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University of Texas at Arlington President Jennifer Cowley speaks to attendees at the Birthday Bash at Brazos Park on campus Sept. 5, 2025. (McKinnon Rice | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n\u201cEnjoy your time. It will be the best time of your life.\u201d<\/p>\n
This was Samuel Okan\u2019s message to future University of Texas at Arlington students. Okan, a graduate student studying social work, wrote it on a card that would be included in a time capsule that will be opened in a decade.<\/p>\n
Okan was just one of several hundred students, faculty, staff, administrators and community members who attended the university\u2019s Birthday Bash marking 130 years, UTA spokesperson Jeff Caplan said of the crowd\u2019s size.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re celebrating our progress, and the ways that UTA has transformed while staying true to the spirit that has been here from the start,\u201d UTA President Jennifer Cowley told attendees. \u201cThis university, it\u2019s about 130 years of students chasing big dreams, and of faculty and staff shaping lives and knowledge, of Mavericks rising to meet challenges of our times.\u201d<\/p>\n
University of Texas at Arlington President Jennifer Cowley speaks to attendees at the Birthday Bash at Brazos Park on campus Sept. 5, 2025. (McKinnon Rice | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n
University of Texas at Arlington President Jennifer Cowley speaks to attendees at the Birthday Bash at Brazos Park on campus Sept. 5, 2025. (McKinnon Rice | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n
UTA began in 1885 as a private school called Arlington College. It changed names seven times over the years, with spans as a military academy and an agricultural college. The school joined the University of Texas System in 1967.<\/p>\n
The university had nearly 42,000 students in 2024 and was the second-largest in the UT System, according to state data. This fall\u2019s enrollment is not yet available, but the 2025-26 first-year class is expected to be the largest in the school\u2019s history.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In 2015, UTA earned the coveted R1 research<\/a> designation from the Carnegie Classifications of Institutions of Higher Education, which marks the highest level of research activity.<\/p>\n In April, the university held a ground breaking<\/a> for UTA West, an expansion on 51 acres near Aledo. The first building of the new campus is expected to be complete in 2028.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a university of progress, 130 years of progress, of history, and we\u2019re always building forward \u2014 faster, smarter and with heart,\u201d Cowley said.<\/p>\n In addition to writing notes for the time capsule, students sat at picnic tables at the campus\u2019 Brazos Park\u00a0 \u2014 adorned with blue, orange and white balloons \u2014 as they ate cupcakes and listened to music played over loudspeakers.\u00a0<\/p>\n After singing happy birthday, attendees shot off cannons filled with confetti in the school\u2019s colors.<\/p>\n Cowley had her own time-capsule message for future students \u201cto believe in themselves and what they\u2019re capable of, and to dream big,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd that they can make their dreams come true.\u201d<\/p>\n McKinnon Rice the higher education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at mckinnon.rice@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.\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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