UT Dallas Magazine - Winter 2012 - (Page 47)

Town & Gown continued from page 29 About 300 sixth-grade students participate in the program each year. SEEC partners with the Metroplex Technology Business Council, which hopes to add two schools every year to the program, extending into Plano, Frisco, Garland, Wylie and Allen. “Richardson ISD values and appreciates our relationship with UT Dallas,” said RISD Superintendent Dr. Kay Waggoner. “UTD has consistently been a supportive, innovative partner to public education in our community, and we are fortunate to have such a tremendous resource in our own backyard.” Students from the UT Dallas Teacher Development Center (TDC) also get out into local schools, in early field experiences of 20 hours in RISD or Plano Independent School District during their first course toward teacher certification, said Scherry Johnson, director of the teacher development center. As the TDC teacher preparation program progresses, students are required to work an additional 20 hours in the Dallas Independent School District. Area school students and UTD students interact on the UT Dallas campus as well. The Department of Math/Science Education hosts 300 to 400 elementary students for free math and science workshops annually. The camps are particularly popular with UT Dallas student volunteers, said Monalisa Amidar, assistant director of the Office of Student Volunteerism. More than 180 volunteered last year. UT Dallas students also serve the school district in a variety of other capacities, said Celina Cardenas, RISD Community Relations Coordinator. Many McDermott Scholars, who must perform community service, choose to work in the schools. “They’ve done beautification projects, tutored, mentored, helped out with clubs,” said Cardenas. “They’ve been science fair judges for Invention Convention.” UT Dallas students also volunteer with other local entities and agencies, including the Network of Community Ministries, Seniors Net, Texas Trees Foundation, and the Richardson Animal Shelter. They adopted a highway, on the Bush service road by Alma Road. For the most part, this well-behaved bunch seldom annoys the neighbors. Rachavong can count the number of complaints about students living in neighborhoods on one hand. She does, however, recall an incident of civil disobedience. Sometime in the ’90s, a “No Left Turn” sign was placed at the intersection of Floyd and Lookout roads, the first attempt to deal with the traffic jams that bedeviled neighbors trying to get home. The sign was small and difficult to see, and tickets were 4pm-8pm being slapped on Monday students, who comTHRU plained mightily. Friday Finally, the vice president of student government got so exasperated, he went out to direct traffic himself. “I remember students rushing into my office saying ‘Come, come quickly! Hurry! Hurry! The police have arrested Mo!’ ” said Rachavong, who was dean of students at the time. “He wouldn’t get out of the street, so they removed him.” Then-poli sci major Mo Kashmiri BS’99 hadn’t actually been arrested; police just put him in a car to talk to him. Ultimately he got what he wanted: a bigger sign, a blinking caution light, and a limit on hours left turns were prohibited. (Mo later, by the way, successfully sued the University of California, Berkeley, over tuition hikes. He’s a labor organizer today.) Neighborhood complaints may be few in part because UT Dallas doesn’t have some typical complaint-generators— big-time athletics and Greek housing. UT Dallas’ Greek societies have considered building houses. But, said Rachavong, Greek housing isn’t envisioned as part of the residential neighborhoods. “We have told our Greeks we would make space available on campus,” she said. Business development around the school reflects the influence a growing student population can have. Until recent years, neighborhoods surrounding UT Dallas had little to offer students or faculty and staff, who in the early days could go to either What-a-Burger or Luby’s for lunch. “That was it, forever, it seemed,” said Rachavong. “There was no place to do a little shopping on your lunch hour.” Today, not only have shopping and dining choices greatly expanded, but businesses that clearly target students are here. For example, Fuzzy’s Tacos. The eatery, which set up its first operation two blocks off the Texas Christian University campus in Fort Worth, now has a location one street over from UT Dallas on Campbell. “We love that,” said Keffler. “We’re seeing retail and commercial activities that tend to follow the growth of a university.” Daniel thinks more close-by, studentfriendly businesses are needed. “We’re actively working on this,” he said. “I’d love to see something nearby like the Angelika [movie] Theater,” a Dallas art house cinema not far from Southern Methodist University. “I’d love to see those hamburger and pizza places, and Thai food places that you often see around university campuses where people from the community mingle with students and faculty. What I want most is a comedy club—because you need a sense of humor if you’re going to work on a college campus, and we can all benefit by lightening up a little.” Daniel’s dreams are starting to take shape. Perhaps the most exciting development on the horizon involves a DART station on campus, using the Cotton Belt Line, which passes through UT Dallas property. “UT Dallas’ vision is to put a mixed-use development adjacent to the station,” said Jamison. “Think of something like the Legacy Town Center located at UTD, surrounding a rail station where students, faculty, employees and the public can go. And think of offering a 45-minute train trip to DFW airport,” said Keffler. Jamison describes the hoped-for mixeduse development as a place where graduate students and young faculty might want to live and small businesses that cater to a college crowd might want to inhabit. DART is on board with the idea. But, Winter 2012 47 The University of Texas at Dallas

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of UT Dallas Magazine - Winter 2012

UT Dallas Magazine - Winter 2012
Contents
On Campus
From the Lab
Arts and Culture
Courtside Success
Athletics
Research Is Teaching
Town and Gown
In Your Footsteps: An Alumni Perspective
Alumni Notes
In Memoriam
Hindsight

UT Dallas Magazine - Winter 2012