Texas Tech University

Texas Tech University (TTU) is a public research university located in the city of Lubbock, Texas. Sharing its campus with the Health Sciences Centre, TTU is the only campus in the state that is home to a leading university, law school and medical school. Originally called the Texas Technological College, the institution officially opened its doors in 1925 with six buildings and a cohort of 914 students. It changed its name to Texas Tech University in 1969. Today, the university is home to 10 separate colleges, including colleges of Architecture, Arts and Sciences, Education, Media and Communication, and Visual and Performing Arts, as well as a Graduate School and a School of Law. It offers 150 undergraduate degrees, 100 master’s and 50 doctoral degrees. The university’s total research expenditures exceeded $150 million in 2014, and in the year before that, 10 of its faculty members were bestowed grants from the Fulbright US Scholar Programme – the biggest number of any research university in the nation. The university’s official motto is “From here, it’s possible.” TTU’s athletics teams are known as Red Raiders. Sporting the colours scarlet and black, their mascots are The Masked Rider and Raider Red. At football games, fans sing The Texas Tech Fight Song. Among the university’s traditions are Arbor Day, when students plant trees on campus, and the Carol of Lights, where 25,000 lights illuminate the campus buildings and choirs perform at the Science Quadrangle. Former students of the university include the late singer-songwriter and activist John Denver, and the late American journalist and writer Grace Halsell. According to The Wall Street Journal, TTU is ranked in the Top 25 US institutions producing the graduates most sought after by government and corporate employers.