The University

Texas Tech University is a state-supported, coeducational institution with a total student population of more than 24,000 located in the West Texas city of Lubbock. The Graduate School of Texas Tech, with a current enrollment of 4,000 students, operates as an integral component of the University. In addition to the Graduate School, the University consists of the instructional colleges of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Architecture, Arts and Sciences, Business Administration, Education, Engineering, and Human Sciences, the School of Law, and a number of special departments and divisions. Texas Tech University is fully accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools; its various programs are accredited by their associations. The Texas Tech Health Sciences Center functions as a separate institution that includes the School of Medicine, the School of Nursing, and the School of Allied Health.

Texas Tech's students can stroll across an 1,839-acre campus featuring expansive lawns and impressive landscaping together with unique Spanish Renaissance style red-tile-roofed buildings. This beautiful, spacious campusone of the largest in the nationis well-equipped not only for research and study, but also for varied cultural and recreational activities.

Besides the main campus, the University operates a number of other facilities, including the Research Center­East Campus (Lubbock), agricultural field laboratories at New Deal, and satellite medical facilities at Amarillo, El Paso, and Midland-Odessa. Also outside the Lubbock campus is the Texas Tech University Center in the Texas Panhandle, an agricultural facility and research farm spanning 16,000 acres.

Texas Tech's popular summer programs in art for graduate students as well as photography classes are only part of the unique outdoor experiences offered at the 400-acre Texas Hill Country Junction campus.

The University's main Library, a member of the Association of Research Libraries, includes several exceptional collections and a total (when combined with constituent sublibraries housed in various colleges and programs on campus) of more than one million volumes and more than two million bibliographic items. The library has strong collections in the humanities, the biological sciences, and physical sciences and serves as one of two regional depositories for U.S. government documents in Texas. An extra bonus for students involved in research is the Computer Assisted Search Services, a nationwide service that aids students in finding information on virtually any topic.

The Southwest Collection, in combination with the Texas Tech University Museum and the Ranching Heritage Center, offers unusual opportunities to those interested in area studies, regional history, and economic development. Current in-depth collecting focuses on gathering materials on Hispanics in the Southwest. Among other special research resources housed in the library's newly completed special collections building is the Archive of the Vietnam War, whose significance is reflected in the fact that more dissertations on that war are currently being written at Texas Tech than at any other university in the country.

In alliance with the Texas Tech Museum, excavations at the Lubbock Lake Landmark historical site yield information on thousands of years of human habitation as well as on now-extinct animals. This location is a rich lode for researchers in disciplines ranging from archaeology and anthropology to biology, history, and area studies. An archaeological research facility recently opened on the site with an international conference.

The newly inaugurated International Center houses the various area studies programs and transcultural initiatives, as well as providing expanded space for international and intercultural conferences. This state-of-the-art facility attests to Texas Tech's rapidly growing international involvement.

The Advanced Technology Learning Center provides a variety of support services to students and faculty researchers, from microcomputers to computer documentation, statistical and other software support, individualized on-line computer bibliographic searches, and VAX technical support. An on-line computer catalog, with tie-ins to a wealth of databases, multiplies the research potential while simplifying the leg work required of the student researcher.

Another important resource is the recently established Teaching, Learning, and Technology Center, conveniently located in the University Library. Faculty multimedia labs and workshops, technology in instruction roundtables, and classroom videotaping enhance the learning experience and provide instructional assistance (available also to graduate assistants).

The newly initiated Institute of Environmental and Human Health will integrate the efforts of Texas Tech University, the School of Law, and the Health Sciences Center in a joint venture to assess toxic chemical impacts of human environments. Attracting graduate students at both the master's and doctoral level, IEHH includes faculty from biological sciences, medicine, epidemiology, biostatistics, engineering, chemistry, computer science, law, mathematics, pharmacology, physiology, and range, wildlife, and fisheries management.

Opportunities for a fulfilling campus life after hours include an expansive Student Recreation and Aquatic Center that contains an Olympic size indoor-outdoor swimming pool; handball-racquetball courts; squash courts; multipurpose rooms for martial arts, wrestling, tumbling, fencing, indoor archery, golf, and dance; a gymnasium for basketball, tennis, volleyball, or badminton; weight areas, saunas, and a lounge.

Other resources that add to campus life at Texas Tech are two radio stationsKTXT-FM and classical KOHM (FM)and KTXT-TV, a noncommercial television station. The University Dailythe student newspaperis available to every student, staff, and faculty member on campus free of charge.


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Page Maintained by: Cheryl Hedlund

Page Administrator: Gale Richardson

LAST UPDATE: 12-8-97