As the first permanent structure at The University of Texas at Dallas, the Founders Building sits at the physical and historical heart of the campus.
In 2016, it was named a
Milestones in Microbiology site by the American Society for Microbiology in recognition of the significant research conducted in the building.
When it was dedicated in October 1964, the Founders Building was the central facility of the Graduate Research Center of the Southwest (GRCSW), a private research institution that in 1969 became UT Dallas. In those early days, the building hosted faculty and visiting scholars from around the globe who conducted research and graduate education in mathematics, physics, geosciences, and atmospheric and space science. Biology, focusing on genetics and microbiology, was the largest division and the only molecular biology department in the Southwest at the time. Together those programs formed the core that would become UT Dallas’ School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.
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