Texas Tech University
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Texas Tech University is a doctoral level research university located in Lubbock, Texas, established in 1923 originally as Texas Technological College.
Texas Tech University
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Texas Tech University Logo
| Motto | Haec Olim Meminisse Juvabit
(Unofficial) |
|---|---|
| Established | 1923 |
| School type | Public University |
| Chancellor | David R. Smith |
| President | Jon Whitmore |
| Location | Lubbock, TX, USA |
| Enrollment | 28,325 total, undergraduate and graduate |
| Faculty | 1,180 |
| Endowment | US$ 81.6 million |
| Campus | Urban, 1,839 acres (7 km²) |
| Sports teams | Red Raiders (men's teams) Lady Raiders (women's teams) |
| Website | www.ttu.edu |
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History
Though plans for opening a college in West Texas had been in the legislature for some time, it had long been thought that any such institution should be a branch of Texas A&M. However, in 1923 the decision was made to create a new college system entirely so as to serve the unique needs of the region. On 10 February of that year, Governor Pat Neff signed the legislation creating Texas Technological College and the site committee began searching for a location. In August, the first ballot resulted in the selection of Lubbock and construction began on what is now considered Old Campus. Texas Technological College opened for classes in 1925 with an enrollment of 914 students.
In the 1960s it was decided that the phrase "technological college" was insufficient to define the scope of the institution, having expanded the curriculum to far more than just technical subjects. Several name changes were proposed, with Texas State University apparently having the most support from students and faculty. However, the board of directors preferred the name Texas Tech University, possibly due to a desire to preserve the "Double T" emblem. Despite rallies and student-led ballot initiatives (one student group, despairing at the board's refusal to listen to the student body, proposed "The University of Moscow at Lubbock"), in 1969 the board voted unanimously in favor of the change to Texas Tech University.
Academics
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The university's medical school, the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, offers schools of Allied Health, Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacology. The HSC has campuses located in Lubbock, as well as in Abilene, Amarillo, El Paso, and Odessa. Aside from its teaching duties, it provides medical services to over a hundred counties, a geographic region larger than most states.
Texas Tech maintains a number of libraries, both general-purpose and specific (such as the Architecture and Law libraries), the most notable of which are the Southwest Special Collections and the Vietnam Archive, one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of information on the Vietnam War in the world.
The university also maintains the KTXT-FM 88.1 student radio station as well as the Public Broadcasting Service stations KOHM 89.1 FM (radio) and KTXT-TV (television).
Athletics
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The "Double T"
In addition to the "major" collegiate sports, the university offers other sports such as rugby, lacrosse, and soccer through campus intramural sports organizations.
The Masked Rider is the oldest of Texas Tech's mascots still in existence today. Originally called the "Ghost Rider," it was an unofficial mascot starting around 1936 when an unknown student (or students) would circle the field on horseback at home football games, riding into the stadium and away. The Masked Rider became the official mascot with 1954's Gator Bowl and has led the team onto the field at nearly every football game since.
Tech's other current mascot, Raider Red, is more recent. Around the time of the 1971 football season, the Southwest Conference created a rule that forbade the bringing of live animal mascots to away games unless the host school permitted it. Since the Masked Rider's horse would fall under this rule an alternate mascot was created. Student Jim Gaspard created the original design for the Raider Red costume, basing it on a character created by Lubbock cartoonist and former mayor Dirk West. Though the Masked Rider's identity is public knowledge, it has always been tradition that Raider Red's student alter ego is kept secret until the end of his tenure.
It is unclear which university Tech considers to be its main rival. Older generations of Techsans (referring to alumni of Tech) had long viewed the University of Texas to be their main rival, particularly in football. However younger Tech fans are more likely to claim that Texas A&M is the main rival; they point to the fact that the posterior of Soapsuds (the statue at the center of campus - "Will Rogers and Soapsuds Riding into the sunset") points southeast to the campus of Texas A&M. The rivalry between Texas Tech and Texas A&M flared during a football game in 2001 when Texas Tech defeated Texas A&M at Jones SBC Stadium in Lubbock. Following the end of the game, some Tech fans pushed a fallen goalpost into the Texas A&M seating section, resulting in several fights and arrests. Another reason that this perceived rivalry has escalated in recent years is due to the fact that Texas Tech has won seven out of the last ten football games against Texas A&M. However, some students still consider the University of Texas to be the true rival. Regardless, neither Texas A&M nor the University of Texas considers Texas Tech to be its main rival; the two schools are each others' main rivals.
Student publications and media
- KTXT-FM
- Daily Toreador (http://www.dailytoreador.com/) (TTU Newspaper, Formerly: The University Daily, renamed in 2005)
- La Ventana (TTU Yearbook) (http://www.yearbookupdates.com/ttu/)
- Student Media Site (http://www.orgs.ttu.edu/studentpublications/studentpub.htm)
Notable faculty
- Wendell Aycock
- M.M. Ayoub, a pioneer in the field of ergonomics
- B.B. Bell
- Thomas Butler
- Sankar Chatterjee, a well-known paleontologist
- Pernendu Dasgupta
- Michael Dini
- Timothy Floyd, defender of Gulf War veteran Louis Jones, Jr.
- Ann Hawkins
- William Curry Holden
- Stephen Graham Jones, Blackfeet author
- Kenneth Ketner
- Bobby Knight
- Mike Leach
- E. Roland Menzel
- Mary Jeanne van Appledorn, composer
- Jimmy Smith, Director of the Murdough Center for Engineering Professionalism
Notable alumni
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- Kenneth L. Anderson, chief of the Historic American Buildings Survey
- Doug Ault, Major League Baseball player
- G.W. Bailey, actor
- Bob Bullock, former Lieutenant Governor of Texas
- Waggoner Carr, Texas Attorney General, who began his own investigation of the Kennedy Assassination
- Lauro F. Cavazos, former Tech president and U.S. Secretary of Education under presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush
- Richard Clapp, Major League Baseball player
- Barry Corbin, actor
- John Denver, singer
- George Eads, actor
- Pat Green, country music singer
- Jerry Hall, journalist and political consultant
- Kent Hance, U.S. Congressman
- Bernard A. Harris, Jr., astronaut
- John Hinckley, attempted assassin of president Ronald Reagan
- E.J. Holub, American Football League All-Star
- Rick Husband, astronaut and commander of STS-107 (Columbia), killed in the Columbia disaster
- Dr. O. Wayne Isom, David Letterman's heart surgeon
- Paul Lockhart, astronaut
- Natalie Maines, Singer, Dixie Chicks
- Randy Neugebauer, U.S. Congressman
- George H. O'Brien Jr., Congressional Medal of Honor recipient
- Jerry S. Rawls, President & CEO, Finistar Corporation
- Preston Smith, former Governor of the State of Texas
- Charles Stenholm, U.S. Congressman
- Sheryl Swoopes, WNBA player
- Zach Thomas, NFL player
- Mac Thornberry, U.S. Congressman
- Edward Whitacre, Jr., Chairman and CEO of SBC
Notable organizations
- The Goin' Band from Raiderland, Texas Tech's marching band
- Sabre Flight Drill Team
- Tau Beta Sigma National Honorary Band Sorority, founded at Texas Tech
- The Vietnam Project
- Saddle Tramps spirit organization
External links
- Texas Tech University Official Site (http://www.ttu.edu)
- Texas Tech Athletics Official Site (http://www.texastech.com)
- Texas Tech Alumni Association (http://www.techsan.org)
- The Vietnam Project at the Vietnam Archive (http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu)