The UT System Board of Regents announced a $100 million investment to renovate the Biological Laboratories building to serve as the future home for the school at a May 8 news conference.
“We cannot be more excited about the future of the School of Civic Leadership, which is well on its way to become the national leader in civic education,” UT Board of Regents Chair Kevin Eltife said.
What they’re saying
Additional speakers at the event included Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, UT Interim President Jim Davis and Dean of the SCL Justin Dyer.
“This investment will position the University of Texas at Austin as the national leader in a growing movement to restore classical and civic education to the heart of higher education,” Dyer said.
Abbott said the defining world issues over the next few decades—if not, the next century—are issues the United States dominates, including artificial intelligence, space and semiconductors. The state of Texas is the national leader in each of those subject areas, he said.
“Now, the University of Texas has laid the groundwork to ensure that it is educating the next generation that will inherit those traits, those complex issues, and lead the way forward, ensuring that Texas remains the greatest state in the greatest country in the history of the world,” Abbott said. “Hook ‘em horns.”
The details
The $100 million investment will come from the permanent university fund for capital improvements, a UT spokesperson said in an email to Community Impact. The SCL is temporarily operating out of UT’s Littlefield House, according to a UT news release.
The SCL will welcome its first civics honors majors in the fall, and is on track to hire 20 tenured or tenure-track faculty members by fall 2026, per the release. The school offers courses aligned with law, business and entrepreneurship, public service, national security and health professions.
About the project
Officials are expecting the SCL to move into a renovated Biological Laboratories building—which is over a century old—in three years, per the release.
“There will be a statement building welcoming students and families as they enter the west side of our campus,” Dyer said. “It will provide for us needed space for classes, for faculty offices, for collaboration and events, and for the future growth of the School of Civic Leadership."
Select programs being housed in the Biological Laboratories building, including those in the College of Natural Sciences and the Jackson School of Geosciences, will move to modernized lab facilities elsewhere on campus, per the release.
The backstory
The SCL was established in May 2023 and launched minors in philosophy, politics and economics in August 2024 alongside UT’s College of Liberal Arts, according to its website.
