New year, new UTD

A new era for UTD is beginning. The start of the 2025-2026 academic year unveils a wave of campus transformations: cranes dot the horizon, Division II athletes take the field, the Academic Senate dissolves and the new president, Prabhas Moghe, starts his first year on campus.  

Academics and Enrollment 

This academic year will see major changes in how faculty are able to influence the university. Effective Sep. 1, UTD will no longer have an Academic Senate, which previously provided faculty perspectives on everything from ethics to research to police oversight and discipline. The dissolution is a result of Senate Bill 37 taking effect, which dissolves all faculty senates across all UT System schools unless the Board of Regents grants them explicit permission to continue existing; UTD’s senate does not have this permission. The Retrograde will share additional details about how faculty’s role at the school is changing after the Academic Senate’s final meeting Aug. 27. 

Inga Musselman, vice president for academic affairs and provost, said in a university-wide start of fall semester meeting that during academic year 2024-2025, UTD hired 55 new tenure-track faculty, with 50 new faculty starting this fall. UTD also added 26 new non-tenure track faculty. A notable increase to UTD’s academic staff which in 2023 numbered approximately 1,400.  

Several new degrees and certifications are set to launch this semester as well. ECS is unveiling bachelor’s degrees in materials science and systems engineering, while BAHT is releasing undergraduate degrees in communications and animation and games. Additionally, NSM now offers a master’s program in artificial intelligence for biomedical sciences. 

After two consecutive years of decreased enrollment, preliminary estimates from the Office of Admission and Enrollment expect a 2% increase in total enrollment at UTD, which amounts to approximately 671 more students. New student enrollment in fall 2025 was 15% greater than fall 2024; however, continuing student enrollment decreased by 2%. Graduate student enrollment is now in its third consecutive year of decline after peaking in 2022. UTD’s enrollment decline is mainly caused by a steep decrease in international students joining the school. According to Josephine Vitta, senior director of UTD’s international center, nearly 1,500 international students enrolled in fall 2024, but only about 500 joined in fall 2025. Vitta said that based on how often visas are issued, UTD could expect approximately 150 more students by census day, Sept. 10. 

UTD’s enrollment decline is mainly caused by a steep decrease in international students joining the school.

“In addition to revenue impacts, anticipate impacts on our campus workforce,” Vitta said, regarding the steep enrollment decline.  

Construction and Facilities 

On Aug. 12 last year, UTD broke ground on the Student Union and Student Success Center complex, also known as “Big Momma.” Today, towering construction cranes surround the site, which according to SpawGlass, the construction firm behind the project, now sports a building that can stand on its own and completed steel decking for what will become UTD’s 12,500 square-foot ballroom. 

The SU/SSC is on track to complete construction in late 2026, according to UTD. SpawGlass said the next steps for the project include adding exterior walls and a concrete facade to the building.  

JSOM continues to grow as well, as work continues on the 125,000-square-foot expansion known as JSOM III to add what JSOM dean Hasan Pirkul has said is much-needed space. In spring 2025, JSOM was home to a combined total of 9,356 students, which Pirkul said were a challenge to fit into JSOM’s 51 current classrooms.

“Believe me, we cannot wait to occupy our new building,” Pirkul said in a statement to UTD. “During the past two years, we have been truly struggling to find offices for our new faculty and staff.” 

During the past two years, we have been truly struggling to find offices for our new faculty and staff.

— Hasan Pirkul, JSOM dean

UTD celebrated the opening of its art museum and the first phase of the Athenaeum in fall 2024. The second phase of this $158 million project, a 680-seat performance hall with attached music and rehearsal rooms, is on track to open in fall 2026. The main structure of the performance hall has now been completed. The Athenaeum plan also includes another museum for “the traditional arts of the Americas,” which will be Phase III of the project, and eventually a parking garage for 1,100 cars. As of publication, construction has not begun on Phase III or the parking garage.  

UTD also bought one of the neighboring buildings on Waterview over the summer. The Waterview Academic and Administrative Center, formerly home to the tech firm Concentrix, was valued at $8.3 million during the previous tax season. The Retrograde reached out to UTD for comment on the cost of the acquisition and plans for the new building. A spokesperson for UTD said the university could not provide comment as to what will go inside the new five-story building. UTD did not provide comment on the cost or timeline for WAAC’s opening.  

Calvin Jamison, vice president of facilities and economic development, said during the Facilities Committee’s spring 2025 meeting that with the completion of UTD’s current construction projects, campus utilities like electricity would be nearly at their limit. Jamison that a new central utilities plant will need to be built north of campus to support continued growth.  

Athletics

UTD petitioned to join the NCAA’s Lone Star Division II conference in 2023 and was accepted in 2024 in the form of a two-year provisional period. Starting this year, UTD will be competing in the Lone Star Conference instead of the Division III American Southwest Conference. The Comets are set to become full members of the Lone Star Conference by fall 2026.  

As part of this transition, Vice President of Student Affairs Gene Fitch said that an additional $3 million would be added UTD Athletics’ annual budget to cover new expenditures.  

Associate Athletics Director Bill Petitt said that in May this year, UTD reached an agreement with footwear company New Balance to provide apparel for UTD’s teams. Petitt also said UTD paid for ads, in New York City’s Times Square, which can be seen on the UTD Athletics Instagram page. 

This is part of a series on changes at UTD. Follow The Retrograde through our print issue or online at retrogradenews.com to keep up with latest stories.