by David Moreno, Fort Worth Report
July 30, 2026
As the North Texas entertainment industry booms, the University of Texas at Arlington is hoping to attract film students with the appointment of an accomplished Hollywood director to its faculty.
Rachel Raimist rolls into the classroom this fall as the university’s Morgan Woodward Distinguished Professor of Film and Video in the Department of Art and Art History. She will teach advanced cinema production and capstone courses in short film production.
The television director said the university’s growth and commitment to students, as well as the “energy of the Dallas-Fort Worth creative community,” drew her in.
“With the region becoming such an important center for media and entertainment, I think there’s a real opportunity to prepare students not just to graduate, but to step directly into an industry that’s growing in their own backyard,” she said in a news release.
Raimist is the latest holder of the professorship established through a 2010 endowment by Arlington-raised actor Morgan Woodward to support the College of Liberal Arts film studies. Woodward, who died in 2019, was known for his roles in the 1967 movie “Cool Hand Luke” and the longrunning Western TV show “Gunsmoke.”
Raimist previously directed episodes of television series such as “Bel-Air,” “Elsbeth,” “CSI: Vegas,” “Sex/Life” and “The Spiderwick Chronicles.” She currently serves in leadership roles with the Directors Guild of America and teaches at the Sundance Institute and the American Film Institute.
Before joining the UT Arlington faculty, Raimist served as academic director of Elon University Los Angeles and as a tenured associate professor at the University of Alabama.
Because North Texas has film and television opportunities that didn’t exist a decade ago, Raimist views her role as giving students the practical experience needed to thrive in the competitive market, she said in a Q&A with the UT Arlington media relations department.
“I also want students to understand that success in this industry depends not only on creative talent but also on professionalism, having an entrepreneurial spirit, being adaptable, having good communication and working well as a crew,” she said.
August Jordan Davis, chair of the Department of Art and Art History, said Arlington students will benefit from Raimist’s fresh ideas on filmmaking, new modes of storytelling and her established industry networks.
UT Arlington’s investment in cinema dates to the establishment of its first film program in the late 1960s. More than 120 undergraduate students are pursuing art degrees with a concentration in cinematic arts, according to university spokesperson Jeff Caplan.
The university’s recent push to attract new industry experts comes as other North Texas organizations are also supporting the next generation of filmmakers.
Tarrant County College operates a Fort Worth Film Collaborative Certificate Program in partnership with the city’s film commission and 101 Studios, the entertainment company that produced Taylor Sheridan’s “Yellowstone” and “Landman.” The program equips students with the foundational skills needed to work in the film industry.
The Arlington, TX Film Commission launched in mid-June as the city’s official resource for film, television and commercial companies looking to hire local professionals for their productions.
David Moreno is the arts and culture reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at [email protected]. The Report’s arts and culture coverage is supported in part by the Meta Alice Keith Bratten Foundation and the Virginia Hobbs Charitable Trust.
At the Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
This <a target=”_blank” href=”https://fortworthreport.org/2026/07/30/hollywood-director-joins-ut-arlington-faculty-expands-universitys-film-investment/”>article</a> first appeared on <a target=”_blank” href=”https://fortworthreport.org”>Fort Worth Report</a> and is republished here under a <a target=”_blank” href=”https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/”>Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.<img src=”https://i0.wp.com/fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/cropped-favicon.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1″ style=”width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;”>
<img id=”republication-tracker-tool-source” src=”https://fortworthreport.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=701280&ga4=2820184429″ style=”width:1px;height:1px;”><script> PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: “https://fortworthreport.org/2026/07/30/hollywood-director-joins-ut-arlington-faculty-expands-universitys-film-investment/”, urlref: window.location.href }); } } </script> <script id=”parsely-cfg” src=”//cdn.parsely.com/keys/fortworthreport.org/p.js”></script>
Credit: Source link