Dallas-Fort Worth is the largest U.S. metropolitan area and the only one among the 10 most economically productive American cities without such a research flagship. “When I travel the other parts of the world and visit other universities, I see that they’re just copying what we did in America in the post-World War II era, and I think, ‘That used to be us,’” Daniel told a gathering of business leaders last week at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. “Here we are in Dallas-Fort Worth feeling pretty good about where we are. But I’m telling you, the rest of the world is putting everything they’ve got into producing more creative human talent and more great research universities. “America is fat and complacent about the importance of education and the value of these great research universities.”
He posed a rhetorical question to the audience. “Why should you care? Or in the words of Susan’s and my teenaged son: ‘This affects me like how?’ If you don’t care what the city looks like five years from now or aren’t concerned what this city might be like for your children or grandchildren or nieces and nephews, you can close your eyes and completely log out.”
Detroit’s hard lesson: Daniel asked the audience to think about how the ancient Greeks or people in Detroit a few decades ago must have thought their bright futures were guaranteed. “And then the world changed on them,” Daniel said. “If we stop and think about what the future is likely to value in addition to mountains, beaches and natural resources, more than anything else it will value human creative talent. If Dallas-Fort Worth is to continue to be a great city, access to great people is critical.”
In 1969, Texas Instruments executives gave the land for UTD, envisioning it as the “MIT of the South.” But the school languished in relative obscurity until Daniel came along as president in 2005.
Since 2009, Daniel has been on a quest to transform UTD into a worthy candidate for election into the Association of American Universities, a.k.a. The Club. AAU’s 62 elite research universities represent only 1.5 percent of the nation’s 4,000 colleges and universities but get about 60 percent of federally funded research.
Obtaining Tier One status — an unofficial designation in the higher-ed world indicating research prowess, student and faculty excellence, and high college rankings — is seen as a precursor to AAU induction.
Daniel has given about 30-plus speeches stumping for money, mostly in Dallas and Texas, but also in farther flung places such as San Francisco, San Diego, Seoul and Hong Kong. In the process, he has raised UTD’s profile among Dallas’ business elite, as shown by the crowd that turned out to hear his recent update at the Fed bank.
Dallas’ grande dame centenarians, Ebby Halliday and Margaret McDermott, who don’t often attend the same events, sat side by side, front and center, in solidarity for the cause. In the last few years, Daniel has raised nearly $200 million in private donations, including a record $65 million last year.
North Texas absent: Texas has just three AAU members: the University of Texas at Austin, Rice University and Texas A&M University. California has nine, and the New York metro area has six. Richard Fisher, the host of the reception, called that “inexcusable for a state as great as we are.”
The president of the Dallas Fed bank said the bank’s most recent research shows severe shortages of engineers and highly skilled trade workers in North Texas. “We import people to fill those jobs because we’re a job-creating machine,” Fisher said. “With the great turbocharged economy that we have, how much better would we be if, instead of importing brainpower, we produced it here, captured it, kept it and returned it to our institutions?”
Daniel said the goal line is in sight. “The key challenge that the university faces is inadequate scale,” he said. “We’re just not big enough to compete with the best universities.”
Enrollment needs to grow to 25,000 from 21,000, while annual research funding needs to reach $150 million. The school already draws quality students and faculty that place it in the upper echelon of public universities. “I think five to 10 years is the period when we become a seriously competitive top tier research university,” he said.
Daniel points out that Cisco, Facebook, Amazon, Tesla Motors, Apple, Microsoft, Twitter, Starbucks, Google and Whole Foods have two things in common. They were created with the help of venture capital money and in cities that have a top-quality academic research university. “Our goal is to be the creative revolution piece of the metroplex,” he said. “Let’s put the pedal to the metal and get this done.”
The University of Texas at Dallas is working to become a national powerhouse in research. Here are some of David Daniel’s favorite accomplishments since launching his initiative in 2009:
- Fall enrollment reached 21,170, with critical mass of 25,000 expected by 2019.
- UTD is on track to reach a $100 million benchmark for research funding in the next two years, with a goal of $150 million by 2020.
- Professorships more than doubled to 32, while 29 endowed chairs were added for a total of 64.
- Engineering enrollment of 4,900 is up 22 percent from five years ago.
- The school has received almost $200 million in private fundraising, including a record $65 million in 2013.
- The freshman SAT average score of 1261 ranks among the highest of Texas public universities.
- National Merit Scholars represented 4 percent of the fall freshman class, the second-highest of any U.S. public university.