The University of North Texas at Dallas (UNTD) is a public university in Dallas, Texas. It opened in 2000 as a branch campus of the University of North Texas, offering upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses in multiple disciplines. In 2009 it became a free-standing university, offering a full undergraduate program as well as graduate work. UNT Dallas is the only public university based within Dallas city limits. History and development In 1997 State Sen. Royce West suggested a feasibility study for a state university in southern Dallas County an area of Dallas County that is predominantly African American and was then served only by the private Paul Quinn College. The campus, which was to become the first public university within Dallas city limits, was launched at a temporary location in the spring 2000 semester with an enrollment of 204 part-time students, or a full-time equivalent enrollment of 55. The Dallas City Council approved a resolution in June 2001 to provide up to $3 million by January 2002 to buy about in southern Dallas' I-20 corridor for the future UNT Dallas campus. Private donations raised the size of the property for the new university campus to . A 2001 bill passed by the Texas Legislature and signed into law by Governor Rick Perry authorized the UNT System to establish UNT Dallas as an independent university once enrollment reached 2,500. A 2003 bill changed the requirement to the equivalent of 1,000 full-time students for one semester. A ground-breaking ceremony for the first building on the future campus took place in October 2005. The first , permanent building on the UNT Dallas Campus site was occupied in January 2007. The building was made possible by a state tuition revenue bond (TRB) initiative of $25.5 million. Further funding from the same source was used to construct the second building, and construction began in 2009. Enrollment on the UNT Dallas Campus initially grew at an average annual rate of 14 percent per year and reached the necessary full-time equivalent of 1,000 students during the spring semester of 2007. In April 2009, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board certified this enrollment and granted UNT Dallas status as an independent general academic institution. Freshmen and sophomores were admitted for the first time in the Fall of 2010. From the beginning, the head of the campus was John Ellis Price. Initially he was designated the UNT Dallas Campus