The University of North Texas at Dallas is scheduled this week to open its first residence hall.
The 27,000-square-foot, 120-bed facility includes 12 double-occupancy rooms and 96 single-occupancy rooms, as well as ample study space, a kitchen, social area, multipurpose space for classes and workshops, and a workout facility. Each of the four floors will be staffed by a resident adviser.
Students will be allowed to move in on Thursday, according to the university's housing and residential life department. Among the amenities in the student housing: high-speed internet, satellite TV, a fitness center, study/social spaces, a laundry center, vending machines, and designated resident parking on campus.
With the opening of the residence hall, the university says, UNT Dallas has become an active 24/7 campus. The University Police Department has added 10 officers to the department to ensure that the UNT Dallas campus is safe and welcoming for the university community.
The presence of a residence hall has resulted in another first—the university has enrolled its first out-of-state students. Students from Nebraska, Oklahoma, and California have chosen to attend UNT Dallas because of the opportunity to live on campus.
"Universities that started out solely as commuter schools find it's harder 20, 30 years later to come back and try to change the perception of high school students in the community," says Lee Jackson, UNT System Chancellor. "I wanted us to change that perception as quickly as we could."
Students will see the UNT Dallas campus transform in other ways in the next four years. A new $63 million Student Center is scheduled to open in Fall 2018, as well as an outdoor amphitheater. More new buildings also are under consideration, as well as additional programming that may include intercollegiate athletics and international studies.
"Up to this point we've been a commuter campus, so adding this dimension, the first step of this mission to also house students, will change the personality of the campus," says Bob Mong, UNT Dallas President. "We're already planning future residence halls."
YouTube Video: An animated flyover of new residence hall.
