Brigham Young University

Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah -- photographed for this blog entry by Carson Dover, an alumnus of the school (BS, MS) -- has an especially scenic campus. As one observer noted, "pretty much the entire BYU campus is surrounded by the Rocky Mountains' Wasatch Range." Carson is now a new graduate student with us at Texas Tech University and he kindly took these photos for the blog.

The mountains also frame the Wilkinson Student Center...

... the new Engineering Building (which opened circa 2019)...

... the entry to the Harold B. Lee Library ...

... and this plaza of blooming trees.

One additional aspect of the location is the presence of "Y Mountain," a half-mile from campus and shown at this link. According to the linked article:

Preparations for placing the initials BYU on the mountainside began in April of 1906 when president George H. Brimhall commissioned surveyors for the letters "B," "Y" and "U." The letter "Y" was first laid out to insure that the initials were properly centered on the mountain. Beginning in the early morning, students formed a line that zigzagged up the mountainside. Standing eight feet apart, each student would carry a load of lime powder up to the next person and then return for another. 

Officials expected to complete laying out all three letters by 10 a.m. By 4 p.m., only the Y was covered. After such a laborious day of work, plans to fill in the other two letters were scrapped.

Other important structures on the BYU campus include the Spiral Walkway (seen from overhead at this link)...

... the Tree of Wisdom (which has been relocated and rebuilt a few times)...

... and the Visitors Center...

Ultimately, though, as proclaimed on this university sign, "The world is our campus."

Fresno State University

One of our Texas Tech graduate students, Emma Willis-Grossmann, visited her undergraduate alma mater Fresno State University earlier this spring. While there, she photographed the university's architectural award-winning library and she was kind enough to share her photos. Here are two perspectives on the library, one without and one with the intense California sun!

According to the Fresno State library website, the stunning feature we see above is "the Table Mountain Rancheria Tower, which is a striking five-story elliptical tower of glass, steel and angled-wood lattice that symbolizes a twined Native American basket."

Baylor University

Lubbock sportscaster and all-around good guy Mike Gustafson traveled to Waco in mid March to do radio for the Texas Tech at Baylor baseball series and was kind enough to take photos of the Baylor campus. 

The following picture of the Mark & Paula Hurd Welcome Center seems like a good one with which to welcome readers to this photo essay...

Another prominent structure on college campuses is the library. Here is Moody Library (part of the main Moody and Jones research libraries, which have a Starbucks!).

Professors presumably can get their nourishment at the McMillan-Connelly Faculty Center...

Some of the academic buildings include the Baylor Fine Arts Center...

McCrary Music Building...

and the Baylor Sciences Building...

Russell Hall, divided into a North and a South area, is a residential complex. North Russell has become known of late as a home for international students...

Next is Harrington House, which has served a number of different purposes at the university over the years.

With Baylor being a religiously affiliated institution, two major campus buildings are the Truett Theological Seminary...

and Miller Memorial Chapel...

Finally, a campus-photo ensemble from Mike wouldn't be complete without a shot of the baseball stadium...

University of California, San Diego

 Earlier this summer, I attended an academic conference in San Diego. 

I had hoped to visit a few different college campuses while there but only had time to visit one, the University of California, San Diego. From the Old Town Transit Center, it was easy enough to catch a light-rail train (known in San Diego as a trolley) to UCSD's campus in the community of La Jolla.

Despite the institution existing for only 62 years (young, as far as major universities go), UCSD "faculty, researchers, and alumni have won 27 Nobel Prizes as well as three Fields Medals [in mathematics], eight National Medals of Science, eight MacArthur Fellowships, and three Pulitzer Prizes," according to Wikipedia.

Perhaps because it developed during the counterculture 1960s, UCSD has some rather eccentric and eclectic architecture on campus. Shown below first is the Geisel Library (1970), named after Theodor Seuss Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss) and his wife Audrey. 

Shown next is the Jacobs School of Engineering, which features a seemingly precarious house that was hoisted to the top via crane in 2011. Presumably it illustrates some type of engineering or physics principle! People can go inside the house but it's not something I would have wanted to do.

Not quite as exotic but still interesting is the "neighborhood" containing the Social Sciences Public Engagement and Arts and Humanities complexes. As indicated by the red arrow below, there is an outdoor terrace midway up the building.

Other parts of the campus are geared to promote entertainment, arts, and relaxation. One can attend events at the Epstein Family Amphitheater...

...enjoy campus murals...

...get a little rest on a hammock...

...or look out at mountains.

University of Alabama

The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa is probably best known for its national championship Crimson Tide football teams under legendary coaches Paul "Bear" Bryant (1958-1982) and Nick Saban (2007-present). Below are two shots of Bryant-Denny Stadium, which holds over 100,000 fans and recently received a $100 million renovation.

The U of A is also known historically for other things than football. Alabama was among the many Southern universities that were linked to slavery and practiced Whites-only admission until the early 1960s (or thereabouts). Today, the University features historical markers and programs to acknowledge these facts.

Two weeks ago, my wife attended an academic conference at the U of A and kindly took several pictures for this website (including the ones above). The first two photos below are named after members of the Gorgas family (information on the buildings' histories from here). Immediately below is Gorgas House, named after former University President (and Confederate General) Josiah Gorgas...

The Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library appears next. Ms. Gorgas was a University librarian and wife of Josiah.

Next is the Little Round House. This small building has served many purposes over the years, which are described on the associated plaque.

One of the few exceptions to the campus's predominant red-brick motif is the President's House...

For those seeking a quiet area for reflection and introspection, the benches in the following photo would fit the bill...

Finally, we have the Elephant Statue near the football stadium. How an elephant mascot came to be associated with U of A is described here.

Alabama.com has a photo essay on 41 campus buildings for those of you wishing to see more of the U of A.

Texas Tech in its Centennial Year (2023)

The year 2023 marks the Centennial of the legislation establishing Texas Tech University (then known as Texas Technological College). The first classes were held in 1925. As the buildup to the Centennial was taking place, I realized that I hadn't posted any pictures of Texas Tech on this blog since 2006. For the past year, therefore, I have been taking lots of photos of the campus to produce this special, Centennial-year photo essay. 

Shown above is what I refer to as the "100 Portal," shown at dusk in December, with the Physics/Geosciences building in the background. Passersby are invited to walk through the middle zero, the inner portion of which features collages of major events in school history (see below).

Not far from the portal is the Will Rogers and Soapsuds horse statue. 

Behind the Will Rogers and Soapsuds statue is the Administration Building. An early-morning, panoramic shot of the Administration Building -- with Memorial Circle in the foreground -- appears next.

The other side of the Administration Building faces the Student Union Building, with a parking lot in between. Over the years, there were various plans to beautify this area but, as best I can tell, it was hard to balance the expansion of amenities with the loss of parking spaces. Finally, the university decided on a tree-lined, brick walkway between the two buildings, preserving most of the parking spaces. The path leading toward Administration Building is shown below on the left, with the path to the Student Union on the right.

Another addition to the area, west of the Student Union and near the library, is Red Raider Plaza. 

A little bit to the northeast of the Student Union Building is the Human Sciences building, where my department (Human Development & Family Sciences) is based. 

One of the great Texas Tech traditions is the annual Carol of Lights, in which lights are strung up on all the buildings surrounding the Memorial Circle/Administration/Science area. There is a large evening event in early December to formally illuminate the lights, which remain on in the evening for the next few weeks. Here are several photos from last December.  

Outside of the central core of buildings we have seen thus far, TTU has also been constructing new facilities and renovating existing ones in academic disciplines ranging from the physical sciences and engineering to business administration to the performing arts.

Shown below is Experimental Sciences II, which opened in 2019 to complement the older Experimental Sciences I. These two buildings host research from faculty and students in multiple disciplines...

Next is the Petroleum Engineering building, which opened in 2014...

The Rawls College of Business Administration moved into its new building in 2011. The front has a pretty traditional look, whereas the back opens up to a larger plaza... 

One additional new facility is the renovated and expanded complex for the Talkington College of Visual and Performing Arts, shown both during daytime and the evening...

Another set of campus structures fall into the categories of amenities -- public art, student housing, and meeting/event facilities. The Four Faces display (2013) sits outside one of the campus's newest residence halls, also named for the Talkington family.

Also among Texas Tech's newer residence halls are the Honors Hall (for students in the Honors College), which opened in 2017...

...and Murray Hall, a bit older complex (2006).

A more abstract artwork sits adjacent to Experimental Sciences II, as shown in the following photos...

According to the accompanying plaque, the piece is known as Oblique Intersection and was completed in 2019. The plaque reads, in part, "Constructed entirely with stainless steel rods, the ephemeral form is intended to be visually ever-changing based on a viewer's position relative to the sun and seasons."

Two recently renovated meeting/event facilities appear next. First is the Dairy Barn, which featured cows and milking facilities for agriculture students between 1926-1964. In the following decades, the university considered options for the Barn including demolition, renovation, and seeking declaration as a national historic site. Had the building been torn down, any future repurposing would have been a m-o-o-o-o-o-o-t point. However, roughly 50 years after the Barn's closing, planning and fundraising began to rehabilitate it. Finally, the Barn reopened in 2020, becoming a popular site for celebrations and gatherings (faces blurred to protect privacy).

Second is the Frazier Alumni Pavilion, a larger banquet facility that underwent recent expansion.

Sports are a major part of the Texas Tech culture, of course, with passionate fans cheering on their Red Raider teams. As shown in the next photos, the university has also been constructing and renovating facilities in this area. Among the newest facilities is the Whitacre Athletic Complex, with competition, practice, and training areas for indoor track, football, and sports fitness. 

Note how, like the abstract artwork by Experimental Sciences II seen earlier, the runners' statue appears completely solid from the front but is partly transparent from the side!

Also, the baseball stadium for Texas Tech's four-time College World Series qualifier continues to receive upgrades. The overhang to provide shade for fans sitting behind home plate on hot west Texas afternoons and early evenings is my favorite addition.

Reflecting the present and future but respecting the past, some parts of the Texas Tech campus display the modern three-dimensional Double-T logo, whereas others retain the older "flat" version (which sometimes also appears in throwback sports uniforms). 

To conclude, we have a note of disappointment. The Varsity bookstore, which had served Texas Tech students since 1934, announced in fall 2022 that it would close its iconic store on University Avenue across from campus, ending an 88-year run. This closing (along with that of Ulrich's bookstore by my graduate-school alma mater, the University of Michigan, also after 88 years) really makes it seem like the end is near for the aesthetics of a quaint college town. Goodbye Varsity!