With offices originally located in Holden Hall and West Hall, the International Affairs were centralized under the leadership of Dr. Idris Traylor in 1996 in the newly built International Cultural Center on the Texas Tech Campus.  Dr. Traylor served as Director of the International Cultural Center and as the First Executive Director of International Affairs from 1988 – 2003, and IA worked closely with the external group – the Committee for Global Understanding.  Under the leadership of Ambassador Tibor Nagy as Vice Provost for International Affairs (2003-2017), International Affairs grew to include several divisions including:  International Student and Scholar Services, Undergraduate Admissions for International Students, International Student Life, International Research and Development, Study Abroad, Arts and Culture, International Grants and Partnerships, International Student Recruitment, and International Alumni to coordinate international activities at Texas Tech University by fostering international leadership, awareness, education, research, as well as events, exhibits and other cultural programming for the greater West Texas region.  In addition to these activities, International Affairs at Texas Tech has one of the few passport application-accepting offices on the university campus which is open to the public.  IA staff has garnered at least one of each of the University’s Staff Excellence Awards during the past years, attesting to IA’s commitment to excellence. 

In addition to its active engagement with the TTU campus and Lubbock region, International Affairs is also home to its signature K-12 Outreach Program which won the prestigious Sen. Paul Simon Spotlight Award in 2016 for its outstanding and innovative programming which introduce areas and cultures of the world to K-12 students in the West Texas region. 

Under the leadership of Vice Provost for International Affairs, Dr. Sukant Misra, Texas Tech University was also selected as a recipient of a Sen. Paul Simon Award for Comprehensive Internationalization by NAFSA: Association of International Educators, the world's largest nonprofit international education association. Former Vice Provost Dr. Elizabeth Trejos-Castillo brought extensive experience in national and international teaching, research, and multinational collaboration, and was committed to advancing internationalization, cultural awareness, and global competence across the Texas Tech community.