About the University

Campuses

Texas Tech University is the largest institution of the Texas Tech University System. More than 28,000 students attend classes in Lubbock on the 1,839-acre campus. The university also operates the Research Center–East Campus (Lubbock); Texas Tech University Farm at Pantex in the Texas Panhandle; research facilities at Reese Technology Center (west of Lubbock); agricultural field laboratories at New Deal; Texas Tech University Center at Junction (411-acre educational facility in the Texas Hill Country); and off-campus educational sites at Abilene, Amarillo, Highland Lakes, and Fredericksburg. The Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center is a separate university in the system that includes the School of Medicine, School of Nursing, School of Allied Health, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and the School of Pharmacy. The Health Sciences Center has regional campuses in Amarillo, El Paso, and Odessa-Midland. A School of Pharmacy opened in Abilene in 2007. The medical school on the El Paso campus is currently expanding from a two-year into a four-year facility. Angelo State University in San Angelo joined the Texas Tech System on September 1, 2007. 

Location (Back to Top)

With a population of more than 200,000, Lubbock is located in the heart of the vast Southern Plains of West Texas and Eastern New Mexico. It is a major medical center for an area within a 300-mile radius of Lubbock and a major regional center for business and industry. The climate is excellent, with over 3,550 hours of sunshine every year. Winters are dry and moderate (average annual rainfall is 18 inches) while the summer heat is tempered by very little humidity. Several airlines and an interstate bus line serve the city, as well as an interstate highway and three additional U.S. highways.

History (Back to Top)

Texas Tech University was created by legislative action in 1923 and has the distinction of being the largest comprehensive higher education institution in the western two-thirds of the state of Texas. The university is the major institution of higher education in a region larger than 46 of the nation’s 50 states and is the only campus in Texas that is home to a major university, law school, and medical school.

Originally named Texas Technological College, the college opened in 1925 with six buildings and an enrollment of 914. Graduate instruction did not begin until 1927 within the School of Liberal Arts. A “Division of Graduate Studies” was established in 1935 and eventually became known as the Graduate School in 1954.

By action of the Texas State Legislature, Texas Technological College formally became Texas Tech University on September 1, 1969. At that time the schools of Agricultural Sciences, Arts and Sciences, Business Administration, Education, Engineering, and Home Economics also became known as “colleges.” Architecture became a college in 1986. Two colleges changed their names in 1993 to reflect the broadening fields each serves: the College of Agricultural Sciences became the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources and the College of Home Economics became the College of Human Sciences. The Honors College was established in 1998, and the College of Visual and Performing Arts opened in 2002. Mass Communications became a college in 2004.

The Texas State Legislature authorized funds in 1965 for establishing the Texas Tech University School of Law, and the Law School’s first dean was appointed in 1966.  The first class of 72 students enrolled in 1967. The Law School was approved by the American Bar Association in 1970 and is fully accredited by the Supreme Court of Texas (1968) and the Association of American Law Schools (1969).

As a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, Texas Tech began competing in the Big 12 Conference in 1996 after a 35-year membership in the former Southwest Conference.

Texas Tech was first accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in 1928 and has been accredited continuously since that time. Texas Tech University was selected to shelter a Phi Beta Kappa chapter in 2006.

The presidents of Texas Tech have been Paul Whitfield Horn (1925–1932), Bradford Knapp (1932–1938), Clifford Bartlett Jones (1938–1944), William Marvin Whyburn (1944–1948), Dossie Marion Wiggins (1948–1952), Edward Newlon Jones (1952–1959), Robert Cabaniss Goodwin (1960–1966), Grover Elmer Murray (1966–1976), Maurice Cecil Mackey, Jr., (1976–1979), Lauro Fred Cavazos (1980–1988), Robert W. Lawless (1989–1996), Donald R. Haragan (1996–2000), David J. Schmidly (2000-2002), and Jon Whitmore (2003-Present).

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center was created by the 61st Legislature of the State of Texas in 1969 as a separate university to address problems of health care delivery in rural areas and to develop education programs emphasizing primary care throughout West Texas.

The School of Medicine—the initial operational phase of the Health Sciences Center—admitted its first students in 1972. In 1981 the state legislature funded schools of Nursing and Allied Health. Nursing students were first admitted in August 1982 with Allied Health students admitted in 1983. In the fall of 1996, the School of Pharmacy admitted its first class. The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, originally a part of the School of Medicine, became a separate school in 1994 to coordinate the training of biomedical students.

The institution of higher education that became Angelo State University began in 1928, two years after San Angelo citizens, disappointed their city was not selected as the site for Texas Technological College, voted to create San Angelo Junior College. The name was changed to Angelo State College in 1965, the year the institution became a four-year college, and to Angelo State University in 1969.  Angelo State awarded its first baccalaureate degrees in 1967 and its first master’s degrees in 1972.

Angelo State University consists of a College of Graduate Studies, College of Business, College of Education, College of Liberal and Fine Arts and College of Sciences.  Angelo State has an Honors Program and an International Program. 

Financial Support (Back to Top)

The university receives the major share of its operating funds from tuition and appropriations by the Legislature. For the construction and renovation of academic and general buildings, funds are made available from the Higher Education Assistance Fund (HEAF), Tuition Revenue Bonds, and gifts. State-appropriated funds are not used to support the residence halls, intercollegiate athletics, bookstore, student publications, health service, or Student Union.

The Texas Tech Foundation is a nonprofit corporation that receives and distributes gifts to the university. Gifts and grants received through the foundation enhance state funds in supporting research, establishing scholarships and fellowships, and helping to provide physical facilities and educational materials.

Organizational Structure (Back to Top)

A nine-member Board of Regents governs Texas Tech University, Angelo State University and the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. The Governor of the State of Texas appoints the Regents to six-year terms. The terms of office of three Regents expire every two years. The government, control, and direction of the university are vested in the Regents who in turn appoint a Chancellor to carry out the policies of the system as determined by the Regents. The Chancellor appoints a president of each institution in the system. The presidents are chief executive officers of their respective institutions and responsible for the strategic operation of each institution. The President of Texas Tech University is supported by a Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs who oversees the educational programs of the university, a Senior Vice President for Administration and Finance who is responsible for the fiscal operations of the university and the physical plant, a Vice President for Student Affairs who is concerned with the general welfare of the students of the university, and a Vice President for Research who directs the research efforts of the university.

Texas Tech University consists of the Graduate School; School of Law; Honors College; and the Colleges of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Architecture, Arts and Sciences, Business Administration, Education, Engineering, Human Sciences, Mass Communications, and Visual and Performing Arts. Each college is administered by a dean and consists of a number of instructional departments or areas. A Division of Distance Education offers courses off campus and includes the Texas Tech University Independent School District which offers K-12 curriculum.

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