UTD Then & Now, the Sequel

10.07.2019

The view from the rooftop of the Cecil and Ida Green Center.

The sliders are back!

Last year’s Then & Now post was so popular that we thought, “Hey, why not attempt a sequel?”

Current Comets and recent alumni may not realize that the UT Dallas campus was once not as aesthetically pleasing as it is now. From the 1970s until recently, it was often described as a concrete canyon.

“You walked out on the campus at noon when I got here, and you were lucky you saw anybody,” said Dr. Robert H. Rutford — UTD’s second president — during a panel discussion on the University’s first 40 years. “I mean, you could fire a cannon down the street and not only wouldn’t hit anybody but nobody would hear you.”

Can’t say that anymore. Just take a look!

More Trees, Please

On a Sunday morning in the early 1960s, Margaret McDermott joined her husband, UTD co-founder Eugene McDermott, on a drive to the country.

When they arrived at an empty swath of cotton fields that was destined to become UTD’s campus, Eugene asked Margaret what she thought.

“I told him it needed trees,” she later recalled.

Thanks in part to her steadfast support, campus is now shaded by more than 7,000 trees.

A View From Above

The Eugene McDermott Library, Founders Building, the Erik Jonsson Academic Center and Cecil H. Green Hall (then) no longer stand alone in a prairie field.

A Better Place To Stroll

The walk toward McDermott Library is no longer dull.

When in Doubt, Go to the Library

McDermott Library is just about the only thing that hasn’t changed in this photo.

Same Sky Bridge, Different Surroundings

So long, concrete canyon!