Donors and friends of The University of Texas at Dallas gathered at the newly opened Edith and Peter O’Donnell Jr. Athenaeum on Oct. 17 for the 2024 Celebration of Support, an annual event honoring University supporters.
The Texins Jazz Band, a Dallas-based big band formerly known as The Texas Instruments Jazz Band, welcomed guests, who were treated to exclusive nighttime access to the UT Dallas Art Museums, including the new campus location of the Trammell and Margaret Crow Museum of Asian Art of The University of Texas at Dallas.
UT Dallas supporters celebrated a record year of fundraising from more than 8,500 donors contributing 18,369 gifts for a total of nearly $62 million. Additionally, the University’s endowment surpassed the $800 million mark for the first time in UTD history, reaching a record $859 million.
“I am deeply grateful for the remarkable year of fundraising we experienced last year,” said UT Dallas President Richard C. Benson, the Eugene McDermott Distinguished University Chair of Leadership. “The support for scholarships, student success, research, patient care, the arts and so much more is transforming our university. The future demands different, and thanks to our dedicated supporters, no university is better positioned than UTD to be an agent of change.”
The contributions helped advance the $750 million goal of New Dimensions: The Campaign for UT Dallas. To date, more than $420 million has been raised in support of efforts to attract the best and brightest students, enhance lives through transformative research and transform the arts on campus.
Amy Lewis Hofland, senior director of the Crow Museum of Asian Art, spoke to the celebrants about the significance of philanthropy for the arts, both on campus and across North Texas.
“In Dallas, we uniquely know that the success of the arts happens because of us — the ecosystem that believes a vision and a place like this one into being,” Hofland said. “If you believe in the future of a thriving cultural city, you support the city from all spaces and places. By supporting The University of Texas at Dallas as alumni, friends and champions, you create our ecosystem.”
The O’Donnell Athenaeum has been supported by significant gifts from the Crow family, the O’Donnell Foundation, the Harry W. Bass Jr. Foundation, the late Margaret McDermott, Beatrice “Bea” Wallace, and friends of the late Dr. Richard Brettell, the project’s visionary. The second phase of the project, a performing arts and music building, is under construction, and phase 3 will include a second museum, a parking garage and an arts plaza to connect the 12-acre complex.
Kyle Edgington PhD’13, vice president for development and alumni relations, thanked donors for their commitment to UTD’s future.
“If you walk through campus, you’ll notice that the O’Donnell Athenaeum is not the only thing under construction right now,” Edgington said. “We’re in the process of building a new student union and a dedicated esports arena for our championship-caliber esports program, and just last week we broke ground on a new addition to the Naveen Jindal School of Management. UTD is always changing. All these exciting developments and everything that happens on this campus are made possible by donors who are building the foundations of our future.”