Texas Tech’s enrollment numbers aren’t the only thing going up on campus. Construction and renovation continue across campus. The Experimental Sciences Building II just opened as did an expanded and renovated Charles E. Maedgen Jr. Theatre. Also the Dusty R. Womble Basketball Center is under construction and in the design phase now is a new Academic Sciences Building.
Also, Weeks Hall, closed since the early 1990s, is being renovated, and university President Lawrence Schovanec says, discussions now include a new rec center and indoor tennis facility, and expansions of Jones Stadium’s south end zone and the nearby football training facility.
Schovanec says people visiting campus for the first time are wowed.
“I think we all take a great sense of pride in the beauty of our campus, and new construction, in some ways speaks to the vitality of the campus, our growth, it reflects the support of so many people. I made this comment at the Maedgen Theatre ribbon cutting, we could never do what we have done without external support, whether that come from the state, but in most cases it’s donors. Our resources here wouldn’t enable us to have the kind of campus we have. I never cease to be amazed by people who come onto campus and they see this and say ‘wow, I had no idea this was here.’”
Schovance says athletic director Kirby Hocutt recently spoke with supporters in Dallas about expanding the football training center and the south end zone of Jones Stadium.
“The south endzone, there are some really exciting plans for that, that would close out the south endzone in the same sort of Spanish Renaissance style that the whole stadium has. The drawings I saw had two scoreboards in each corner on the south end, and I’d imagine that double T would be relocated, but not used as a scoreboard. I’m sure Kirby will be very sensitive to that.”
University officials are also mulling over what to do with the space where the Lubbock Coliseum and Auditorium once stood.
“There’s discussion of a possible dorm, we probably do need one more dormitory, but just recently we’ve began to have very very preliminary conversations with Dean Williams of the College of Business Administration about their need for additional space, she raised the possibility to make use of that. That’s an interesting idea, but I must say I love the green space now.”
The Experimental Sciences Building II is functionally the same as building No. 1 but is designed somewhat differently. Schovanec says the university’s lone National Academy of Science faculty member, Luis Herrera Estrella, will do research there.
“There’s lots of faculty input in terms of the use of the building, I think we learned a lot from the experimental sciences building, and in terms of the equipment in there, it’s a whole new generation of equipment in use. A floor, a large part of that space is devoted to our new faculty members, member of the National Academy of Science, who works in plant stress, primarily related to cotton, and he will be doing work there and in that green house that’s being constructed next door.”
Schovanec says no decisions have been made on building a new rec center that would include an indoor tennis north of Marsha Sharp Freeway.
“We are in discussion about a new rec center over by HSC, and it’s proceeding in partnership with HSC as well as athletics because they need an indoor tennis facility, but there’s no drawings, it’s just in conversation.”
Weeks Hall, which was built in the late 1950s as a residence hall, has been mostly vacant for about 28 years. The renovation of the building, which is listed on the Texas Historical Register and will become office space for faculty, staff, and student work space, began last year and is slated to be completed in May 2020.
Schovanec says he’s watched the campus grow during his 37 years at Tech.
“I came in 1982, and try to imagine how different it is today than then. However, I will say that when I came here in ’82, I thought this was a beautiful campus.”