Thursday, October 18, 2012

We continue our researches into institutions of higher learning in the US&A by profiling Texas Tech University.

Texas Tech, originally the Texas Technological College, was created after a "Call" went out for a school in west Texas. Lubbock (rhymes with buttock), home of Judge Tom Head,









was chosen as locale for the new institution of higher learning beating out rival municipalities Floydada, Plainview, and Sweetwater.

Texas Tech opened in 1925 with concentration in four fields, the field of Home Economics, the field of Engineering, the field of Liberal Arts, and the fields of Agriculture.

By the 1930's they had a library.

The Lubbock campus was called "the most beautiful west of the Mississippi until you get to Stanford" by James Michener.











One of the best-known and most beloved structures on campus is a statue of Will Rogers riding his horse "Soapsuds." Legend has it that when the statue was installed "Soapsuds" hindquarters pointed in the direction of the entrance to the university :o  That was corrected by scholars in the field of Engineering who rotated "Soapsuds" 23 degrees to the northwest so that his hindquarters pointed toward the home of rival Texas A&M.J











From an initial student body of 914 in 1925 Texas Tech has grown to a current enrollment of over 32,000.  The addition of the library in the 1930's only enhanced the school's academic renown and today it boasts impressive rankings in the US&A and worldwide:

University rankings
National
Forbes[46]310[45]
U.S. News & World Report[47]160
Washington Monthly[48]215
Global
ARWU[49]401–500
Times[50]Not Ranked

Lubbock has gone from a wind-swept west Texas latrine hole to an erudite and sophisticated "college town" where you can now purchase a copy of the New York Times and listen to National Public Radio.  The Goin' Band from Raiderland captures the vibrancy of  life on campus










and student freedom of expression has been expanded from the single "free speech gazebo"












to the entire campus since 2003 by federal court order.

Drawing on its roots in the soil, reaching for the stars, Texas Tech has partnered with NASA to "perfect" methods to grow vegetables in space and to recycle space wastewater.  Texas Tech has educated young people who have enriched life from west Texas, east Texas, north Texas, and south Texas, people like John Hinckley, Jr.




 (1973-1980) who have met United States presidents and who may yet become United States presidents. From here, it's possible.