs, B.A. ‘82, M.A. ’84, became the university’s ninth president and its first alumni president.

Members of the Cistercian Order and the Sisters of Saint Mary of Namur, together with three Franciscan fathers and a number of laymen, comprised the original faculty of the University of Dallas. The Franciscan fathers departed after three years. Dominican priests joined the faculty in 1958 and established the Albert the Great Priory. The School Sisters of Notre Dame came in 1962. The Cistercians now have a permanent abbey, church and a college preparatory school for boys adjacent to the main campus. Cistercian faculty continue to play an important part in the academic life of the university. Recently, Dominican Sisters of the St. Cecilia Congregation of Nashville have graced the classrooms and corridors.

Over time, the faculty has become largely lay of many faiths and counts numerous distinguished scholars among its members. Accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools came in 1963 and was reaffirmed in 1973, 1984, 1994, 2004 and 2014. In November of 1996 the university was the first institution to be accredited by the American Academy of Liberal Education, an association which recognizes outstanding liberal arts institutions. Significant honors have been won by university graduates since the first class in 1960, which earned Fulbright and Woodrow Wilson awards for graduate studies.

His Excellency Thomas Tschoepe succeeded Bishop Gorman and served as grand chancellor of the university until his retirement as Bishop in 1990 when Bishop Charles Grahmann, his successor, assumed this position. In 2007, Kevin Farrell was appointed Bishop of Dallas and Grand Chancellor following Bishop Grahmann’s retirement. In 2016, His Excellency Edward J. Burns was appointed Bishop of Dallas after the elevation of Bishop Farrell to the cardinalate. Bishop Burns now serves as grand chancellor of the university.

A gift of seven and one half million dollars from the Blakley-Braniff Foundation established the Braniff Graduate School in 1966 and allowed the construction of the Braniff Graduate Center, Tower and Mall. The Constantin Foundation similarly endowed the undergraduate college with gifts in 1967 and 1969. In 1970 the Board of Trustees named the undergraduate college the Constantin College of Liberal Arts. Gorman Lecture Center and the Maher Athletic Center were completed in 1965. A legacy from the estate of Mrs. John B. O’Hara established the Summer Science Institute in 1973.

Holy Trinity Seminary was founded in 1965 and occupied its present facilities adjacent to the main campus in 1967. The Graduate School of Management (now the Satish & Yasmin Gupta College of Business) began in 1966, with one of the first experiential practice-based Master of Business Administration programs for working professionals. The Graduate School of Management transitioned into the College of Business in 2003 when it incorporated graduate and undergraduate business programs. In 2014, the Doctor of Business Administration was launched. It is the first and only AACSB accredited DBA program in Texas. Influential graduate 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 Institute for Religious and Pastoral Studies began in 1987, it became the School of Ministry in 2007, was named the Ann & Joe O. Neuhoff School of Ministry in 2016, and is currently the Ann & Joe O. Neuhoff Institute for Ministry and Evangelization.

In 1975 the University Center was doubled in size and named for J.M. Haggar, Sr., and an addition was made to the Haggerty Art Center. The University Apartments, a facility for upper division students, opened in 1980. 1985 saw the completion of the Patrick E. Haggerty Science Center and the Chapel of the Incarnation. A chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the prestigious honor society, was granted in 1989. In 1992, Anselm Hall, the first dormitory, was renovated, and the Fr. Thomas Cain courtyard adjoining it was dedicated.

On June 11, 1994, the university dedicated permanent facilities for its Rome Program begun in 1970. The 12-acre Constantin Campus, Due Santi, near Albano, Italy, is 20 kilometers from the heart of Rome.

The dormitory renovation program continued and 1998 saw the addition of a handsome baseball field. In 2000 major additions to the Haggerty Art Village were completed, and the east side of campus was redeveloped. In 2002, a women’s softball complex was added and a new Dominican Priory facility opened. Renovation of and addition to the Maher Athletic Center was completed in 2003. In January 2010, Clark Hall, a new 298-bed residence hall, opened on the west side of campus.

In 2006 the university completed an 18-month series of events celebrating its 50th Anniversary. The Anniversary Gala, September 22, 2006, welcomed over 1,000 alumni, faculty and donors to celebrate the opening of the university, virtually 50 years from the actual date, September 24, 1956.

The College of Business earned accreditation from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International) on December 28, 2012. A multi-million dollar gift in November 2013, from graduate business alumni Satish and Yasmin Gupta, funded the construction of SB Hall, completed in 2016, a university academic building that houses the Gupta College of Business faculty and staff and provides classrooms and meeting spaces for the entire university. The college was named the Satish & Yasmin Gupta College of Business in their honor.

Cardinal Farrell Hall opened in January of 2018 and was dedicated on February 2. It houses a one-stop student services area, state-of-the-art classrooms, and administrative offices. In cooperation with Solar Soccer, a new soccer field and practice field with lights were inaugurated in the fall of 2018.

On October 1, 2021, the University installed its tenth President, Dr. Jonathan J. Sanford.

Today the university enrolls over 2,500 students from all over the United States and the world, divided roughly into 1,400 full-time undergraduates; 800 largely part-time graduate business students; and over 300 students in the Braniff Graduate School of Liberal Arts.