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Texas Tech Celebrates Historic Firsts and Moments of Impact

January 2, 2025

Texas Tech Celebrates Historic Firsts and Moments of Impact

Marketing & Communications team members reflect on memorable stories from the past year.

As another year closes at Texas Tech University, we look back on moments of impact. 

The university launched its first-ever comprehensive campaign, cut ribbons on new state-of-the-art facilities, opened new research centers and said goodbye to old friends while welcoming new faces to campus. 

Come along as we reflect on 2024.

1. On & On Launch 

In another step toward cementing itself as one of the leading institutions of higher education, Texas Tech University launched the public phase of the On & On campaign, aimed at raising $1.2 billion over eight years and focused on four key priorities: transforming lives, fueling academic excellence, elevating campus and community and building champions.

On & On

“This marks a significant milestone and a monumental step for Texas Tech in its quest to reach new heights of excellence and global recognition, while at the same time maintaining its foothold in providing a world-class education. This campaign, the first of its kind in the university’s history, will impact the direction of Texas Tech and its impact on the nation and the world for decades to come.” – Writer, George Watson

2. Academic Sciences Building 

As the fall semester began, Texas Tech cut the ribbon on the Academic Sciences Building, a beautiful structure in the heart of the campus that will serve as the new home to five departments in the College of Arts & Sciences: Biological Sciences, Chemistry & Biochemistry, Geosciences, Physics & Astronomy and Psychological Sciences. The facility also includes a number of cutting-edge lab space specifically designed to provide students with immersive experiences in their field of study. 

Academic Sciences BuildingAcademic Sciences BuildingAcademic Sciences Building

“Anytime a new building comes online, it’s an exciting moment in the history of the university. This one was especially meaningful because it was the first new structure as Texas Tech moved into its second century.” – Writer, Doug Hensley 

3. New Centers for High-Priority Research 

This year, Texas Tech established two new research centers that will focus on a national security consortium and the Institute for One Health Innovation (OHI).  

The next step in Stephen Bayne’s illustrious career at Texas Tech will include heading a new consortium aimed at addressing consistently emerging threats to security measures protecting the U.S.’s most important sectors. The Critical Infrastructure Security Institute (CISI) will combine government agencies, industries and Texas Tech students to test security strategies, conceive new solutions and conduct workforce development, all to beef up the nation’s defense of its infrastructure.

Bayne

“New information surfaces over and over about hacks into major institutions’ computer systems, often affecting those entities’ users. The CISI represents Texas Tech’s concerted effort to keep the nation’s citizens safe from harmful malefactors, and Dr. Bayne has the requisite knowledge and contacts to start the institute on a positive note.” – Writer, Jayden Smith 

Naïma Moustaïd-Moussa was announced as the inaugural executive director of the OHI beginning July 1. The founding director of the Obesity Research Institute and a Horn Distinguished Professor, Moustaïd-Moussa’s track record of success made her the ideal fit to launch a priority initiative designed to ensure the future health of our community.

Naima

“The Institute for One Health Innovation is a massive endeavor across the Texas Tech University System and will have a lasting impact. The focus on how the connective tissue that link the health of humans, animals and the environment is also an interesting and emerging field of study, and an area Texas Tech is well positioned to take the lead on.” – Writer, Allen Ramsey 

4. Psychological Sciences NIH Grant 

Two associate professors in the Clinical Psychology Program within the Department of Psychological Sciences are leading a team that was awarded a $3.6 million grant from the National Eye Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The five-year award marks the largest NIH grant funded in the history of the department. Sarah Victor and Adam T. Schmidt will lead research efforts examining the lives of children dealing with blindness or other visual impairments.    

Braille
  

“The significant grant wasn’t just a milestone moment in the department’s history, but the work Dr. Victor and Dr. Schmidt are doing is, in many ways, groundbreaking in terms of their research focusing in on what previously had been a largely unexplored area.” – Writer, Doug Hensley 

5. White Coat Ceremony 

As white coats were placed onto 62 students in Texas Tech University’s School of Veterinary Medicine during a ceremony hosted in March, this historic act symbolized the knowledge, skills and other qualities of doctors they have developed since their first classes began in August 2021. These honorees, who will be members of the inaugural graduating class in 2025, celebrated a sacred rite of passage in the training of medical professionals: transitioning from the classroom into clinical rotations.

White Coat CeremonyWhite Coat Ceremony

“This first-ever White Coat Ceremony was a milestone for the School of Veterinary Medicine. It honored the students mere months before they began to provide care at more than 100 partnering veterinary clinics located across Texas and New Mexico – the beginning of their lifelong journey of continual knowledge and competence.” – Writer, Ashlyn Grotegut

6. Law School

In 2024, Texas Tech’s School of Law became the first and only law school in the country to win national titles in all five American Bar Association (ABA) Law Student Division competitions. Texas Tech won its first national ABA competition in 1984 in appellate advocacy. 

Law Students

“The School of Law at Texas Tech has one of the strongest advocacy programs in the country. It prepares students for trial in a legal atmosphere where fewer graduates are comfortable trying cases in court. Not only does this give Texas Tech graduates a competitive advantage, but it has also cemented our status as the first university to reach this historic milestone.” – Writer, Lucy Greenberg 

7. The Passing of Robert W. Lawless 

The Texas Tech community suffered a significant loss last summer with the passing of former university President Robert W. Lawless, the last person to oversee both Texas Tech and the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. Lawless, Texas Tech’s 11th president from 1989-96, oversaw growth of the university’s endowment and the academic acumen of its student body. Lawless also was instrumental in working to make sure Texas Tech was included in the Big 12 Conference that began in 1996. 

Bob & Marcy Lawless

“Dr. Lawless is an important figure in Texas Tech history, from both an academic standpoint because of his commitment to enhancing the university’s reputation of excellence, and an athletic standpoint because of Texas Tech’s move to the Big 12 and all the quiet, effective work he did behind the scenes.” – Writer, Doug Hensley 

8. Zach Thomas 

In the summer of 2023, Zach Thomas became the first former Texas Tech player to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. (We’re pretty sure he won’t be the last). Throughout his life, Thomas has always been humble and never forgotten his West Texas roots. Even after 13 NFL seasons and the ultimate recognition as one of the best to ever play professional football, Thomas still quickly credits family, friends, coaches and teammates for how he reached the pinnacle of success.

Zach ThomasZach Thomas

“Zach Thomas has always been one of Texas Tech’s best ambassadors. He loves this university, this community and basically all things West Texas. This story was the chance to sit down and catch up with him and tie a lot of his life threads together, reminding the Texas Tech community about a great athlete who is also a great person.” – Writer, Doug Hensley 

9. James Avery Philanthropic Gift

James Avery Artisan Jewelry gifted Texas Tech’s jewelry design and metalsmithing program with an extraordinary gift of 30,000 precious stones and gems earlier this year. An investment of this magnitude was a first in program history, and as rare as some of the stones themselves. Students will be able to work with the materials, further distinguishing the offerings of Texas Tech’s School of Art

Hands working on jewelryLiu's final product

“Texas Tech receives countless gifts each year. The programs we house here could not exist without the generosity of supporters and alumni. In this case, James Avery not only provided materials that college students rarely get access to, but they also forged a connection between the often-splintered silos of commercial and academic jewelry design.” – Writer, Lucy Greenberg

10. Luis Rohena

Luis Rohena is a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army and deputy chief of the Department of Pediatrics at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. Looking to further his education, he was enrolled in an online Texas Tech doctoral program when he was deployed to Qatar in 2021. A brigade surgeon and devoted father at heart, Rohena established a pediatric unit that treated thousands of refugees who fled Afghanistan to Qatar as U.S. forces withdrew.

Rohena and familyRohena's headshot

“Luis Rohena embodies From Here, It’s Possible™. When the going got tough, instead of dropping out of his doctoral program, he asked for support and pushed himself to maximally utilize his military training. His commitment not only made a difference in his life but impacted thousands of Afghan refugees who needed his help during a critical time. His accomplishments are worth celebrating for years to come.” – Writer, Ashlyn Grotegut

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