The Year in Tower Lightings: 2014 Brings Reasons for Tower to Shine

The University of Texas at Austin’s iconic Tower stands tall in the city’s skyline, and special lighting configurations tell of different Longhorns accomplishments. 

The iconic Tower is The University of Texas at Austin’s most recognizable landmark, and 2014 brought plenty of reasons for the Tower to show off Longhorn pride with a burnt-orange glow.

The standard all-white configuration illuminates the Tower in Austin’s skyline most nights, and a handful of other lighting configurations convey signals of celebration, accomplishment or, sometimes, solitude.

[Share your pictures of the Tower on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr using #UTTower.]

WINTER

The University of Texas at Austin’s iconic Tower stands tall in the city’s skyline, and special lighting configurations tell of different Longhorns accomplishments. 

• The year’s first tower lighting came Jan. 14 when the university honored J. Tinsley Oden, associate vice president for research and director of the Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences, for winning the prestigious 2013 Honda Prize for his role in establishing the field of computational mechanics.
• The Men’s Swimming and Diving team won the Big 12 Championship in early March.
• On March 2, the tower again glowed, this time to mark Texas Independence Day.
• The Tower’s burnt orange glow again shone March 4 to mark the Women’s Swimming and Diving team’s second straight Big 12 Championship.
• More Texas Athletics success brought another Tower lighting March 11, this time to celebrate the Texas women’s victory at the Big 12 Indoor Track and Field Championship.
• Four Cockrell School of Engineering professors were elected to the prestigious National Academy of Engineering.
• The university bestowed upon 11 faculty and staff members three important awards in mid-March.
• At the end of March, the tower went dark, its lights turned off in a display of solidarity with Earth Hour, when people around the world conserve energy by turning off nonessential lights at the same time.

[Spend your holidays exploring museums and cheering for the Longhorns.
Check out our winter-break guide to visiting The University of Texas at Austin.]

SPRING

To bid farewell to the Class of 2014, the Tower turned orange with its windows displaying a “14” and fireworks lighting the sky. 

• April 12 marked Honors Day, when members of the Class of 2014 were recognized for academic excellence.
• The Daily Texan, the university’s student newspaper, earned the top award as the Best Newspaper at a four-year school with more than 10,000 students during the College Media Association’s annual convention.
• University President Bill Powers honored five alumni and scholars with presidential citations on April 17.
• The Men’s Tennis team won the Big 12 Conference regular season title, giving the Tower another reason to turn burnt orange in April.
• The orange lighting again drenched the Tower for Texas Athletics victories when the Men’s Golf Team won the Big 12 Championship.
• The Tower darkened at dusk May 2 in remembrance of members of the university community who died during the past year for UT Remembers.
• Chemistry Professor C. Grant Wilson won the 2013 Japan Prize, an international award similar to the Nobel Prize.
• Mathematics Professor Luis A. Caffarelli won the 2014 American Mathematical Society Leroy P. Steel Prize for his lifetime of achievement and seminal contribution to research in mathematics.
• The Longhorn Powerlifting, Texas Rock Climbing and Texas Quidditch teams won national championships, and the May 7 Tower lighting honored those RecSports champs.
• The Tower also shone with orange lights in May to honor more than 800 university employees who have between 10 and 45 years of service to the university.
• As the Class of 2014 prepared to leave the Forty Acres with diplomas in  hand, the Tower displayed a “14” in its windows alongside the full burn-orange lighting to honor the graduating class two nights in a row.

[This year marked another great one for The University of Texas at Austin.
Check out our recap of 2014.]

SUMMER

At night when the Tower is lit or during the day when its stature reflects in the turtle pond, the landmark makes for a great photo op. Share your pictures of the #UTTower on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. 

            [This year brought a bounty of reasons for The University of Texas at Austin family to give thanks.
Read about the accomplishments of our students, faculty and alumni during 2014.]

FALL

To kick off the academic year and welcome first-year students, the Tower displayed an “18” in its windows with a full burnt-orange glow in honor of the Class of 2018. 

• The Longhorns earned victory six times on the football field this season, bringing an orange-capped lighting with each win. (Tune in to the AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl on Dec. 29 to cheer for the Longhorns as they battle Arkansas for win No. 7.)
• The School of Journalism celebrated its centennial year, prompting the Tower to turn orange with a “100” formed with lit windows on its sides.
• In October, the Tower turned orange to honor an iconic athlete, a famous movie star, an astronaut and the three other recipients of the 2014 Distinguished Alumnus Awards.
• To honor the life and legacy of Vincent R. DiNino, director of bands emeritus who helped propel the Longhorn Band to its current heights, the Tower glowed orange with the letter “D” on its sides.
• A team of McCombs School of Business students won the 2014 Michigan Undergraduate Investment Conference.
• On Oct. 24, the Tower turned dark for a third time in 2014, this time for Longhorn Lights Out, a voluntary initiative demonstrating how simple, individual actions can result in significant energy savings across campus.
• To thank the more than 270,000 donors who contributed to The Campaign for Texas, the tower was ablaze in orange Nov. 6.
• The university’s Army ROTC Ranger Challenge Team placed first in the 2014 Fifth Brigade Ranger Challenged Competition.
• The Texas Volleyball team took home the Big 12 Championship, again turning the Tower orange.
• Complete with a “14” displayed in the windows, the tower’s burnt-orange glow filled the sky two consecutive nights in early December to honor the Class of 2014 graduates departing the Forty Acres.