Bishop Gorman announced that the University would be a four-year co-educational institution welcoming students of all faiths and races, and offering work on the undergraduate level with a graduate school to be added as soon as practicable.The University opened its doors to 96 degree-seeking students in September 1956, on a thousand-acre tract of rolling hills northwest of the city of Dallas now part of Irving/Las Colinas.

F. Kenneth Brasted,the first president, served until 1959; the second, Robert Morris, from 1960 to 1962; and the third, Donald A. Cowan, from 1962 until 1977. In 1976, Bryan F. Smith was appointed Chancellor to assist Dr. Cowan until John R. Sommerfeldt was appointed in 1978. Dr. Sommerfeldt returned to full-time teaching in 1980. During the search process, Dr. Svetozar Pejovich was acting president. From July 1981 to December 1995 Dr. Robert F. Sasseen served as the fifth president. Monsignor Milam J. Joseph served as the sixth president from October 1996 through December of 2003. Robert Galecke, senior vice-president for Finance and Administration, was interim president until July 2004 when Dr. Francis Lazarus took office as the seventh president.

Members of the Cistercian Order and the Sisters of Saint Mary, together with three Franciscan fathers and a number of laymen, comprised the original faculty of the University of Dallas. Dominican priests joined the faculty in 1958 and established Albert the Great Priory. The School Sisters of Notre Dame came in 1962. The Cistercians established a permanent abbey, church and an outstanding college preparatory school.

The faculty has become largely lay and counts numerous distinguished scholars among its members. Accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools came in 1963 and has been reaffirmed regularly. In November 1996 the University was the first institution accredited by the American Academy of Liberal Education. Significant honors have been won by University graduates since the first class in 1960 earned Fulbright and Woodrow Wilson awards for graduate studies. In 1989 it was the youngest school in the century to be awarded a Phi Beta Kappa chapter.

His Excellency Thomas Tschoepe succeeded Bishop Gorman and served as grand chancellor of the University until his retirement in 1990 when Bishop Charles Grahmann, his successor, assumed the position.

A seven and one half million dollar grant from the Blakley-Braniff Foundation established the Braniff Graduate School in 1966 and allowed the construction of the Braniff Graduate Center, Tower and Mall. The Constantin Foundation similarly endowed the undergraduate college. In 1970 the Board of Trustees named the undergraduate college the Constantin College of Liberal Arts. Gorman Lecture Center and the Maher Athletic Center were completed in 1965.

Holy Trinity Seminary was founded in 1965. The Graduate School of Management, begun in 1966, offers the largest MBA program in the Southwest. Influential programs in Art and English also began in 1966. In 1973, the Institute of Philosophic Studies, the doctoral program of the Braniff Graduate School and an outgrowth of the Kendall Politics and Literature Program, was initiated. The School of Ministry began in 1987. The College of Business, incorporating Graduate School of Management and undergraduate business, opened in 2003.

In 1975 the student center was doubled in size and named for J.M. Haggar, Sr., and an addition was made to the Haggerty Art Center. The University Apartments, a facility for upper division students, opened in 1980. 1985 saw the completion of the Patrick E. Haggerty Science Center and the Church of the Incarnation. Anselm Hall, the first men's dormitory, was renovated in 1992; the Fr. Thomas Cain, O. P. courtyard was dedicated.

On June 11, 1994, the University dedicated permanent facilities for its Rome Program begun in 1970. The 12-acre Eugene Constantin Campus, Due Santi, near Albano, Italy, is 15 kilometers from the heart of Rome.

1998 saw the addition of a new baseball field. Major additions to the Haggerty Art Village were completed and the east side of campus was redeveloped in 2000. In 2002, a women's softball complex was added and the new Dominican Priory opened. A wellness center was added to the Maher Athletic Center in 2003.

Today the University enrolls over 3,000 students from all over the United States and the world, divided roughly into 1200 full-time undergraduates; 1500 largely part-time Graduate School of Management students; and 350 students in the various Braniff Liberal Arts programs.

The University began an 18-month series of events celebrating its 50th Anniversary at May 2005 Commencement by honoring the Sisters of Saint Mary. Other 50th Anniversary events included the Salute to Irving, thanking the city for its support over the years, special recognitions of the faculty and staff, and the 50th Anniversary Gala which welcomed over 1000 to celebrate the accomplishments and future of the institution.

The University begins its next 50 years with growing enrollment, new programs, and a solid financial foundation. It contemplates the future with confidence and elan. As the late President Donald Cowan often said, "Indeed, there is a spirit that walks these hills."

Mosaic of official University Seal. University motto Veritatem, Justitiam Diligite, Love Truth and Justice.

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