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Chancellor Daniel Pullin chats with students during Texas Christian University\u2019s Welcome Home event Aug. 18, 2025, at Sesquicentennial Plaza in Fort Worth. (Mary Abby Goss | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\nTexas Christian University freshmen Addison Branton and Eileen Mayorga are new to campus, but they are already settling in.<\/p>\n
Branton is from Benton, Louisiana, and Mayorga is from El Paso. The two connected over their shared premed major and participation in the Alpha Delta Pi sorority.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just very easy to find people you connect with because everyone is just so nice,\u201d Branton said.<\/p>\n
They are just two of over 13,000 students who began classes at TCU Monday, including over 2,700 first-year students \u2014 the university\u2019s largest-ever incoming class.<\/p>\n
This growth comes as TCU looks to expand as part of its 10-year strategic plan which includes increasing its enrollment by 5,000 students.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As the university grows gradually, it wants to maintain a sense of community, said Kathy Cavins-Tull, vice chancellor for student affairs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s still going to feel like a community, and we\u2019ll do all the things that we\u2019re really great at, and that is connecting students with each other, connecting students with faculty and staff, and connecting them with the Fort Worth community, to continue to do that with just a few more students every year,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The university is also hiring more faculty and staff members \u2014 with the goal of netting more than 1,000 total over the next decade. Chancellor Daniel Pullin said the new faces on campus may be a way students directly feel changes from the strategic plan this academic year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been investing in additional teachers and researchers, more academic counselors, more professional development and career coordinators so our students\u2019 access to one-to-one mentoring and counseling will be at an all-time high,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Chancellor Daniel Pullin chats with students during Texas Christian University\u2019s Welcome Home event Aug. 18, 2025, at Sesquicentennial Plaza in Fort Worth. (Mary Abby Goss | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n
The university is also expanding its footprint as part of its Campus Master Plan<\/a>, including development along Berry Street that will feature new student housing and retail shops.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pullin sees the university\u2019s development as a way for it to grow its place beyond just education in Fort Worth\u2019s community.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe can see a future where TCU becomes Fort Worth\u2019s place to be, with retail, entertainment, and shopping, and dining options and a variety of things, to not only come here to learn and live, but to work and to play and to build lifelong relationships,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Psychology sophomore Lily Sturtevant came to the university from Boston. She decided to attend TCU after she had a good experience visiting a family friend who\u2019s a Horned Frog.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI just was looking for a school that was smaller sized, but also had big sports and a lot of school spirit,\u201d she said. \u201cComing to TCU, and I saw that here, I was like, this is the dream school that I have been looking for.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n TCU recently earned 11 top-10 national rankings by The Princeton Review, and Pullin is particularly proud of TCU\u2019s placement as No. 1 for happiest students.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re happy, you can be your best,\u201d Pullin said. \u201cYou work a little bit harder, you put a little bit more effort into it, you do it with the right attitude and you get results.\u201d<\/p>\n Neuroscience junior Mia Wolman, who transferred from Collin College this year, said she is most excited to meet new people and take part in the community. She echoed Pullin\u2019s note about the happiness of the student body.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s one of my favorite things about TCU so far, is just how happy everybody is,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n McKinnon Rice is a reporting fellow for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at mckinnon.rice@fortworthreport.org.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n Fort Worth Report is certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative<\/a> for adhering to standards for ethical journalism.<\/p>\n Republish This Story<\/p>\n
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