![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Calvin-Jamison-8-2000-1024x683.jpg\")
As vice president for facilities and economic development, Dr. Calvin D. Jamison ushered in more than $4 billion in construction and development over nearly 19 years at UT Dallas. He retired May 4. (UT Dallas)<\/p>\nBy Veronica Gonzalez
UT Dallas<\/p>\n
Before Dr. Calvin Jamison came to campus, The University of Texas at Dallas was only a collection of concrete buildings.<\/p>\n
There were no reflecting pools. No sweet perfume of magnolias or escape from the searing sun. No residence halls for students to live on campus. No food trucks, and few places to eat.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt looked like an old corporate headquarters,\u201d Jamison said. \u201cBut there was plenty of adjacent land.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
As vice president for facilities and economic development, Dr. Calvin D. Jamison ushered in more than $4 billion in construction and development over nearly 19 years at UT Dallas. He retired May 4. (UT Dallas)<\/p>\n
As vice president for facilities and economic development, Jamison ushered in more than $4 billion in construction and development over nearly 19 years at UT Dallas. He retired May 4.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best decision I made in my career was to come to a place where I could make a significant difference,\u201d Jamison said. \u201cWorking at UT Dallas was a great opportunity and a true highlight of my career.\u201d<\/p>\n
Under Jamison, who was a former city manager for Richmond, Virginia, UT Dallas grew from a bundle of brutalist buildings into a campus teeming with trees and life.<\/p>\n
Jamison served under four University presidents, and during his tenure, UT Dallas added more than a dozen educational and recreational buildings. Other additions included five residence halls, two apartment buildings, three parking structures, expanded dining options, trees, trails and transportation, such as the Comet Cab, Comet Cruiser and the UT Dallas Station on the Dallas Area Rapid Transit Silver Line. Jamison also led the creation of an off-campus community at Northside, where students can live, eat, shop or experience nightlife.<\/p>\n
By Jamison\u2019s count, 75% of campus was renovated or built during his tenure while the student population doubled to more than 30,000.
The University grew so quickly in just under two decades that it wasn\u2019t uncommon for Jamison and other administrators to race from groundbreakings to ribbon cuttings for new buildings \u2014 all on the same day.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember one occasion where in about two hours we cut the ribbon on four different facilities,\u201d Jamison said. \u201cWe were growing with such energy, such excitement, that it galvanized people around this prideful enthusiasm.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jamison credited the positive growth to supportive presidents and the relationship he built with Richardson city leaders and the surrounding community.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe campus grew, but not without a great town-and-gown relationship between the University and the city of Richardson,\u201d he said. \u201cThey were an integral part of that growth.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUT Dallas became a powerful economic engine for Richardson and the region,\u201d said Jamison, who added that it will be important to maintain that relationship in the future.<\/p>\n
His influence on UT Dallas also surfaced in more subtle gestures, such as picking up trash Jamison encountered while he walked around campus. His motto is: \u201cService is not what we do. Service is who we are.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople want to work in a positive, clean environment,\u201d Jamison said. \u201cMy philosophy is: 10% is what happens to you; 90% is how you choose to respond. If you embrace that philosophy, others do as well. You establish that right tone and tenor.\u201d<\/p>\n
UT Dallas President Prabhas V. Moghe, who holds the Eugene McDermott Distinguished University Chair of Leadership, said he was moved by Jamison\u2019s kindness when he first arrived at the University.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe would ask, \u2018Is there something I can do to make things better for you?\u2019\u201d Moghe said during Jamison\u2019s April retirement celebration. \u201cCalvin Jamison gave so much of himself, so much of his life, to UT Dallas so we could flourish.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before UT Dallas, Jamison\u2019s career crisscrossed city government, higher education and the private sector.<\/p>\n
Jamison came to Texas from his home state of Virginia, where he was a senior administrator at Hampton University from 2005 to 2007. He also served in other administrative roles at Virginia Commonwealth University and his alma mater, Virginia Tech, where he worked in recruitment and retention of students, with an emphasis on African American students.<\/p>\n
But his influence at UT Dallas was likely forged when Jamison was Richmond city manager, where he oversaw nearly $4.5 billion in new development, a $2 billion budget and 4,500 employees from 1998 to 2005.<\/p>\n
Former UT Dallas President Richard C. Benson, who knew Jamison from Virginia Tech, called him a dear friend whose contribution to the campus vision was rivaled only by his generosity.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll these buildings that we\u2019ve seen pop out of the ground here, that doesn\u2019t happen easily,\u201d he said. \u201cIt takes a skilled facilities team to do that, and that is a testament to Calvin.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Hasan Pirkul, dean of the Naveen Jindal School of Management and Caruth Chair, said Jamison\u2019s rich skill set gave him the ability to understand what students wanted in a campus.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really believe if it was not for him, we would not have made so much progress at UT Dallas,\u201d Pirkul said.<\/p>\n
Dr. David E. Daniel, president emeritus of UT Dallas, hired Jamison and relied on his experience to guide the University\u2019s growth.<\/p>\n
\u201cRunning a university is a lot like running a city,\u201d Daniel said. \u201cBut there\u2019s also a visionary aspect: An administrative leader is expected to see the future of the university and prepare for that. Calvin did that seamlessly and superbly.\u201d<\/p>\n
When problems arose, Daniel said, Jamison focused on finding solutions \u2014 even if it meant going directly to a company leader to resolve an issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe sold people on why The University of Texas at Dallas was so important \u2014 why it was worth their while to fix a problem and make it right,\u201d Daniel said. \u201cHe caused us to hold our head up high.\u201d<\/p>\n
While a comet may be the University\u2019s official mascot, Jamison symbolizes its meteoric development.<\/p>\n
\u201cUT Dallas was a passion more than a place where I went to work. It was a place to master my craft, work with a great team of caring professionals and create something unique,\u201d Jamison said. \u201cI\u2019m most appreciative of the opportunity to build something special for the next generation of students, faculty, staff and visitors. And I\u2019m honored that I was part of that legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Veronica GonzalezUT Dallas Before Dr. Calvin Jamison came to campus, The University of Texas at Dallas was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321777,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[160,162,161],"class_list":["post-321776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-plano","tag-plano","tag-plano-headlines","tag-plano-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}