The UT System recently selected eight projects, including UT Dallas’, to participate in the first year of the initiative. UT Dallas will develop a strategy that focuses on math class placement, the effects of COVID-19 on math readiness, and math progression throughout the curriculum, particularly in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programs. Fifty-three UT Dallas undergraduate degrees require math in the first term, and more than 3,700 first-time-in-college students were taking their first college math class at UT Dallas in the 2021-22 academic year. Administrators said many new students have not been prepared for calculus, which, for many STEM majors, is the basic required math class. A number of factors can affect the readiness of a new student for college math, said Dr. Jessica Murphy, dean of undergraduate education, professor of literature and Mary McDermott Cook Chair for Undergraduate Education.