Creating a distributed physics department

To preserve their undergraduate physics programs, a group of state universities in Texas has jointly offered upper level undergraduate physics courses through the Texas Electronic Coalition for Physics for the past nine years. At the start of the 2002 academic year they formalized their relationship to successfully create a fully functioning distributed physics department. We report on the status of this innovative project, the inter-institutional organizational structures that have evolved to support this initiative, the successes achieved by the distributed department during its first year, and the problems encountered and possible solutions. (C) 2004 American Association of Physics Teachers.