Last fall it was announced that Tarleton State University’s Fort Worth programs would find a permanent home following the construction of a new campus in southwest Fort Worth. Tarleton President Dr. F. Dominic Dottavio sat down with JTAC News for a chat about the new campus, and what Tarleton students can expect.

JTAC News (JTAC): How did Tarleton reach the decision to build a four-year campus in Fort Worth?

Dottavio (Dr. D): This has been something we’ve been talking about for many years. We started the FW program back in the 70’s. It was focused exclusively on medical lab sciences. In about 2005-2006, the decision was made to expand the kinds of programs that we offer in FW. They became very successful very quickly, we saw a rapid growth of student population, and it implied clearly there was a need for an institution in Forth Worth.

As we did more work in the undergraduate programs, we realized there was no public undergraduate education provider in FW, which is a great surprise to most people – that there is nothing like that in one of the biggest cities in the country.

If we could consolidate our programs from the three locations that we’re offering courses from now, we could probably be much more effective and we would probably see even more growth.

A unique opportunity came along with the donation of 80 acres of land in the southwest section of FW, and after having conversations with a lot of different people, we decided this was a step that we should take and things aligned very well for us.

JTAC: Will this be a four-year public university just like the Stephenville campus?

Dr. D: No, I would not characterize it like that at all. Our programs have always been done in partnership with the community colleges in the Metroplex area. We do not provide the general education requirements that come from the first two years like we do in Stephenville. The intent here is to work in partnership with the CCs, and what we would do is provide the last two years of an undergraduate degree, and then masters and, in fact, doctoral degrees. And that serves a very different population – almost exclusively transfer students, largely adult – in fact the average age is 31 – and a much more heavily female population. So it’s a very different kind of population than what we see here in Stephenville where obviously this is a much more traditional campus.

JTAC: Where does the funding for this campus come from?

Dr. D: Two pieces to that:  One is, for the first building, we are trying to request the funding from the state legislature during this upcoming session. What that will do is allow us to begin planning and building over the next year and a half or so.

The operational money is provided much the same way it is on the Stephenville campus. That is, through tuition and fees, and then the state subsidy that is provided for each student that attends the university.

JTAC: How do you think the construction of a campus in Fort Worth will affect and benefit the Stephenville campus?

Dr. D: I think it will greatly benefit us. Historically I’ve heard that Tarleton is one of the best-kept secrets in Texas. What the Fort Worth campus does is allow us to gain notoriety in one of the greatest metropolitan areas in the country, if not the world. I think by us being there, offering expanded programs, and having a permanent presence rather than operating out of a rented location, it will provide much more visibility, credibility, and opportunities to work with businesses and the school systems and the other universities and community colleges in a great way.

JTAC: What does the timeline look like for a project like this?

Dr. D: It’s very complicated and involves a lot of different people. In the ideal scenario, we’d receive funding for our first building by June of this year, and then we go into planning for the building and then to construction. So my hope would be that by 2018, we would have the first building on the ground and welcoming students in.

The land was donated by a first rate dev. Company called Walton Land Group. In addition to the 80 acres, they have a total of 2,000 acres that will be kind of surrounding the property that will be residential and commercial development. So I think as the Walton group develops out their property, Tarleton is going to be in the midst of a beautifully developed area of FW that has been undeveloped until now.

JTAC: Do you have a message for students as we head into this semester?

Dr. D: I think that most students come in with new resolutions in mind as we begin a new year. What I would encourage them to do is set them properly. That means focus on the big things, on the important things, and find a way to stick to them. Resolutions tend to come and go pretty quickly, and my hope is that students will put some focus on academic goals, then really work every day to achieve those goals rather than thinking they can wait until May.