As the University’s name has changed, so has its visual identity.

Seals were the primary graphic identifier from the college’s founding in 1895 until 1970. One seal lasted through three name changes. Typically, however, when the school’s name changed, so did its seal.

Often overlooked is the seal used from 1967-70. According to memos in the University archives, President Jack Woolf appointed a committee to design a new seal soon after the school became The University of Texas at Arlington in 1967. The committee commissioned Dallas designer Stan Richards and paid him “around $500” for his artwork.

But this seal was short-lived. In 1970 the UT System Board of Regents mandated that all of its general academic institutions adopt a version of the seal that is still used today.

The first official documentation of a UT Arlington logo came in an Aug. 14, 1970, memo from President Frank Harrison to deans, directors and department chairs. It stated that the logo, which featured a T stretching over a U and A, would be used “in various ways for graphic design purposes but should not be confused with the new University seal” recently approved by the regents.

UT Arlington used this logo, with some alterations, for the next 25 years. It was almost replaced in 1976 with a sans serif UTA enclosed in concentric circles, but administrators decided not to implement this version from designer Crawford Dunn.

To help promote its Centennial observance, the University adopted a new logo in 1995. Designed by the late Gary Havard, a UT Arlington alumnus, the rendering featured UTA in block letters with a star in the center of the A. The years 1895-1995 appeared beneath the logo during the yearlong Centennial celebration.

This version, without the years, served as the institutional logo until Feb. 15, 2006, when the new logo was unveiled. Its beveled star is similar to the stars in the North Texas Agricultural College and Arlington State College seals.

— Mark Permenter