The Naveen Jindal School of Management will unveil its third building at the University of Texas at Dallas this fall, adding over 130,000 square feet to the business school’s campus.
Along with the Jindal School addition, UT Dallas plans to open a performance hall and a new Student Success Center-Student Union in spring 2027.
The overview
Undergraduate enrollment at UT Dallas has grown by almost 32% over the last decade. This increased the need for additional academic, cultural and community spaces on campus, said Jeremy Head, associate vice president for facilities management.
“These projects are not driven by growth alone,” Head said in an email. “The University is also responding to changing student expectations, expanding research and academic programs and a desire to create a more connected and engaging campus environment.”
School of Management Dean Hasan Pirkul credits the enrollment growth to UT Dallas gaining visibility on a national level.
“It’s always been really a wonderful place to study, but it was small and it was not highly visible,” Pirkul said. “Over time, the university has become respected as a high-quality education institution.”
The Jindal School in particular has obtained high national rankings, Pirkul said, likely driving the record numbers of applications the school has seen in recent years.
The details
The new Charles and Nancy Davidson Building is the third building Pirkul has seen constructed for the business school in his 31-year tenure, he said.
The Jindal School saw “huge influxes of students” following the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly international students, Pirkul said, which sparked the need for the additional building.
“It became impossible with the existing facilities to handle that many students,” Pirkul said.
Since plans for the new building were set in motion, the international student influx has slowed, Pirkul said, but the school now has record numbers of freshman students with more applications every year.
The Jindal School offers eleven undergraduate degrees, which were previously spread across the school’s two buildings. Now, a large wing of the Davidson Building is reserved for undergraduate students, creating a home base for all undergraduate programs, classrooms and spaces.
“We wanted to consolidate operations so that undergraduate students have a clear identification with a building and a home,” Pirkul said. “The students will know to go to one spot and get all the help they need.”
After the undergraduate programs move to the new building, the existing buildings will dedicate more spaces for master’s students.
A closer look
Pirkul said school officials wanted the Davidson Building to be functional and open to facilitate student interaction and collaboration. The building is indoor-outdoor, he said, and includes a central shaded courtyard.
“It is a very beautiful building,” Pirkul said. “Students can be outside and enjoy interacting with each other, studying [and] eating outside.”
In addition to the undergraduate wing, the new building will include spaces for executive education, student organizations and the undergraduate honors program. Faculty will also have access to six distance learning classrooms that are equipped for lectures to virtual classes.
An artificial intelligence lab will offer technology and space for students to study and work with AI.
“AI cuts across all of our degree programs, so it’s a much-needed resource,” Pirkul said.
As a public institution, Pirkul said he encourages people outside of the university to take advantage of spaces on the business school campus.
“The idea is that we will make available these nice beautiful spaces to our neighbors and to businesses and organizations [and] nonprofits,” Pirkul said. “We look forward to being able to enhance our outreach.”
Stay tuned
UT Dallas’ new 680-seat performance hall is also nearing completion, Head said in an email. The performance hall and music building is phase two of the Edith and Peter O’Donnell Jr. Athenaeum project to establish a 12-acre cultural district on campus.
“The hall will provide students greater access to arts and cultural experiences while creating a venue that can serve both the University and the community,” Head said. “It will bring more visitors to campus, support a wider range of events and play an important role in realizing the vision for the Athenaeum as a place where academics, culture and community come together.”
The Student Success Center-Student Union is set to open in January 2027. The new student building will include food options, a basement games lounge, cheer and dance studios, meeting rooms and a large event space, said Dan Goodwin, senior associate vice president for student affairs. The Hobson Wildenthal Honors College and food pantry will also be based in the building.
The new center will provide significantly more space for the growing university population than the original student union, which was transformed into an esports center last year, Goodwin said.
“Student experience is an important pillar to the success of the university, and a facility such as this will serve as an anchor point on campus to showcase the best of what the university and its partners can offer on a daily basis,” Goodwin said in an email.
