From the Regional Sites

Celebrating Half a Century of TTU at Junction

By Robert Stubblefield, Director of  Operations

In January 1971, the State of Texas passed by the regular session of the 62nd Legislature, Section 1.88, “The Kimble County Adjunct of Texas A&M University, the land on which it is located, and its buildings, equipment, and facilities are transferred to Texas Tech University for use in connection with educational activities of Texas Tech University as determined by its board of regents…” And Texas Tech Center at Junction was born.

The center has been making history ever since and is quietly celebrating 50 years in 2021!

The Texas Tech Center at Junction is located just outside the city limits in Kimble County in the picturesque heart of the Texas Hill County. The 411 acres are bisected by the spring-fed South Llano River comprising some of the most biodiverse habitats in the region. The center is most renowned for its academic offerings, which include collegiate summer courses and a nationally recognized K-12 program known as the Outdoor Learning Center (OLC).

Tammy Shepherd, Ed.D., an AP Environmental Science teacher at Tahoka High School said her experience at the OLC changed how she sees students doing science.

“The experience proved to me that students do want to get off their internet devices and out of their textbooks - they want to get their hands dirty and their feet wet,” Shepherd said.

Over the past 50 years, the center has hosted hundreds of thousands of people both young and old, earning college credits while attending one of its summer college programs, hosting strategic and professional meetings or hosting international students from Brazil in conjunction with the TTU K-12 program in Lubbock. The OLC alone has educated over 45,000 students from over 65 school districts throughout Texas since 2003.

Elizabeth W. Mack, a biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, was one of those hundreds of thousands of people whose life was changed by their experience in Junction.

“I owe my career, and the trajectory of my life to one single experience – a field course I took at Texas Tech University's Junction center,” Mack said.

For whatever the reason one attends the TTU Center at Junction, there is one thing they find in common: the depth and beauty of the TTU Center at Junction, which is truly indicative of the Texas Hill Country.

Carter Smith, executive director, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, says the Llano River Field Station, part of TTU at Junction is one of the great hidden jewels in the state's education and outreach system.

“There is no better or more picturesque setting to come learn about the Hill Country's unique lands, waters, and heritage,” Smith added.

Thank you, Texas Tech for the past 50 years in allowing past, present and future generations to share this resource, to experience and learn and to be inspired by nature!