Located on the west side of campus near the Walsh Performing Arts Center is a functional and unique work of art known as the TCU Sundial. The sundial is a large precision instrument with no moving parts, relying instead on the movement of the Earth around the Sun to tell time to the nearest minute.

Joseph I. O’Neill the third of Midland commissioned the timepiece to honor his wife, Marion Jan Donnelly O’Neill, a TCU alumna. It was created by William Andrews, a British clockmaker and designer. The sundial was installed and dedicated in 2015.

The sundial was customized for TCU’s precise longitudinal and latitudinal location. The sundial and surrounding plaza is 30 feet across with stonewall seating around the monument. A three-foot tall, four-foot wide, seven-sided pedestal sits in the center of the compass rose, designed to tell time accurately to the minute, with seasonal corrections accounted for. It also displays accurate time during a true full moon. On the compass rose, the arrow pointing north is designed as a horned frog.