History of the University of Texas at Arlington
In 1968, UTA awarded its first master's degrees, all in engineering, and in 1969 hired Reby Cary, the first African American administrator at the university.
UTA's enrollment declined for seven consecutive years in the 1990s, returning to growth by 1999 and reaching an all-time high of 25,297 students in fall 2004.
[15][13] The school was molded by Carlisle's educational philosophy, which balanced intellectualism with military training to instill discipline in students and prepare them for enrollment in elite colleges.
[6][15][16] In 1907, United States Army lieutenant Harry King visited the school and became convinced it was one of the best institutions of its kind in the country.
[29][30] Like its predecessors, the school attempted to balance intellectualism with military exercises, instill discipline into its students, and prepare them for attending a university or a career in business.
In January 1917, Arlington leaders met to organize an effort to convince the Texas Legislature to grant the community a junior college in place of a military academy.
[3] During the Great Depression and World War II, NTAC survived major declines in enrollment and multiple attempts by the state government to close it.
[34][35][36] Beginning in 1937, there was a movement in Arlington to elevate NTAC to four-year college status,[37] but this goal would not be realized for more than two decades.
[3] On April 27, 1959, Texas governor Price Daniel signed a bill making ASC a four-year college.
[45] In response to a legal challenge to its segregationist admissions policy,[40][46] ASC announced its racial integration in July 1962 and admitted its first African American students in September.
[50][51][52] Athletics at ASC were dominated by the football team, which won back-to-back Junior Rose Bowls in 1956 and 1957, bringing the college national recognition for the first time.
[40][53] ASC also created a men's swimming program during the mid-1960s that featured Doug Russell, a collegiate national champion who would go on to win a gold medal at the 1968 Summer Olympics.
[3][70] Focused on actively recruiting minority students and employees to UTA as well as marketing the university aggressively,[70] Amacher and his administration polarized the campus before his sudden resignation in March 1995 in the face of charges that he showed budgetary favoritism to athletics and spent too much on non-essential costs at the expense of academic programs.
[71][3][72] He was replaced by University of Texas at Austin dean Robert Witt, [3][73] as UTA's enrollment continued to decline for seven consecutive years in the 1990s.
[75] In November 2003, Michigan State University dean James D. Spaniolo was named UTA president.
[85][86] Student traditions have also developed considerably over the same span of time, with examples being bed racing,[87] oozeball,[88] and International Week.
[89] Among the most notable athletics events of the UTA era were the termination of the university's football program in 1985,[90] the women's volleyball team advancing to the Final Four in the 1989 NCAA Division I women's volleyball tournament,[17] and the Movin' Mavs and Lady Movin' Mavs wheelchair basketball teams winning nine and two national championships, respectively.
