West Texas State Normal College (1910–1923) West Texas State Teachers College (1923–1949) West Texas State College (1949–1963) West Texas State University (1963–1990)
In its first school year, West Texas State Normal College had 152 all-white students and 16 faculty members. Its first president was Robert B. Cousins. A year after the Texas State House of Representatives approved the bill to establish West Texas State Normal College, construction began on the school's Administration Building. It consisted of the school's only classrooms, laboratory, library, and offices. On March 25, 1914, the school burned down; however, classes continued in local churches, courthouses, and vacant buildings. Later, in 1916, a new Administration Building opened. West Texas State Normal College hired famed American artist Georgia O'Keeffe to be the head of the Art Department from the fall of 1916 to February 1918. O'Keeffe has been recognized as the "Mother of American modernism".[3]
1923 West Texas State Teachers College
The first four-year college degrees were granted in 1919. In the following years, the college was admitted to the American Association of Teachers Colleges in 1922, the Association of Texas Colleges in 1923, and the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools in 1925. The school changed its name to West Texas State Teachers College in 1923. In the early 1930s, the Panhandle-Plains Historical Society built its Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum on the campus.
In 1948, a nonconformist leftist sociology professor, Joseph L. Duflot (1881–1957), created a sensation on campus when he told a meeting of the American Federation of Labor in Amarillo that "modern capitalism" is the "No. 1 enemy of the United States economy." A powerful legislator at the time, Sam Hanna of Dallas County, warned that state funding could be jeopardized for any college with "a communist" on the faculty. Though the West Texas regents first dismissed Duflot, he survived a second vote, and regent H.L. Mills praised him for "the courage of his convictions".[4] During the days of West Texas State University, the football team was an enormously successful feeder program for notable professional wrestlers including Tully Blanchard, Dusty Rhodes, Terry Funk, Ted DiBiase, Bobby Duncum, Tito Santana, Barry Windham, Bruiser Brody, Dory Funk Jr., and Stan Hansen, among others.
Many returning veterans from World War II enrolled at the institution in the latter 1940s, taking advantage of new G.I. Bill of Rights assistance. Conditions were so overcrowded for a time that the former soldiers slept in the gymnasium, and beds were brought from a former prisoner of war camp in Hereford.[4]
1949 West Texas State College
In 1949, the school again changed its name, this time to West Texas State College. During the Cold War, attention at West Texas State was focused on anticommunism. One history professor, John Cook, claimed that many of the films shown on campus, such as Communism on the Map, were "propaganda". During this time, too, historianJ. Evetts Haley ran for governor of Texas on a staunchly conservative platform, but the office went to Marion Price Daniel, Sr.[4]
At its founding the school admitted only white students. The first black student to graduate was Helen Neal in 1962.[5] During the 1960s, the school changed from a regional teacher's college to a state university. In 1963, Governor John B. Connally signed a bill to change the school's name to West Texas State University. The newly named school gained a College of Arts and Sciences, a graduate school, and professional schools of business. Near the end of the 1960s, West Texas State obtained its own board of regents, established a School of Agriculture and a School of Fine Arts, and created a Department of Nursing.
By 1970, the student enrollment neared 8,000, but was decreasing. The primary reasons were the changes in the Selective Service System and increases in tuition. The university's funding was largely enrollment-driven, and this caused serious financial problems for the school.
In 1986, WT President Ed Roach was the subject of protests and calls for his resignation over the amount of money spent on the campus' Presidential House.[6] The 7,301sqft (678.3m2) house cost $991,000, which was more than the $494,900 authorized by the State College Coordinating Board.[7] In 1991, Roach was indicted for diverting scholarship money to meet other budget deficits.[8]
1993 West Texas A&M University
The university joined the Texas A&M University System on September 1, 1990, and started to use the name West Texas A&M University in 1993. The letters "A&M" short for "Agricultural and Mechanical" taken from the Morrill Land-Grant Acts.[9] The school's first president under the new system was Barry B. Thompson. Early in Thompson's tenure, he dropped the school's football program, but the program returned a year later without athletic scholarships.
President Thompson was appointed chancellor of the Texas A&M University System in 1994 and Russell C. Long became the new president. During Long's tenure, the school renovated buildings, maintained its student enrollment growth, and added its first PhD in agriculture.
Old Main building on the campus of West Texas A&M University after construction of the Original Texans marble buffalo fountain
The school had a long-term connection with T. Boone Pickens, who was appointed to its board of regents in 1969. On March 21, 1973, Pickens resigned from the board in protest,[clarification needed], but was reappointed in 1981 and became its chair in 1982. He continued to chair its board until its merger with the Texas A&M system in 1990. In 1987, he pledged a $1.5 million matching gift to endow its business school, which was named in his honor. On November 24, 2004, the school issued a press release stating that it planned to remove Pickens' name from the T. Boone Pickens College of Business after university officials came to believe he had not completed pledges he made to the university. In fact, Pickens had satisfied his pledge, but asked to have his name removed. On December 1, 2004, the then-President Russell C. Long acknowledged the error and agreed to remove Pickens' name.[10] Subsequently, Pickens donated $165 million to Oklahoma State University-Stillwater. In 2007, Pickens endowed the Pickens Professorship of Business and in 2010, he endowed the Pickens Professorship of Management. In 2017, the business school was named the Paul and Virginia Engler College of Business in recognition of the largest gift ($80 million) received by the university in its history.[11]
In late 2005, Long retired from his position as the school's president, and J. Patrick O'Brien took that office in early 2006.
During the tenure of President O'Brien, WTAMU saw a surge of construction projects completed, including the Sybil B. Harrington Fine Arts Complex, the Hayward Spirit Tower, the Charles K. and Barbara Kerr Vaughan Pedestrian Mall, the Buffalo Sports Park (including Wilder Park and Schaeffer Field), a new entrance/climbing wall and renovations in the Virgil Hensen Activity Center, Buff Hall, Centennial Hall, Founders Hall, two new parking lots, Victory Circle, the JBK Student Center Expansion, Classroom Center/WTBookstore renovation, Engineering and Computer Science Building renovation and the implementation of the WT Amarillo Center in Center City, Amarillo.
In January 2009, the university began its first comprehensive campaign to raise $35 million for scholarships, faculty/program support, and capital projects. The Share your Pride campaign ended in August 2014 and raised more than $50 million.[12]
The university briefly attracted national attention in 2023 when the university's president cancelled a student group's drag show on campus. Shortly thereafter, the university's faculty senate voted "no confidence" in president Wendler, harshly criticizing his leadership beyond just that one decision.[13]
West Texas A&M University is considered a selective university with an acceptance rate of 67.4% (2014).[1] The university offers 60 undergraduate programs, 38 master's programs, and two doctoral programs through its six colleges/schools and graduate school.[16]U.S. News & World Report in Best Colleges for 2021 ranked West Texas A&M University #83 in all the Regional Universities West.[17] In 2021, U.S. News & World Report ranked WTAMU #15 in U.S. and #1 in Texas for Best Online Graduate Information Technology program.[18] In 2021, U.S. News & World Report ranked WTAMU #18 in U.S. and #1 in Texas for Best Online Master's in Business Programs.[19] WTAMU was also ranked #21 in U.S. and #1 in Texas for Best Online Bachelor's Programs.[20]
The university's Buffalo Sports Park is home to the largest grouping of synthetic athletic fields in the United States[21] and its Advanced Wind Turbine Test Facility is one of the largest testing facilities in the world for both large and small wind turbines.[22]
Research
Along with the Advanced Wind Turbine Test Facility, West Texas A&M University uses the Killgore Research Center, which houses the Attebury Honors Program, Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program, and WTAMU Academic and Research Environmental Health and Safety office, to conduct research on blood-borne pathogens, biosafety, and occupational health.[23]
The newly renovated Palo Duro Research Facility (PDRF) opened in August 2010 promote collaborative research and alliances for research collaboration that houses Environmental Quality & Technology Research Laboratory, Environmental Labs and University Research Alliance.[24]
To help meet the research needs of the cattle industry, WTAMU operates Beef Carcass Research Center and Feedlot Research Group.[25] WTAMU co-manages Cross Bar Cooperative Management Area, a 12,000 acre prairie site owned by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to facilitate outdoor research to reduce negative interactions between wildlife and people.[26]
WTAMU also teams up with several other institutions such as the Alternative Energy Institute, Athletic Training Room and Education Laboratory, Center for the Study of the American West, Computer Information Systems Software and Network Security Testing Lab, Cooperative Research, Education, and Extension Team, and Dryland Agricultural Institute to conduct research initiatives.[27]
West Texas A&M University has a student body with almost 56% of it being female and 40% being made up by minorities. An overwhelming number of the student body are native Texans (80%), while around 285 students are from other countries.[2]
Campus
The newly renovated Jack B. Kelley Student Center made its debut in late 2012, and is the center of campus activity at West Texas A&M University. The JBK features Legacy Hall, a new campus venue for programs and activities. Legacy Hall can seat 750 people theater-style, has its own stage, built-in sound system, programmable lighting and projectors with two 21-foot screens. The expansion also features several smaller meeting rooms to accommodate student groups and a student gathering space that features "collaborative" furniture on wheels with electrical charging stations.[clarification needed]
West Texas A&M University Jack B. Kelley Student Center
The JBK is also home to The Legends Club, Starbucks, a Chick-fil-a Express, a Which Wich, a Sharky's Burrito Company, and a convenience store.[28]
Buffalo Sports Park, a $21.8 million student-funded project, is the location of WT's new Division II intercollegiate complex for competition in baseball, softball, soccer, and track and field; it is the site for university intramural activities, community events, and area high school sports. The project involved a complete renovation of campus from east of Jarrett Hall and north to the former site of the university's Wind Test Center. The complex includes: the competition David and Myrt Wilder Baseball Field with seating; a competition softball field with seating; a competition combined soccer and track and field facility with seating; two combination football and soccer practice fields; a three-field intramural and recreational softball/flag football facility with lighting; two intramural basketball courts with lighting; two intramural tennis courts with lighting; a practice field for the WTAMU marching band; a grand lawn park activity area with lighting; a jogging trail with lighting; and rest room, concession, and ticket facilities.[28]
Charles K. and Barbara Kerr Vaughan Pedestrian Mall was completed and dedicated at Homecoming 2007. The pedestrian mall is located directly north of Old Main where Wisdom Road and University Drive formerly intersected. These cross streets between Old Main, Killgore Research Center, and the Jack B. Kelly Student Center are gone. In their place is a newly landscaped green space with the new Hayward Spirit Tower and the marble statue "The Original Texans".[28]
The Sybil B. Harrington Fine Arts Complex opened in August 2006 as WTAMU's first new academic building in 30 years. The building features "smart classroom technology". Other special features include radio and television studios, a 304-seat Branding Iron Theatre, the Happy State Bank Studio black-box theatre, an acting studio, recital hall, music studios, and choir rehearsal rooms. The Sybil B. Harrington Fine Arts Complex is home to the Department of Music, the Department of Art, Theatre and Dance, and the Department of Communication.[28]
The Administration Building is now called Old Main. It went through a $5 million renovation beginning in February 1987. The Old Main building consist of four levels, and houses the administrative and enrollment management offices, as well as classrooms and laboratories. The Division of Education, the Department of History and Political Science, and the Division of Nursing are based in this building.
West Texas A&M Classroom Center building
The Classroom Center was built in 1968. The four-story building contains classrooms, computer and writing labs, and faculty offices. The College of Business and the Department of English and Modern Languages are located in the Classroom Center. The Classroom Center had its reopening on August 24, 2009, for the start of the fall semester.
Mary Moody Northen Hall accommodates music studios, dance studios, a public art gallery, recital hall, art studios, computer labs, and classrooms.
The Agriculture and Sciences Building was constructed in 1974. The three-story building houses the Division of Agriculture and the Department of Life, Earth, and Environmental Sciences. The building contains classrooms, laboratories, and faculty offices. The Agricultural Sciences Complex opened in the summer of 2018. Located in the northeast corner of campus, the facility is almost 160,000 square feet and includes classrooms, labs, offices, a meats lab, agriculture event center, and a pavilion for animal showing, handling, and evaluation. The Agriculture program was named the Paul Engler College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences in 2017, in honor of the largest gift in the university's history.[29]
The Engineering and Computer Sciences Building was renovated in 2011 and again in 2017. It is home to the College of Engineering.
A veteran's war memorial is expected to be revealed on Memorial Day 2018.
The Texas history museum, Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, has been located on the campus of West Texas A&M University since the early 1930s.
Amarillo Center
The WTAMU Amarillo Center is located on the 10th and 11th floors of the Chase building in Amarillo, Texas. A permanent campus is being built at 8th Avenue and South Tyler Street, starting with the Commerce Building, which is planned to open in the fall of 2018. The new facility will be home to the WTAMU Center for Learning Disabilities, Speech and Hearing Clinic, Panhandle Area Health Education Center, Small Business Development Center, Licensed Professional Counseling, social work program, psychology program, special education program, and instructional technology program.
West Texas A&M athletic teams are the Buffaloes (or simply called the "Buffs," while the women's teams are known as the "Lady Buffs"). The university is a member of the Division II level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), primarily competing in the Lone Star Conference (LSC) since the 1994–95 academic year; which they were a member on a previous stint from 1986–87 to 1990–91.
West Texas A&M competes in 14 intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer and track & field; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, track & field and volleyball.
Softball
The Lady Buffs softball team won the 2014 NCAA Division II national championship in Salem, Virginia. The team was coached by Kevin Blaskowski and led on the field by Alyssa Lemos, Renee Erwin, and Rita Hokianga.
In 2021 West Texas A&M won back-to-back games in the D-II softball national championship series to win the 2021 national championship.
Oklahoma State University–Stillwater is a public land-grant research university in Stillwater, Oklahoma. OSU was founded in 1890 under the Morrill Act. Originally known as Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College, it is the flagship institution of the Oklahoma State University System that holds more than 35,000 students across its five campuses with an annual budget of $1.7 billion. The main campus enrollment for the fall 2019 semester was 24,071, with 20,024 undergraduates and 4,017 graduate students. OSU is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". According to the National Science Foundation, OSU spent $198.8 million on research and development in 2021.
St. Edward's University is a private, Catholic university in Austin, Texas. It was founded and is operated in the Holy Cross tradition.
Tennessee Technological University is a public research university in Cookeville, Tennessee. It was formerly known as Tennessee Polytechnic Institute, and before that as University of Dixie, the name under which it was founded as a private institution. Affiliated with the Tennessee Board of Regents, the university is governed by a board of trustees. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".
California State University Channel Islands is a public university in Camarillo, California. It opened in 2002 as the 23rd campus in the California State University system. CSUCI is located on the Central Coast of California, at the intersection of the Oxnard Plain and northernmost edge of the Santa Monica Mountains range. The Channel Islands are nearby where the university operates a scientific research station on Santa Rosa Island.
Transylvania University is a private university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. It was founded in 1780 and is the oldest university in Kentucky. It offers 46 major programs, as well as dual-degree engineering programs, and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Its medical program has graduated 8,000 physicians since 1859.
The University of Texas at Arlington is a public research university in Arlington, Texas. The university was founded in 1895 and was in the Texas A&M University System for several decades until joining the University of Texas System in 1965.
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center is a comprehensive cancer center in Houston, Texas. It is the largest cancer center in the U.S. and one of the original three comprehensive cancer centers in the country. It is both a degree-granting academic institution and a cancer treatment and research center located at the Texas Medical Center in Houston. It is affiliated with The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. According to Newsweek, MD Anderson Cancer Center is considered the best hospital in the world for oncology and related cancer treatment.
Tarleton State University is a public research university with its main campus in Stephenville, Texas. It is a founding member of the Texas A&M University System and enrolled over 15,000 students in the fall of 2022. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".
Potomac State College is a public college in Keyser, West Virginia. It is part of the West Virginia University system. Potomac State College is located approximately 90 miles east of West Virginia University's campus in Morgantown, West Virginia.
Texas A&M University–Commerce is a public university in Commerce, Texas. With an enrollment of over 12,000 students as of fall 2017, the university is the third-largest institution in the Texas A&M University System. Founded in 1889, the institution is also the fifth-oldest state university or college in the State of Texas.
The University of Houston–Clear Lake (UHCL) is a public university in Pasadena and Houston, Texas, with branch campuses in Pearland and Texas Medical Center. It is part of the University of Houston System. Founded in 1971, UHCL had an enrollment of more than 9,000 students for fall 2019.
Texas Wesleyan University is a private Methodist university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was founded in 1890 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The main campus is located in the Polytechnic Heights neighborhood of Fort Worth. Its mascot is the ram.
The University of Nebraska at Kearney (UNK) is a campus of the public University of Nebraska system and located in Kearney, Nebraska. It was founded in 1905 as the Nebraska State Normal School at Kearney.
Amarillo College (AC) is a public community college in Amarillo, Texas. It enrolls over 9,100 students and was established in 1929 as Amarillo Junior College. Amarillo College has a total of six campuses as of August 2023.
East Mississippi Community College (EMCC), formerly East Mississippi Junior College, is a public community college in Scooba, Mississippi. EMCC serves and is supported by Clay, Kemper, Lauderdale, Lowndes, Noxubee and Oktibbeha counties in east central Mississippi. The college has two principal campuses in Scooba and Mayhew, Mississippi and offers courses at five other locations. One of fifteen community colleges in Mississippi, EMCC is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) to award the Associate of Applied Science degree and the Associate of Arts degree.
The campus of Texas A&M University, also known as Aggieland, is situated in College Station, Texas, United States. Texas A&M is centrally located within 200 miles (320 km) of three of the 10 largest cities in the United States and 75% of the Texas and Louisiana populations. Aggieland's major roadway is State Highway 6, and several smaller state highways and Farm to Market Roads connect the area to larger highways such as Interstate 45.
Kennesaw State University (KSU) is a public research university in the state of Georgia with two campuses in the Atlanta metropolitan area, one in Kennesaw and the other in Marietta on a combined 581 acres (235 ha) of land. The school was founded in 1963 by the Georgia Board of Regents using local bonds and a federal space-grant during a time of major Georgia economic expansion after World War II. KSU also holds classes at the Cobb Galleria Centre, Dalton State College, and in Paulding County (Dallas). The total enrollment exceeds 45,000 students making KSU the third-largest university by enrollment in Georgia.
Elsa Alina Murano has been the Director of the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture & Development at Texas A&M University's Agriculture & Life Sciences program since 2012. She was the 23rd president of Texas A&M University from January 3, 2008, until her effective resignation on June 15, 2009.
Alternative Energy Institute was West Texas A&M University's alternative energy research branch. Formed in 1977, the program was nationally and internationally recognized, and along with research provides education and outreach around the U.S. and the globe.
Helen Louise Elliott Neal, along with Marvell White, was the first American black graduate of West Texas State University in 1962. In 2019, the school, now named West Texas A & M University, opened the Nathaniel and Helen Neal Multicultural Suite to commemorate her experience.
1 2 3 Martin "Marty" Kuhlman, "The Red Scare at West Texas State", West Texas Historical Association, annual meeting, West Texas A&M University in Canyon, April 5, 2008
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