Texas Tech University Sets Sights on Becoming a National Research University

Texas Tech has set a course to become a major national research university. Research and enrollment are at record levels. New research partnerships are providing unparalleled opportunities. Our students are bringing home regional and national academic championships. Our Phi Beta Kappa chapter has been deemed one of the best in the country.

Growth
Texas Tech’s total research expenditures reached more than $100 million in 2009-2010 – a record for the university.

The university set enrollment records in 2008 and 2009 and again this fall with 31,637 undergraduate and graduate students on campus.

New Partnerships
Thanks to research and industry partnerships, Texas Tech is poised to make strides in many areas.

The National Institute for Renewable Energy (NIRE), a public-private partnership formed earlier this year by the Innovate Texas Foundation with collaborative support from Texas Tech, will design, construct and operate a research wind farm at Reese Technology Center in Lubbock. Texas Tech’s newly formed National Wind Resource Center (NWRC) will use the wind farm for research. The State of Texas in July showed its support for the partnerships created by NIRE and NWRC by awarding Texas Tech $8.4 million from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund.

In May, Bayer CropScience announced a $7.5 million contribution to Texas Tech to support a research collaboration aimed at developing cotton with improved fiber properties.

Thanks to private donations a variety of endowed professorships have been created. This summer, David M. Richman was named to the $1.5 million Jere Lynn Burkhart Chair in Autism Research. 
Several other endowed chairs, including two $7 million chairs in renewable energy fields, are open and searches for nationally known faculty members are underway.

National Research University Aspirations
Texas Tech is on a two-phased journey to become recognized as a major national research university. Step one is meeting Texas National Research University Fund (NRUF) criteria for two consecutive years. Established last year by the Texas Legislature and approved by voters, NRUF provides the opportunity for Texas Tech and six other designated universities the opportunity to receive funding to support research activities.

Texas Tech made major strides toward meeting the benchmarks, but will not know until early December if the goals were met during the first year.
Once NRUF status has been achieved, the university’s goal is to be considered with truly great research universities, like those that are members of the Association of American Universities (AAU). While Texas Tech has much work to do before achieving the benchmarks of AAU universities, a strategic plan has been put in place to guide the university’s progress over the next decade.

Texas Tech’s goal is simple: join the ranks of those considered the best institutions of higher education in the nation. The university truly believes in the message of its tag line: From here, it’s possible.