Dallas

Dallas (/ˈdæləs/) is a major city in the state of Texas and is the largest urban center of the fourth most populous metropolitan area in the United States. The city proper ranks ninth in the U.S. and third in Texas after Houston and San Antonio. The city's prominence arose from its historical importance as a center for the oil and cotton industries, and its position along numerous railroad lines. The bulk of the city is in Dallas County, of which it is the county seat; however, sections of the city are located in Collin, Denton, Kaufman, and Rockwall counties. According to the 2010 United States Census, the city had a population of 1,197,816. The United States Census Bureau's estimate for the city's population increased to 1,281,047, as of 2014.

University of Texas at Dallas

The University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas or informally UTD) is a public research university in the University of Texas System. The main campus is in the Richardson, Texas, Telecom Corridor, 18 miles (29 km) north of downtown Dallas. The institution, established in 1961 as the Graduate Research Center of the Southwest and later renamed the Southwest Center for Advanced Studies (SCAS), began as a research arm of Texas Instruments. In 1969, the founders bequeathed SCAS to the state of Texas, and Governor Preston Smith signed the bill officially creating The University of Texas at Dallas.

The 2015 edition of the Carnegie Foundation classifies UT Dallas as a highest research activity institution. Research projects include the areas of Space Science, Bioengineering, Cybersecurity, Nanotechnology, Behavioral and Brain Sciences. The University of Texas at Dallas offers more than 138 academic programs across its eight schools and hosts more than 50 research centers and institutes. With a number of interdisciplinary degree programs, its curriculum is designed to allow study that crosses traditional disciplinary lines and to enable students to participate in collaborative research labs. Average math and critical reading SAT scores for entering freshmen were 1257 for 2015 — among the highest of the public universities in Texas.

Campus

A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. A modern campus is a collection of buildings that belong to a given institution, either academic or non-academic. Usually a campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls, student centers or dining halls, and park-like settings.

Etymology

The word derives from a Latin word for "field" and was first used to describe the grounds of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1774. Some other American colleges later adopted the word to describe individual fields at their own institutions, but "campus" did not yet describe the whole university property. A school might have one space called a campus, one called a field, and another called a yard.

History

The tradition of a campus began with the medieval European universities where the students and teachers lived and worked together in a cloistered environment. The notion of the importance of the setting to academic life later migrated to America, and early colonial educational institutions were based on the Scottish and English collegiate system.

University of Texas at Austin

The University of Texas at Austin, informally UT Austin, UT, University of Texas, or Texas in sports contexts, is a public research university and the flagship institution of The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883 as "The University of Texas," its campus is located in Austin—approximately 1 mile (1,600 m) from the Texas State Capitol. The institution has the fifth-largest single-campus enrollment in the nation, with over 50,000 undergraduate and graduate students and over 24,000 faculty and staff. The university has been labeled one of the "Public Ivies," a publicly funded university considered to provide a quality of education comparable to those of the Ivy League.

UT Austin was inducted into the American Association of Universities in 1929, becoming only the third university in the American South to be elected. It is a major center for academic research, with research expenditures exceeding $550 million for the 2013–2014 school year. The university houses seven museums and seventeen libraries, including the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum and the Blanton Museum of Art, and operates various auxiliary research facilities, such as the J. J. Pickle Research Campus and the McDonald Observatory. Among university faculty are recipients of the Nobel Prize, Pulitzer Prize, the Wolf Prize, the Emmy Award, and the National Medal of Science, as well as many other awards.

Campus tour

A campus tour is a tour of a college or university's campus. Prospective students, their family members and other visitors take campus tours to learn about the college or university's facilities, as well as student life, culture on campus, academics, and programs offered by the institution. During these tours prospective students are able to learn about the built environment, the physical/sensory environment, the sound environment, and the visual environment of the institution. These tours are normally walking tours that typically last anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes, and groups are usually between ten and thirty visitors. Campus tours are often preceded by an information session, presented by a member of the admissions staff. Many campus tours include a visit to a residence hall room and a classroom or lecture hall. At most schools, tours are led by students, although admissions office staff or other representatives of the school may also be tour guides. At some institutions, becoming a student tour guide is a rigorous process and the job is a respected position on campus. Most University’s offer handicap accessibility and/or walk-in tour options (call the University directly for more information)”.