Signature Gift
Carrizo Oil & Gas contributes a record $5 million toward construction of College Park Center
Spring 2011 · Comment ·
One of UT Arlington’s most highly anticipated construction projects received a big boost last fall when Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. pledged $5 million to support College Park Center. The gift is the largest single cash commitment in the University’s history.
The Houston-based energy company has been developing the University’s natural gas resources for several years and in 2009 donated $1 million to establish a graduate research fellowship to attract top scholars and researchers to UT Arlington. The natural gas partnership has generated more than $6 million in royalties since campus wells went into production in late 2008.
UT Arlington learned in 2006 that the campus sits on a sweet spot within the Barnett Shale, one of the largest natural gas fields in the nation. Since then Carrizo has completed 22 wells at a single campus site.
“This commitment to College Park Center is transformational for UT Arlington,” President James D. Spaniolo says. “We believe it signals many great things to come.”
When completed in late 2011, the 6,500-seat College Park Center will give the UT Arlington basketball and volleyball teams a state-of-the-art home court and downtown Arlington a signature facility for world-class concerts, conferences, commencement ceremonies, and other community events. The $78 million center is under construction east of Pecan Street, between Second and Fourth streets.
“College Park Center promises to have a dramatic impact on the campus and be a resource for the entire community,” says S.P. “Chip” Johnson IV, Carrizo’s president and chief executive officer. “We believe that a robust and vibrant campus is a key ingredient in attracting outstanding students and in helping more of them earn their degrees.”
