UT Tyler University Academy-Longview Announces Expansion, Open House

Office of Marketing and Communications

January 25, 2023

Media Contact: Hannah Buchanan
Editor/Writer–Strategic Communications & Media Relations
Marketing and Communications
The University of Texas at Tyler
903.539.7196 (cell)

The University of Texas at Tyler University Academy announced that its Longview campus has expanded to offer 130 additional openings for the 2023-24 school year. Currently offering Grades 1-12, the campus will be adding two kindergarten classes and an additional classroom for each grade one through four.

“This is exciting news for the district, and a great opportunity for Longview-area students to attend one of the nation’s few public university charter schools specializing in STEM education,” said Jo Ann Simmons, EdD, University Academy superintendent. “We have set high expectations for our students to be independent learners and university ready.”

To learn more about the campus and the application process, interested families are encouraged to attend an open house event, which will be 6-7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 26, at the campus, located at 3201 North Eastman Road in Longview.

“Each year, we celebrate National School of Choice Week by opening our campus and inviting interested families to learn more about us,” said Rachel Hawkins, campus director at UA-Longview. “We invite parents to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to tour our campus and visit the classrooms. Faculty, staff and student ambassadors will be available to guide visitors and answer any questions they may have.”

A second open house event will be 10 a.m.-1p.m. Saturday, March 4, at the UA-Longview campus.

Beginning Wednesday, Feb. 15, the 2023-24 application will be available online at uttua.org/admissions. Although applications are accepted year-round, the lottery for the 2023-24 school year will be held Friday, April 14, so parents are urged to submit applications for their child by the upcoming lottery date, Hawkins added.

As a state-funded charter school, there is no student tuition. When a charter school has more students who want to attend than they have seats available, a lottery system is used to determine their enrollment.

Operated by the UT Tyler College of Education and Psychology and founded in 2012, the UT Tyler University Academy is a state-funded charter school with campuses in Tyler, Longview and Palestine. The district specializes in STEM education and project-based learning, and currently serves about 835 students in Grades K-12.

For more information about the UT Tyler University Academy, visit uttua.org/.

With a mission to improve educational and health care outcomes for East Texas and beyond, UT Tyler offers more than 80 undergraduate and graduate programs to 10,000 students. UT Tyler recently merged with The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler (now known as UT Tyler Health Science Center). Through its alignment with UT Tyler Health Science Center (HSC) and UT Health East Texas, UT Tyler has unified these entities to serve Texas with quality education, cutting-edge research and excellent patient care. Classified by Carnegie as a doctoral research institution and by U.S. News & World Report as a national university, UT Tyler has campuses in Tyler, Longview, Palestine and Houston.