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hen Kent Ronald Hance arrived on the Texas Technological College campus

in the fall of 1961, no one, including the 18-year-old freshman from Dimmitt

himself, would have dreamed that ve decades later, he would be instrumental

in leading the Texas Tech University System to national prominence, presiding

over the fastest and most important growth period in the history of the Lubbock-based institution.

Hance, the current and longest serving chancellor of the TTU System, has

never been a person to sit back and watch things happenhe has a history of

dynamic leadership that has been surpassed by few West Texans.A 1965 graduate of Texas Tech with a degree in business administration,

Hance was president of his fraternityDelta Tau Deltaand vice president

of the Student Government Association. While attending law school at theUniversity of Texas, the personable young leader was elected president of theStudent Bar Association.

Later, Hance entered the political arena, and, at the age of 31, upset the longtime

and popular incumbent H.J. Doc Blanchard in the 1972 Texas Senate race. Hanceremained in the Texas Senate until 1978, when he was elected to be the secondcongressman for the 19th Congressional District of Texas. Hances opponent in theNovember election was another Texan who went on to prominenceGeorge W.Bush. That race was the only time the future president was to lose an election.

As a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Hance, a conserva-tive Democrat at the time, hit the ground running, soon becoming an ally ofPresident Ronald Reagan and carried the Republican presidents tax-cut pro-gram, the nations largest tax cut in history, through Congress in 1981.

Despite his success in the political arena, it was when he combined his char-ismatic leadership personality with his lifelong love for Texas Tech that the

Lubbock-based university began its journey from Sleeping Giant on the SouthPlains to one of the educational Titans of Texas and the United States.

Hance, who was named chancellor of the Texas Tech University System in

December 2006, came to the job with a plan to grow the institution by expand-ing the system; increasing enrollment and promoting student success; strength-

ening academic quality and reputation; expanding and enhancing research;

furthering outreach and engagement; and increasing and maximizing resources.

The TTU System had been in existence 10 years and consisted of Texas TechUniversity and Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center when Hance tookthe reins. Under Hances leadership, two more components soon joined thesystem: Angelo State University in San Angelo became part of the Texas Techfamily in 2007 after Texas voters approved a constitutional amendment, and the

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center at El Paso became a freestandinginstitution of the TTU System in 2013.

Hance, himself a product of Texas public education, came into the oce want-ing to grow the enrollment of the university and make higher education possibleto as many young people as possible.

Although the enrollment at Texas Tech University at Lubbock was 27,996when Hance arrived, he immediately implemented a program that becameknown as 40,000 By 2020. Despite the numerous skeptics of his ambitious

plan to grow enrollment, 33,111 students were enrolled in Fall 2013, well ahead

Leaving a Living Legacy on Campus

texas tech chancellor

Texas Tech Chancellor Kent R.Hance

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of projections. Additionally, Hances goal envisions 7,000 students at TTUHSC and

10,000 at Angelo State by 2020. Since Hance implemented the lofty enrollment goalsin December 2006, there has been more than a 20 percent increase in total TTU andTTUHSC enrollment. Including the students from Angelo State and TTUHSC at ElPaso, enrollment has skyrocketed 45 percent.

The largest percentage increase in enrollment has come from the minority communi-

ty. Under Hances guidance, the TTU System created the African American EnrollmentTask Force and the Hispanic Enrollment Task Force to develop recommendations for

increasing enrollments of minority students at all of the systems institutions.The increase in minority students at Texas Tech has been mercurial. In the semester

before Hances arrival as chancellor, minority enrollment was at 20 percent of the total

student body. In Fall 2012, minority enrollment was more than 34 percent! Hispanic en-rollment alone increased from 12 percent to almost 20 percent in that same time period.

Angelo State University has been so successful in recruiting top Hispanic studentsthat it attained federal-designated status as a Hispanic Serving Institution in 2010. Asa result of the designation, which requires that Hispanic enrollment exceed 25 percentof the undergraduate student population, Angelo State received a U.S. Department ofEducation grant for $629,968 for the rst year that will, at present funding levels, totalalmost $3.15 million when it is completed in 2015.

In order to reach out to low-income families, Hance created the Red Raider

Guarantee Program that allows students from families with an adjusted gross income

of $40,000 or less to attend Texas Tech University without paying tuition or fees.Hance and the leadership of the university also devote time and resources to recruit

top high school scholars. Through a fully donor-funded program, outstanding highschool junior and senior scholars are own to Lubbock to meet with the chancellorand tour the Lubbock campus. Hance also encourages presidents, vice chancellors, vicepresidents and deans to call and recruit students with high SAT and GPA credentials.

In 2011, Hance convinced the Terry Foundation to grant full scholarships to TexasTech students. This program began with 16 scholarships plus two transfers from other

programs; in 2013, the numbers grew to 32 freshmen plus 24 transfers for a total of 94Terry Scholars at Texas Tech. Program growth like this is unheard of in the founda-tions 25-year history. Howard Terry, who founded the Terry Foundation, was a formerpolitical supporter of Chancellor Hance.

By recruiting stronger students, TTU saw a 24 percent increase in the number ofdegrees awarded between Hances arrival in 2006 and 2012.But Hance knew that increasing student enrollment must go hand-in-hand with in-

creasing academic quality and reputation, and he immediately began to take steps toimprove the quality of the learning experience.

One example of how Hance believes in the education of young people is demonstrat-ed by the fact that he teaches a class on leadership.

Hance is more than qualied to speak on leadership. In 2009 and 2010, the TexasState Leader Award was given to Hance by the John Ben Sheppard Public LeadershipInstitute. The prior winners were Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby, Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock, Gov.Preston Smith and Gov. Rick Perry. In 2011, he received the Luminary Award bythe Texas Healthcare & Bioscience Institute, and, in 2012, Hance was selected at theOutstanding Philanthropist by the Lubbock Association of Fundraising Professionals.

In addition to Hance, leadership class

students have had the opportunity to hear

such guest speakers as Ed Whitacre Jr.,

former chairman of AT&T and General

Motors; El Paso businessman Paul Foster;

Linda Rutherford, vice president of

Southwest Airlines; Kyle Bass, founder

of Hayman Capital Management; Angela

Braly, former president and CEO ofWellPoint Inc.; Randall Stephenson, chair-man and CEO of AT&T; John Alexander,commanding ocer of the USS AbrahamLincoln; and Kli Kingsbury, Texas TechUniversity head football coach. Morethan 2,200 students have taken this ex-tremely popular class.

TTUHSC was the rst in the nation tooer a three-year program wherein a stu-dent only pays for two years but earns a

degree in pediatrics or general practice in

three years. The program addresses boththe nancial concerns of the students andthe medical shortages in those two elds.

The Chancellors Oce now has a vicechancellor for academic aairs. Joe Rallo,Ph.D., former President of Angelo State,

is in charge of that position and focuses

on growing online education, graduate

schools and international students, areas

that have become extremely importantbecause of technology and the globalneed for education.

In order to enhance Texas Techs repu-

tation throughout the world, Hance estab-lished, through private funds, the Centerfor the Study of Western Civilization in2012 to study why Western Civilization

has done so well help promote freedom

throughout the world.Hance also raised funds to establish the

Free Market Institute on the Texas Techcampus. This program promotes andstudies free markets in the United Statesand throughout the world. The FreeMarkets teaching and research missionis premised on the belief that a thorough

Editors Note: Chancellor Kent R. Hance announced Oct. 11 during a Board of Regents

meeting on the Texas Tech University campus that he will retire in Summer 2014. He has

agreed to become chancellor emeritus of the Texas Tech University System.

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and consistent understanding and use of the principles of a free society

helps improve our economy and society.At Angelo State, the chancellor worked with then-Sen. Kay Bailey

Hutchison to secure nearly $10 million to establish the Center for SecurityStudies. The Center has developed undergraduate and graduate degreeswith a focus on the militarys needs in intelligence, surveillance andreconnaissance.

In order to recognize and honor teaching excellence throughout the TTU

System, Hance expanded the Chancellors Excellence Award in Teaching

from three to nine and created the Presidents Excellence awards to helprecruit and retain the world-class faculty that he had always dreamed of for

his alma mater.Because of his desire to make TTU one of the nations premier re-

search institutions, Hance expanded the Chancellors Excellence Award inResearch from three to eight as well as increasing the Presidents researchawards programs. And, the number of faculty members in the NationalAcademy of Sciences has grown from only one to four since Hances arrival

on campus.Hances eorts to increase the reputation of the educational experience

have paid o, most notably with Texas Tech becoming a chapter of the

prestigious Phi Beta Kappa Society, the oldest academic honor society in the

United States. Under Hances leadership, Angelo State joined Texas Tech

with its own chapter in the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.The Wall Street Journalranked TTU No. 18 among universities that pro-

duce the best graduates; TTUs Edward E. Whitacre College of Engineeringwas ranked by the Wall Street Journalas one of the top 25 engineering

schools in the United States; and, extremely important for students and

families, TTU ranks No. 7 in Time Magazineslist of colleges with the leaststudent debt. For several years, Angelo State has been included in Princeton

Reviews list of The Best 371 Colleges in the nation.Soon after becoming chancellor, Hance realized that in order for the

institutions under the banner of the TTU System to become the choice foroutstanding young students and faculty, research would have to be expand-ed and enhanced on the systems campuses.

Hance launched an initiative that would result in

the system conducting more than $300 million inresearch by the year 2020. This initiative already hasbegun to pay oin 2012, research expenditures sur-passed $202 million, a gure more than double that ofHances rst year at the helm of the TTU System.

Using his dynamic leadership, Hance has beenable to secure millions of dollars from the Texas

Emerging Technology Fund, including $8.4 for

renewable energy. As part of that project, Hance,working with leaders from the University of NorthDakota, New Mexico State University, University of

California-Davis, Texas State University, University

of Iowa and Texas State Technical College, estab-lished the National Wind Resource Center to leadthe wind industry in research and technology.Recently, Hance was instrumental in establishing

the National Institute for Renewable Energy, whichincludes academic and industry partners looking atsolving the scientic and commercial challenges tothe renewable energy sector.

When the Texas Legislature established the Texas

Research Incentive Program in 2009 to providestate matching funds for private gifts to increase

research and recruit faculty, Hance went to workand quickly raised almost $30 million in order to

qualify for almost $25 million in matching funds. Incomparison to all other eligible institutions, Texas

Tech University has raised the most money for these

matching funds.In the medical eld, Texas Tech University Health

Sciences Center and Texas Tech University have

moved into the forefront of cancer research. TexasTechs advancement has not gone unnoticedtheTTU System has received approximately $17 million

The chancellor announces his upcom-ing retirement in Summer 2014.

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in research funds from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute ofTexas to help fund some of its groundbreaking cancer research.

In addition to education and research, under Hances vision and leadership,the Texas Tech University System has become an economic driver that helpedWest Texas and the South Plains weather the national recession of 2008.

In 2012, the TTU System generated a combined economic impact ofalmost $10 billion for the state of Texas. With 17,000 full and part-timeemployees, approximately $3 billion in total economic output was felt spe-cically on the South Plains region. Additionally, total jobs sustained in the

South Plains region totaled nearly 32,000 in 2012.All totaled, for every dollar invested in the university, there is an eco-

nomic return of $23.Approximately 40 percent of all non-agricultural economic output in

the South Plains region comes from the activities of the TTU System in

Lubbock. Since Hances arrival in 2006, the TTU System has added 9,000more students, faculty, and sta to the areas population and plans to re-cruit 12,000 more by 2020.

To house these new residents of the South Plains, the Lubbock area hasseen tremendous growth of its neighborhood, apartment complexes, and

retail centers, particularly in the area surrounding the campuses of the

university and health sciences center.On the university campus, construction has abounded with a new $20

million Petroleum Engineering and Research building, a new building tohouse the Rawls College of Business, two new residence halls, a $3.5 millionchapel and extensive remodeling of the building that previously housed theRawls College of Business for the College of Media and Communications.

When Hance arrived in the chancellors oce he knew that his vision ofTexas Tech University System becoming one of the premier institutions ofhigher education would not be accomplished easily and would be one thatrequired the most ambitious fundraising in TTUs history.

The Systems Board of Regents could not have selected a better personfor the task.

Three and a half years after launch, and one year ahead of schedule,

Vision & Tradition: The Campaign for Texas Tech surpassed its $1 billiongoal with the support of more than 120,000 generous donors, making it the

most successful capital campaign in the history of

the Texas Tech University System. At Angelo State,a capital campaign raised $35 million, $10 millionmore than its goal!

Of the many areas beneting from the campaign,approximately $145 million is being invested in stu-dents by creating scholarships; more than $70 millionis being invested in faculty by establishing endow-ments; and more than $470 million is being invested

in academic programs, innovative research and uni-versity initiatives.

Additionally, nearly $315 million is being invested

in campus development through the construction of

spaces where students and faculty can learn, discov-

er, and compete. Approximately 20 buildings werebuilt, renovated, or are under construction, thanks tothe fundraising campaign.

Out of the thousands of universities across the

nation, incredibly, the TTU System joins a group offewer than 70 to have raised $1 billion.

In the past ve years, the TTU System has in-creased its ranking in the Philanthropy 400 list from

No. 303 to No. 137 and has experienced a 61 percentgrowth in endowment funds since 2006.

The growth of the Texas Tech University System

since 2006 has been nothing short of phenomenal in

the academic world.And, it all started when a young schoolboy bas-

ketball player from Dimmitt who had grown intoone of the most inuential West Texans combinedhis leadership skills with his unbounded love for theRed and Black to bring about dynamic growth that

has placed the Texas Tech University System on the

national stage.

Hance announces the completion of the$1 billion Vision & Tradition campaign.

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