Our Tower
The Next 100 Years

The University of Texas at Austin

Our Tower
The Next 100 Years

The Next 100 Years
The University of Texas at Austin

It Starts at the Tower

The Tower sits at the center of one of the most beautiful and inspiring university campuses in the country. And yet this treasured beacon for Longhorns everywhere and statement of our University’s excellence has been tarnished by time.

Our Tower: The Next 100 Years will unite Longhorn Nation through a bold, once-in-a-lifetime campaign to restore, revitalize and reimagine the Tower.

With your help, we can transform the UT community’s most beloved landmark into a revitalized campus center that reflects our past and anchors our future.

Restore. Revitalize. Reimagine.

Few people alive today have seen the Tower in its full grandeur, and the renovations to the exterior are well underway. With your help we will transform this beloved landmark into a beautiful, welcoming place that enhances modern University life.

“And when we come together to celebrate great moments of our shared history, the Tower will be there. And when those moments come — at commencement, at Gone to Texas, at the next national championship — we will light the Tower. We will strike up the band. We will raise our horns. And we will remember that we are part of the greatest university in the world.”

James E. Davis

President, The University of Texas at Austin

“And when we come together to celebrate great moments of our shared history, the Tower will be there. And when those moments come — at commencement, at Gone to Texas, at the next national championship — we will light the Tower. We will strike up the band. We will raise our horns. And we will remember that we are part of the greatest university in the world.”

James E. Davis

President, The University of Texas at Austin

President Jim Davis

Investment Opportunities

To accomplish this ambitious project will require $125 million in funding for the Tower renovations. We have already secured $82 million in support from the UT Board of Regents, the University budget and the generosity of our alumni and friends. With $43 million left to raise, we are seeking partners who want to leave an indelible mark on the Forty Acres.

We are proud to present the following opportunities for legacy namings within the Tower and its grounds.

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Grand Stairway Hall

$30 Million

Spanning three floors, the grand stairway hall will serve as the elegant gateway to a revitalized Main building, connecting the new Main Hall, the Mezzanine Gallery and the Life Sciences Library. The wide marble stairs have physically supported our campus community’s travel through the building since its opening in 1937.

Large windows in the four landings between floors let natural light into the space. Alongside the original glass, the University has partnered with an artist and team of glaziers to produce new art glass façades that will add stylistic design and Texas imagery as an overlay in the windows’ interior. These new artworks will become part of the UT Landmarks collection and will be a point of pride destination for our campus community to visit, admire and make memories under.

With a gift to restore the splendor of this vital passageway through Main, we will proudly display your name in the grand stairway hall as the generous benefactor of the grand stairway restoration.

Donors who generously support the renovation of the Grand Stairway hall will be recognized in the Main Hall.

Flag Courts

$20 Million

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Two beautifully manicured Flag Courts provide dedicated space for the American and Texas flags to proudly fly. These hallowed grounds are located to the immediate East and West of the Main Plaza.

Your support for these high-profile areas where we honor important Longhorns and recognize state and nationwide moments through the raising and lowering of our flags makes a powerful statement: the University maintains its promise to the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Hall of History

$15 Million

The history of UT Austin is a burnt orange thread woven into the tapestry of the boldest and most unique state in the nation. The Hall of History will showcase the extraordinary Texas history that Longhorns have witnessed and shaped for over 140 years.

The Hall will feature special exhibits in partnership with UT’s renowned historical archives, including the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History and the Harry Ransom Center. It’s place of honor within the Tower will allow students, faculty and visitors to connect across generations inside one of the most recognizable monuments in Central Texas.

Your support gives us the opportunity to create this new venue for our campus community to immerse themselves in the dynamic story of our University. Deep in the heart of Texas, and our Tower, everyone will have the opportunity to gain greater understanding of the many contributions that our world-class students, faculty, alumni and programs have contributed toward the advancement of knowledge and society.

Tower Clock

$15 million

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In 2017, a UT historian stumbled upon a 1943 film that showed an extensive application of gold leaf on the hands, numbers and rim of the Tower’s clock face. Now, you can help restore our iconic clock’s shine — and protect it from the forces of Texas’ powerful weather. Among the efforts to thoroughly restore all of the Tower’s exterior decorative elements and the interior mechanism that keeps the Forty Acres on time, one opportunity shines especially bright: resurrecting an original design element that has not been seen for nearly 60 years.

With a gift to restore the beauty and function of one of the Tower’s most visible features, we will proudly display your name as the generous benefactor of the Tower clock’s restoration and induct you into the Light the Tower Circle.

Donors who generously support the restoration of the Tower Clock will be recognized in the Main Hall.

Light the Tower Circle

$10 Million

Inspired by the Tower’s iconic lighting tradition, symbolizing celebration and achievement, this group will light the way for the University’s next 100 years and be honored in the Tower’s new Main Hall. For our top donors and their families, special recognition of their philanthropy in service of Our Tower will be showcased by prominently displaying their names on the wooden frieze visible between the new Main Hall and the Mezzanine Gallery.

Main Hall
DONOR RECOGNITION

The legacy of the Light the Tower Circle will be enshrined as a storied milestone in the history of the Tower and UT — forever honoring the donors who restored our campus icon to its former glory.

Members of this special circle will be invited to Austin so they may take part in the ceremony ahead of important tower lightings throughout the years. The Main Hall will also include special digital displays in the vestibules that will rotate the stories of our Light the Tower Circle donors and their families. This important recognition feature will be updated with new photos and text as your family’s story grows, celebrating you as one of our greatest supporters and highlighting what being a Longhorn means to you.

Donor Recognition

Ring Vault

$4 million

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For nearly three decades, the Texas Exes has led one of the fastest-growing class ring programs in the nation, symbolizing academic achievement, connection and pride. Designed by students in 1996, the official UT ring now adorns more than 70,000 hands. This number continues to rise through beloved traditions like the Tower Dedication and Class Ring Celebration, where thousands gather each semester to mark this iconic milestone beneath the UT Tower.

We are creating a dedicated space — the Ring Vault — to preserve and elevate a rising tradition: rings spending the night in the Tower before students receive them on Celebration day. Naming the Ring Vault offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to permanently link your legacy to the Tower, the Texas Exes and the global Longhorn family of 600,000 living alumni.

Carillon

$3 Million

When the Tower bells ring out signaling the start of class or the end of the semester, they ring from this treasured space. Your support will ensure that the bells ring clear for generations of students to come.
Donors who generously support the restoration of the Tower Clock will be recognized in the Main Hall.

Tower Society Member

$1 million

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As a member of The Tower Society, your name will be honored with special, prominent naming recognition in the Tower as part of a planned donor wall. There will also be additional benefits, including the showcase of one of your core Tower memories on the digital display in the Main Hall, invitations to exclusive events with key project leaders and University leadership, personal guided tours and unique learning opportunities.

Carillon Console

$500,000

This historic piece of musical machinery is a valiant behind-the-scenes player in UT’s cultural life. Your support helps power the playing of everything from between-class chimes to The Eyes of Texas that celebrates important moments on the Forty Acres.
Donors who generously name the Carillon Console will also be recognized in the Main Hall.

Honoring Our Partners in Impact

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$500,000

Donors who give $500,000 and above will be recognized through plaques on benches located throughout Main Hall and will have the opportunity to submit a Tower memory that will be displayed on a digital wall within the Main Hall. Once the construction is complete, their names will also be displayed on the donor wall for the Our Tower campaign.

$250,000+

Donors who give $250,000 and above will have the opportunity to submit a Tower memory that will be displayed on a digital wall within the Main Hall. Donors at this level will also be recognized on the donor wall for the Our Tower campaign once construction is complete.
Main Hall
Main Hall

$250,000+

Donors who give $250,000 and above will have the opportunity to submit a Tower memory that will be displayed on a digital wall within the Main Hall. Donors at this level will also be recognized on the donor wall for the Our Tower campaign once construction is complete.
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$100,000+

A donor wall will be placed prominently in the Main Hall and will bear the names of all donors to the Our Tower campaign who have given $100,000 and above once construction is complete.