College marks 60 years of discovery and innovation

Monday, Aug 25, 2025 • Greg Pederson :

For sixty years the College of Science has been boldly expanding the boundaries of scientific exploration and education at The University of Texas at Arlington.

With the start of the Fall 2025 semester, the College is celebrating its 60th anniversary. Science courses were taught at UTA from its earliest days as Arlington College in 1895, but it was in 1965 that a structural reorganization officially created the School of Science (renamed the College of Science a few years later).

Since then, the College has developed robust research programs in each of its departments and has built a reputation for combining excellent classroom and laboratory teaching with cutting-edge research that addresses many of the most complex problems faced by society.

Dean Morteza Khaledi, who has led the College of Science since 2015, said the College has made tremendous strides in its impact and reach over the years and has played a prominent role in helping UTA achieve its status as a Carnegie R1 doctoral research institution, a status it has held for more than a decade.

“The College of Science was already a well-established hub for educational and research excellence when I came to UTA, but in the past 10 years we’ve been able to make even greater strides thanks to the hard work and dedication of our faculty and staff,” Khaledi said. “Sixty years is a tremendous milestone and a chance for us to look back on how we started, reflect on where we are now, and also think about where we want the College of Science to go in the next 60 years.”

Khaledi noted that the College puts highest priority on student success, including innovative approaches in teaching methods and curriculum design with the goal of enhancing student learning and success. There is a strong emphasis on learning through discovery, hands-on experiences, active learning, and undergraduate research experience.

“We strive to create educational experiences and opportunities for our students to become better critical and creative thinkers and effective self-learners — essential skills and capabilities which are needed to thrive in their careers in the age of artificial intelligence,” Khaledi said.

Academic excellence

Today the College has more than 4,000 students in the Departments of Biology, Chemistry & Biochemistry, Earth & Environmental Sciences, Mathematics, Physics, and Psychology, along with the Division of Data Science. Students are taught and mentored by more than 200 members of a world-class faculty, including more than 130 tenure and tenure-track professors.

The College has developed strong ties with numerous industries in the Dallas-Fort Worth region, and several departments have established internships for students with D-FW companies. Many College of Science graduates find jobs with D-FW businesses, including more than 20 Fortune 500 companies.

“The College’s academic program has grown significantly over the years,” said Laura Mydlarz, associate dean for academic affairs and professor of biology. “We strive to offer courses which teach in-demand skills and allow students to utilize the latest in technology. We want our students to be well-equipped with everything they need to succeed by the time they leave UTA.

“Excellent faculty who are committed to the success of their students has been a consistent part of the College of Science throughout its history, and this has never been more true than it is today. Our faculty are dedicated to providing great training for their students so that they can use their degrees to land great jobs when they leave UTA.”

High-impact research

The College of Science’s research profile has also expanded dramatically in scope and stature in the past 60 years. The College is a major contributor to UTA’s standing as a research powerhouse in Texas. In fiscal year 2024, the College had $30 million in research expenditures, which followed a record-high of $31 million in 2023. In the past five years, the College has been awarded $141 million to fund research.

“The research being done in the College of Science is broad, dynamic, and is making a real difference,” said Todd Castoe, associate dean for research and professor of biology. “We have internationally renowned faculty leading innovative research programs in every department, much of it very interdisciplinary in nature.

“The level of federal funding our faculty secures speaks to the importance of the work they’re doing. At the same time, our students — undergraduate and graduate — benefit from this robust research activity because they’re learning by doing and by making major contributions to projects that are providing solutions to serious issues facing the world.”

In 1959 UTA, then named Arlington State College, became a four-year university, and in 1965 it became a part of the University of Texas System. This brought about a great increase in enrollment and the number of faculty hired, along with campus expansion. It also ushered in a period of tremendous growth in the university’s research portfolio.

In 1965 the College was formed with departments of biology, chemistry, geology, mathematics, and physics. Psychology was a part of the College of Liberal Arts until 1975, when it became the sixth department in the College of Science.

Graduate program growth

This academic restructuring in turn led to the creation of graduate degree programs. The mathematics, physics and psychology departments began offering master’s degrees in 1966, followed by biology and chemistry in 1968 and geology in 1970. Psychology started a Ph.D. program in 1971, followed by mathematics in 1974. D.Sc. degrees in chemistry and physics were added in the mid-1980s; these were changed to traditional Ph.D. degrees in the 1990s. The biology and geology departments also added doctoral programs.

The College’s graduate enrollment has grown steadily through the years, first in master’s degrees and then in Ph.D. degrees. Since awarding its first Ph.D. in 1975, the College has totaled 1,236 doctoral graduates, second at UTA only to the College of Engineering. In 2024-25, the College has awarded 37 doctoral degrees, with 15 more Ph.D. candidates set to graduate this summer.

Frank Foss, interim associate dean for graduate studies and associate professor of chemistry, said the College plans to increase its Ph.D. program by at least 25 percent by 2030.

“Over the past 50-plus years, our six departments have graduated 22 percent of all Ph.D. degrees at UTA,” Foss said. “The College, through student-led and faculty-championed initiatives, has been integral in establishing competitive support for our graduate students across the University. Vital in our teaching and research agenda, graduate students across campus have helped us to reach Tier 1 and R1 research designations, signifying our place among top research universities.”

Expanding academic options

In Fall 2018, the College began offering undergraduate courses in data science and established a unique B.S. program in Fall 2021 which allows students to earn a data science degree with an emphasis in their chosen field of science. An M.S. degree in applied statistics and data science was added in Fall 2023, and this is being expanded to include various tracks in different science disciplines and interdisciplinary areas. The Division of Data Science was established in Spring 2024 as an umbrella for the entire program.

For decades the College has had an extensive advising and support program for students who plan to go to medical, dental, and other health professions schools after earning their bachelor’s degrees. The Health Professions Advisory Committee (HPAC) provides letters of recommendation and critical feedback for students as they apply to medical and dental school. Around 85 percent of the College’s HPAC applicants are accepted into medical or dental school.

In 2010, the College demonstrated its strong commitment to science and mathematics education with the launch of UTeach Arlington, based on the highly successful UTeach model first created at UT Austin in 1997. UTeach provides students with the ability to earn a rigorous bachelor’s degree in math or science along with secondary teacher certification within a four-year timeframe, and they are taught by master teachers while receiving intensive field experiences in K-12 classrooms. The majority of UTeach graduates find teaching jobs nearby in the D-FW Metroplex.

Growth in facilities for a growing College

Since 2006 UTA has had one of the largest and best planetariums in Texas. The UTA Planetarium seats around 150 and has a 60-foot dome and the latest state-of-the-art digital projection system. Thousands of K-12 students visit on school field trips each year, and the Planetarium hosts weekly public shows, observation events, live music performances, and other special events attended by thousands of D-FW residents annually.

The Planetarium is a vital part of the College’s public outreach initiatives, which are aimed at encouraging young students to pursue careers in science and mathematics. They are also intended to increase public interest in and knowledge of science. The College sponsors STEM summer camps and operates the Science Ambassadors program, where College of Science students put on entertaining and educational science experiment shows for classes of K-12 students.

Over the years, the College’s facilities have been expanded significantly. Before the College’s formation, Preston Hall housed science classes and labs. In 1949 Science Hall opened and became the designated science building on campus; a major expansion project was completed in 1965. The Geosciences (now EES) Building opened in 1951, followed by the Life Sciences Building in 1970; the Nursing and Math Building (later renamed Pickard Hall) in 1982; the Chemistry Research Building (now the W.A. Baker Chemistry Research Building) in 1996; the Chemistry and Physics Building, including the UTA Planetarium, in 2006; and the Science and Engineering Innovation and Research (SEIR) Building in 2018.

The Life Sciences Building is currently undergoing a major expansion and renovation project which when completed in 2027 will make it one of the crown jewels of the UTA campus.

The College is planning numerous events in the coming months to celebrate its 60th anniversary, starting with the annual Student-Faculty Mixer on August 22 and Welcome Back Bash on August 25.

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The UTA College of Science, a Carnegie R1 research institution, is preparing the next generation of leaders in science through innovative education and hands-on research and offers programs in Biology, Chemistry & Biochemistry, Data Science, Earth & Environmental Sciences, Health Professions, Mathematics, Physics and Psychology. To support educational and research efforts visit the giving page, or if you're a prospective student interested in beginning your #MaverickScience journey visit our future students page.