By Lubbock Chronicle Staff
The Texas Tech University System Board of Regents meets Wednesday in Lubbock to approve a $35 million home for the Red Steagall Institute and begin early design work on a major Rawls College of Business addition. The meeting begins at 8:30 a.m. Nov. 11 in the Regents Conference Room at the TTU System Building, 1508 Knoxville Ave., and will be livestreamed.
Red Steagall Institute
Regents will consider adding $32,936,925 to the project at the National Ranching Heritage Center, bringing the anticipated total to $35 million. They previously approved $2,063,075. The agenda also calls for awarding a construction agreement. The money would come through the system's Revenue Financing System and be repaid with gift funds.
The agenda describes the project as a learning institute for preserving traditional Western arts, stating that it "is not a museum or a hall of fame."
Rawls College of Business addition
The board will consider a $1,755,000 plan and design for a building addition, with an anticipated budget of $106 million. Plans call for about 83,000 gross square feet of new construction and about 33,175 gross square feet of renovation. Robert A. M. Stern Architects has been selected as the design firm. Wednesday's item covers design services, not construction.
More borrowing capacity for campus projects
Regents will also consider doubling the system's commercial paper program, a form of short-term financing, from $150 million to $300 million. About $67 million is currently outstanding, and the system projects $610 million in new projects from fiscal 2027 through fiscal 2029. A separate proposal would create an extendable commercial paper program of up to $200 million at any one time.
Also on the agenda
A privately funded bronze statue honoring Edward E. Whitacre Jr. along the Engineering Key, with more than $560,000 committed so far.
A new Bachelor of Business Administration major in Applied Artificial Intelligence for Business at Texas Tech.
Renaming University College as the School of Professional Studies, effective Jan. 1, 2027.
Naming rights within the Womble Football Training Center and the South End Zone at Galaxy Stadium.
The board is scheduled to enter executive session at 10:01 a.m. and return to open session at 4 p.m. Posted closed-session topics include athletics projects, a potential purchase of real property in Lubbock County, a potential facility naming, chancellor duties and the evaluation of presidents.
