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).
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!
