A $100 million, 4-story monument to STEM learning got a groundbreaking in Southern Dallas Friday, paving the way for “a new level of instruction, research, and collaboration.”
The first ceremonial digs for the University of North Texas at Dallas’ state-of-the-art STEM facility attracted university leaders, healthcare professionals, elected officials, and community partners for Friday’s event.
UNT Dallas President Bob Mong said that when it’s completed, “This building will stand as the most consequential addition to the UNT Dallas main campus, bringing with it expanded opportunities for our current and future students to be trained for significant healthcare careers.”
Aerial rendering of UNT Dallas STEM facility [Image: UNT Dallas]
“For employers, our graduates will help solve urgent healthcare shortages in our community,” Mong added in a statement. “This is a win for our students, our industry partners, and the future of healthcare in North Texas.”
Today’s groundbreaking followed “years of planning,” the university said. The four-story structure will feature 18 to 20 classrooms, nine biology and chemistry teaching labs, three research labs, and a large event venue. It will also contain multiple study and work areas, faculty and staff offices, a student STEM center, and a Joint Admission Medical Program (JAMP) space with resources for students interested in going to medical school, UNT Dallas said.
The building is expected open for the Spring 2026 semester.
Bolstering the pipeline for skilled healthcare STEM professionals in North Texas
Dr. Betty Stewart speaking at the UNT Dallas STEM building groundbreaking ceremony [Photo: UNT Dallas]
UNT Dallas said its new “cutting-edge complex” is the next step in its long-term plan to expand STEM opportunities for students, while bolstering the pipeline of highly skilled candidates for North Texas employers seeking healthcare STEM professionals.
“This is a tremendous day for UNT Dallas. I’m thankful and grateful,” Dr. Betty Stewart, UNT Dallas provost and a driving force behind the project, said in a statement. “This STEM building will be transformational to our campus.”
The STEM facility will specifically provide a pathway for healthcare careers—including advancement to medical, nursing and pharmacy schools, and other post-graduate educational institutions focused on science, health, medicine, and wellness.
According to the Texas Workforce Commission, these are “high-demand, high-wage” occupations that are expanding rapidly. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says STEM-related healthcare positions pay more than the average American job, UNT Dallas noted, while STEM careers are projected to grow nearly 11% in the next decade.
Designed by Stantec and Harrison Kornberg Architects
Rendering of another view of the UNT Dallas STEM building. [Image: UNT Dallas]
Two firms—Edmonton, Canada-based Stantec and Texas-based Harrison Kornberg Architects—designed the building “to reflect the university’s mission and achieve the STEM project’s goals,” UNT Dallas said. Those goals include “empowering students by providing upward mobility to a diverse community of learners through STEM education; transforming lives through STEM programs that will improve the vitality of students and their families; and creating a sense of place and belonging, which is student-centered, inclusive, welcoming, accessible and flexible.”
By collaborating with industry partners and local educational and community institutions, UNT Dallas says that both the university and its new STEM facility will “catalyze investment and development in Southern Dallas.” Projects are already in the works nearby, including Hoque Global’s planned 270-acre University Hills development and the 90-acre master-planned community Rivulet.
UNT Dallas STEM building groundbreaking [Photo: UNT Dallas]
A Tree Campus USA university, UNT Dallas is recognized by the Arbor Day Foundation. To advance that identity, the university is ensuring that the new STEM building will be “green and sustainable, energy efficient, and full of windows and natural light to take advantage of the landscaping around it, bringing the outside in.”
An area behind the structure will become a green space for student gatherings, study and quiet reflection, the university added.
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