Should Fort Worth become a city of cowboys, culture — and colleges?

UT Arlington attains elite research status

The University of Texas at Arlington was named Monday to the elite group of R-1: Doctoral Universities - Highest Research Activity by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, the definitive list for the top doctoral researc

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The University of Texas at Arlington was named Monday to the elite group of R-1: Doctoral Universities - Highest Research Activity by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, the definitive list for the top doctoral researc

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We talk a lot about what Fort Worth needs, particularly with XTO Energy leaving four downtown towers empty.

But we don’t say enough about colleges or higher education, or how more and stronger universities can drive innovation and success back to Fort Worth.

We’re on the verge of a big step forward. A new medical school offering M.D. degrees is expected to open in 2019 in a partnership between TCU and the successful University of North Texas medical school.

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Fort Worth and Tarrant County continue to lose students and creative talent to Austin, College Station and beyond.

Partly, that’s because Fort Worth itself has never had a big state university. But that’s also because we don’t talk up the universities we have.

“We sell the Western culture and heritage, and that’s a very authentic message,” said Bill Burton of Hillwood Properties. He spoke at a conference recently about marketing Fort Worth’s location in a region known for computers and technology.

Fort Worth is going to be just fine. XTO will be a blip in the past.

President Dominic Dottavio of Tarleton State University, opening a new campus in Fort Worth

“Businesses want to know about education here, and we’ve got some assets we haven’t packaged and talked about.”

He mentioned mega-university UT Arlington with its highly ranked engineering program, along with TCU, UNT and Tarrant County College.

“You’re talking 160,000 students with some great technical capabilities,” he said.

“We need to tell the story of higher education. Our downtown is as cool as anywhere in the country. Then you add on the shops and developments along the [Trinity] River. People like to live here.”

Boston is physically smaller than Arlington. But it has 57 universities.

The Texas A&M System’s Tarleton State will open a university in 2019 on Chisholm Trail Parkway at Old Granbury Road.