Benson Announces Plan To Step Down as President

After eight years of steady and inspired leadership, Dr. Richard C. Benson announced plans to step down from his position as the fifth president of The University of Texas at Dallas.

The UT System Board of Regents will conduct a national search for his replacement over the course of the 2024-25 academic year. Benson will remain in his role until a successor begins their term.

Benson, the Eugene McDermott Distinguished University Chair of Leadership, said in a message Monday to the University community: “The pinnacle of my career has been the opportunity to serve as the president of The University of Texas at Dallas. What a privilege it has been to lead this dynamic, fast-rising university! …

“Although my time as president draws to a close, I will continue to be a proud member of the UT Dallas faculty, and I hope that there may yet be other ways for me to contribute to the life of this university.”

Since his arrival at UT Dallas in July 2016, Benson, who is 73, has led the University in its pursuit of top tier status as an innovative research university and has overseen monumental campus and academic growth. Achievements include:

• An increase of UTD’s total research expenditures by more than half — from $113 million to $174 million. Additionally, UTD’s federally funded research expenditures more than doubled — from $36 million to $79 million.
• Qualification in 2018 for what was then the National Research University Fund, an exclusive source of research support available at the time to the state’s “emerging research universities.” UTD was the third and youngest university in the state to qualify.
• An increase in the breadth and depth of faculty as a result of a strategic faculty hiring initiative to grow the tenured/tenure-track faculty to 625 by 2025. That number now stands at 631, up by over 50 from the fall of 2022.
• The elevation of the arts on campus, including the merger of the School of Arts and Humanities and the School of Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication, and the eventual naming of the Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology in recognition of a significant gift.
• The construction of the Edith and Peter O’Donnell Jr. Athenaeum, a new 12-acre cultural district on campus. The first phase opens this fall and will house the second location for the Crow Museum of Asian Art. Future plans for the site include a performance hall and a planned museum for the traditional arts of the Americas.
• The expanded partnership with UT Southwestern Medical Center, including the opening of the $120 million, 150,000-square-foot Texas Instruments Biomedical Engineering and Sciences Building on the medical center’s east campus.
• Additionally, in the last eight years, more than 2 million square feet of new construction and landscaping completed, including the Callier Center for Communication Disorders Richardson campus, the Engineering and Computer Science West building, the Sciences Building, the Student Services Building Addition, the Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center, the Brain Performance Institute, and two new student housing apartment complexes.

• Over 500,000 square feet of current construction, including the Student Success Center/Student Union and a third building for the Naveen Jindal School of Management.
• The completion of the third phase of the Campus Landscape Enhancement Project, which encompassed the planting of almost 1,500 trees, enhanced hardscape, new monument signs, and the creation of a gateway from the center of campus to Northside and a future Dallas Area Rapid Transit station. The first phase included naming the Margaret McDermott Mall and Trellis Plaza in her honor after a transformative gift that added thousands of trees to campus, five reflecting pools lined with magnolia trees, a wisteria-covered trellis, and a circular fountain and mister.
• Record student enrollment topping the 30,000 mark in academic year 2023, an increase of 57% in the last decade, making UTD the fifth-fastest growing doctoral degree-granting public university in the country.
• The expansion of sports, including the current transition to the Lone Star Conference and NCAA Division II (after 49 American Southwest Conference championships over 25 years).
• The success of esports, including an upcoming gaming and esports center to support the top 10-in-the-nation esports team, which is No. 1 in Texas and a two-time national champion.
• Recognition as one of the nation’s powerhouses for chess. Host for the 2024 President’s Cup (the national championship of college chess), UTD has participated in 19 of the last 24 competitions, winning or sharing the title 10 times.
• The success of the ongoing New Dimensions: The Campaign for UT Dallas, which has so far raised $416 million toward the $750 million goal. Fundraising success is also evident in the University’s $840 million endowment — an increase of more than 92% since 2016 and an all-time record high for UT Dallas.
• Improved four-year graduation rates over the last eight years from 55% to 63% and six-year graduation rates from 68% to 75%.
• Consistent recognition as a top value college by multiple organizations, including The Princeton Review, U.S. News & World Report and Forbes.

Benson, whose interests include music, gardening (chili peppers are a specialty), nature hikes and photography, came to UTD from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), where he served as dean of the College of Engineering beginning in 2005. Prior to that, he served as head of mechanical and nuclear engineering at The Pennsylvania State University for 10 years. He previously served as chair of mechanical engineering at the University of Rochester (UR) and prior to that as associate dean for graduate studies.

His teaching interests are in the fields of structural mechanics, design and applied mathematics. Benson’s research at UR was primarily focused on the mechanics of highly flexible structures. Prior to beginning his academic career there in 1980, he worked for Xerox Corp. as a technical specialist and project manager.

In 1998 Benson was named a fellow of The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). In 2009 he was elected to a three-year term on the ASME Board of Governors. He also has held editorial positions with the ASME Press, ASME’s Journal of Applied Mechanics and ASME’s Applied Mechanics Reviews.

Benson holds a Bachelor of Science and Engineering in aerospace and mechanical science from Princeton University, a Master of Science in mechanical engineering from the University of Virginia, and a doctorate in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.

Originally from New Jersey, he and his wife, Leslie, have three adult children: Stephanie, James and Kenneth.

“I am deeply grateful for the privilege of serving as UT Dallas’ fifth president, and I thank you all for making this a labor of love,” Benson said in his campus message. “It will be fun to see what comes next for UT Dallas!”