Nearly 140 years ago, The University of Texas at Austin opened with one building, eight professors, and 221 students. Today, UT ranks among the top 40 universities in the world. It is both a community — more than 51,000 students in 18 colleges and schools, their teachers, researchers and staff — and a nation, Longhorn Nation, with a global network of nearly half a million alumni.

The story of that transformation can be summed up in six turning points that made us who we are…