Texas Tech University Archives
Texas Tech Hispanic Heritage Timeline
For Texas Tech's charter (founding) centennial, the Texas Tech University Archives curated a large exhibit titled "Unidos Podemos / United We Can - Celebrating Hispanic Heritage at Texas Tech University" that will be on display in the Library's Croslin Room from September 15-October 15, 2023. While the physical exhibit will be on display for only one month each fall, the exhibit’s two accompanying webpages will be available year round. This page provides a brief overview of Hispanic history at Texas Tech University. The timeline is not a comprehensive one, but rather focuses on major milestones and events in the university's ethnically diverse history, including firsts, groundbreaking events, notable figures and their achievements, and some racial controversies that happened at the university.
Biographies of individuals honored in the annual exhibit are featured on the Distinguished Hispanic Red Raiders page. Going forward, three to five new biographies honoring distinguished Texas Tech Hispanic alumni will be added each year to the exhibit and webpage.
The Timeline of Underrepresented Groups at Texas Tech is a broader overview of the history of underrepresentated populations at the university.
1929
A. Melendez, a male student hailing from Guatemala, enrolled in Texas Tech and continued attending the college in 1930. He was a member of the Pre-Med Club. (TTC Press Releases 1930-1931)
1934
James Fernando Ortiz (left) was listed as sophomore in Education during the 1934-1935 school year.
1935
Maria Alejandrina Hevia was an international student from Brazil who attended Texas Tech in 1935. She may be the earliest cited female Hispanic female student to attend the university. She only attended one year and did not graduate from Texas Tech. (October 9, 1935 and January 22, 1938 issues of The Toreador)
1940
In March, James Ortiz served as an interpreter for Dr. William Curry Holden's Yaqui trip to Northern Senora. He received his bachelor's degree in Business Administration on August 23, 1940.
1950
Richard Cavazos (right) was a member of the Red Raider football team from 1949-1950, as well as R.O.T.C. Company C and the Double T Association. His older brother, Lauro, was a member of the pre-med student organization Alpha Epsilon Delta.
1951
On May 21st, distinguished R.O.T.C. cadet Richard Cavazos graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Geology.
Sophomore Bobby Cavazos (left), Richard’s younger brother and outstanding football athlete, was a member of the Sun Bowl team which became Texas Tech's fist bowl game victory. For the next three seasons Bobby was a star rusher for the team.
1954
Bobby Cavazos was selected as Mr. Texas Tech and was featured as such in the 1954 yearbook. He was named AP All American football player as well.
1962
Alma A. Piña, Carmen Perez, Fidela Perez de Lira, and Maria Salas Rivas were among the early wave of female Hispanics to attend Tech in the 1960s.
Beginning in 1962, the Operation Senorita program, sponsored by the Lubbock Junior League, brought student teachers from the National Teachers College in Mexico City to Lubbock. Texas Tech's Student Education Chapter hosted a reception for teachers participating in the program. (1967 participants pictured left).
1963
Norma E. Porres joined the medical staff of the Student Health Services at Texas Tech. She, along with her physician husband, Dr. Feliper Porres, were trained in Cuba before coming to practice in the U.S. and both worked in medical services in Lubbock. Porres, also a Texas Tech student at the time, was the only female doctor working on campus. (The Toreador, October 3, 1963)
1964
The Mexican American organization of Los Tertulianos, which means "the Social Gatherers," was founded. It was the University’s first student organization composed of minority students. The organization would later be renamed the Hispanic Student Society. (1971 yearbook page pictured left)
1965
The Board of Student Organizations sponsored the university’s first 3-day “Leadership Training Lab” retreat. Thomas Garza, as Los Tertulianos representative, was one of fifteen Tech students chosen to attend the Buffalo Springs Lake event. (The Toreador, September 16, 1965)
1967
Texas Tech began a $400,000 Mexican American Teacher-Counselor Education Project to provide scholarships to undergraduate and graduate students to train classroom teachers and school counselors of Mexican American descent who were also bilingual. (The University Daily, August 4, 1967)
Anita Carmona Harrison (left) was the first native Latina Lubbockite to graduate from Texas Tech in 1967. She was also the "first person Mexican origin to go through the entire Lubbock School system and graduate from Texas Tech." (El Editor, February 15-22, 1979)
Ava Maria Maldonado was winner of the 1967 Hiram Parks Scholarship, which was established in 1945 by Mr. and Mrs. Hiram Parks of Lubbock to encourage students of Mexican descent to continue their education after high school.
The Upward Bound program was established through a $72,000 grant from the Office of Economic Opportunity to help high school students from disadvantaged backgrounds develop academic skills that would help them attend college. Eleven instructional staff members were selected for the new program, including Dunbar High School faculty members Charles Henry and William Powell. The fifty students were selected from 250 applications to participate in the program (23 African Americans, 23 Latinos, and 4 Caucasian) during the summer of 1967. Tech professor David B. Jordan served as the program's first director. (The University Daily, June 30, 1967 and November 21, 1967)
1968
Bobby Cavazos was the first Hispanic to be inducted to the Texas Tech Hall of Fame. After graduation he had returned to work at the King Ranch and also became an author.(Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, November 19, 2013).
1969
Alfredo Guzman, of Mexico City, was awarded a $500 scholarship from the Department of Geosciences. Guzman's father, Edwardo J. Guzman was internationally recognized in the field of geology. [TTU press release 2-10-27-69]
Peruvian playwright Alonso Alergria, a visiting professor of Spanish, directed students in a three-act Mexican comedy, "Rosalba y los Llaveros." [TTU press release 17-9-18-69]
Dr. Maria Rivas (right) and three other teachers were hired by LISD to instruct in the first phase of the Bilingual Program, Bilingual Kindergarten
During the April 24th City Council meeting, Mayor W. D. Rogers proclaimed May 3rd as “Chicano Day” for promotion of the upcoming Los Tertulianos sponsored workshop-seminar day on May 3rd for Mexican American high school juniors and seniors to learn about college-level education opportunities. Representatives from South Plains College, Draughon’s Business College, and Texas Tech spoke to the attendees at the free event, with a tour of Tech and other city campuses closing out the day’s activities. The school newspaper's lack of coverage for the event, which attracted over 300 attendees, was criticized in guest editorial the following summer. (The University Daily, April 25, 1969 and June 26, 1970)
1970
Numerous editorials printed in the student newspaper commented on the university’s Hispanic population. Among them was San Juana Medrano’s rebuttal letter printed in the April 8th issue of The University Daily disputing comments made on the perceived indifference by Tech’s Chicano students. Medrano cited specific activities sponsored by Los Tertulianos and pointed out participation by campus Chicanos in general had increased and were noteworthy.
Efforts made by Los Tertulianos toward improving race relations between Chicano students and Anglo students were also addressed in an editorial in the April 18th issue of the school newspaper. Additionally, the letter mentions participation by Chicano students for the first time in intramural activities through Los Tertulianos.
The University Daily issued a new policy for guest editorials concerning revising such letters in terms of correcting spelling or grammar, and altering any errors in facts. The policy was announced in the September 23rd issue resulting from comments made on the September 22nd letter from Los Tertulianos President Bidal “Billy” Aguero
Discussion of "voluntary segregation" by student groups in the University Center was featured on the front page of November 2, 1970 issue of The University Daily.
1971
A group of African American and Chicano students met with the Student Government Association to protest racial misrepresentations made in the Student Association Guide to Lubbock and Texas Tech - 1971-1972 publication, lack of equal broadcast time on KTXT-FM, and a lack of African American teaching faculty.
Listed among the 1971 faculty survey was the identification of eight minorities teaching at the university. Mechanical Engineering Assistant Professor Manuel Ruiz-Urbieta (left, first employed in 1970) was the sole Hispanic faculty member identified.
1972
Bidal Aguero (right) graduated from Texas Tech with a bachelor's degree in music education. While attending the university he was active in Mexican American student organizations, including serving as president of Los Tertulianos in 1971. That same year, he founded the Mexican American Chamber of Commerce, Comerciantes Organizados Mejico Americanos (COMA), for the Spanish-speaking entrepreneurs in Lubbock and surrounding towns. (Link to Bidal Augero's biography in the Handbook of Texas website). Jesse Rangel and Rosa Gonzales also graduated from Tech.
Selso Ramirez was the only Hispanic athlete pictured in the 1972-1973 football media guide.
1973
The Student Association established the Chicano Affairs Committee, thus adding more than one Latino student representative among its membership than in prior years. The Chicano Affairs Committee hosted "Chicano Nite" on November 17th as an ice breaker social for new Chicano freshman students and current students. The committee also proposed a Chicano history course be taught in the History Department. (The University Daily, November 14, 1973)
1974
Robert Montemayor (above) served as editor of the campus newspaper, The University Daily (now known as The Daily Toreador), during the 1974-1975 school year, becoming the first Hispanic to serve in that role. He implemented the UD slogan "It is this newspaper's goal to raise constructive hell" on the paper's masthead, which remained in use for several years following his graduation.
Abner Euresti received an internship at KCBD News Channel 11 and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Telecommunication from Texas Tech.
1975
J. Ernesto Mendez (right) visited the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center campus in 1972. He was the first Hispanic to enroll in the TTU School of Medicine and graduated in 1975 with specialization in obstetrics-gynecology. He established a practice in Midland, then began working part-time as faculty at the TTUHSC Odessa campus. His interest and past experience as a diverse student led him to serving on the School of Medicine Admissions Committee and the creation of a new position of assistant dean for minority affairs. Later, he transferred his practice to Lago Vista, Texas.
Chicano students voiced their concerns over recruitment, academic support, and racism at Texas Tech in the November 18, 1975 issue of The University Daily.
The two Mexican American student organizations combined into one, United Mexican American Students (UMAS). The University Daily, October 7, 1976.
1976
Richard Cavazos (left) was the first Hispanic to become a brigadier general in the U.S. Army.
1977
The first issue of El Editor, a Lubbock newspaper for the Hispanic community founded by Bidal Aguero, was published. (Link to El Editor, October 12, 1977)
1979
Page 304 of the same PDF for the yearbook also references a controversy regarding the Student Association's proposed fall semester budget allocation for certain campus organizations, including 34% going to the Student Organization for Black Unity (SOBU) and the United Mexican American Students (UMAS).
1980
As the tenth president of Texas Tech, Lauro F. Cavazos was notable for being the first (and so far only) Hispanic president and the first Texas Tech graduate to become president of the university. From Texas Tech he received both his B.A. and M.A. degrees in zoology.
Abner Euresti and Karin McCay (right) became co-anchors at KCBD News Channel 11 beginning in 1980. Euresti faced racial backlash as the first Latino news anchor in Lubbock but refused to step down from his anchor duties.
1981
Sophomore Rosalinda Perez was the first Mexican American contestant in the Miss Lubbock pageant.
April 14, 1981 - The Chicano Law Students Association filed a complaint with the Department of Education's regional Civil Rights Office against Texas Tech over discrimination allegations related to recruitment, hiring, pay, promotion and tenure, and graduate school admissions policies. (The University Daily, February 12, 1981)
1982
Richard E. Cavazos was inducted into the Texas Tech Hall of Honor in 1982. That same year he became the first Hispanic to be appointed a four-star general in the U.S. Army.
Gabriel "Gabe" Rivera (left) was named Southwest Conference Defensive Player of the Year.
1983
In the fall of 1983, Maria Medina became the first All-American honoree at Texas Tech in women's cross country track.
1984
In September, 100 Hispanic students attended the 2nd Annual Texas Tech reception for Hispanic students. The annual event was created to acquaint Hispanic students with Hispanic faculty and staff at the university. The 3rd Annual Texas Tech Reception for Black student was also held in September.
As part of the 1983 Los Angeles Times newspaper team that produced a 21-part series of stories on Latinos in Southern California, Robert Montemayor (right), a 1975 TTU journalism major, was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Meritorious Public Service. As of 2021, Montemayor was one of four TTU College of Media and Communications alum to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize.
1988
On August 9, 1988, President Reagan nominated Lauro F. Cavazos (left) for the position of Secretary of Education. On September 20, 1988, Cavazos was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate. He continued in the role under President George Bush until his resignation in December of 1990.
In May of 1988, the Minority Faculty and Staff Association, comprised of Black and Hispanic faculty and staff from TTU and TTUHSC, was formed. The organization served as a forum for discussion of educational issues related to minorities at TTU/TTUHSC and to work toward providing workable solutions to such issues.
1989
The spring Hispanic reception on January 31st provided an opportunity for Hispanic students to connect with other Hispanic students, faculty, representatives from the seven Hispanic student organizations, and staff support services available at the university. The reception was also filmed by the Spanish cable station Telemundo.
Richard E. Cavazos was appointed to the Texas Tech Board of Regents and served from 1989 to 1995.
The first Hispanic State Conference sponsored by M.A.S.O. (Mexican American Student Organization) was held on campus from March 2-4, 1989.
1990
On February 2nd, the ARCO Foundation presented the College of Engineering a $25,000 grant aimed at improving retention of under-represented minority students pursuing engineering degrees. The Minority Engineering Retention Program (MERP) was designed to ensure that Native American, Black and Hispanic engineering students at Tech complete their degrees.
Omega Delta Phi, the first Hispanic-founded fraternity held its open rush event on February 2nd.
1991
Ruben Garcia (left), a baseball athlete from 1970-1973, was recognized as Tech's most outstanding pitcher during the first two decades of Tech's membership in the Southwest Conference. Garcia was inducted into the Texas Tech Hall of Fame in 1991 along with James Mays, a track and field athlete from 1978-1981.
1993
Gabriel "Gabe" Rivera, a football athlete from 1979-1982, was the second Hispanic to be inducted into the Texas Tech Hall of Honor.
1997
Christy Martinez-Garcia, a Ronald E. McNair Scholar, received a B.A. in Public Relations and Marketing from Texas Tech.
1998
Dr. Felix Morales, at the request of the TTUHSC Office of Diversity's Dr. Leo Vela, helped start a new inclusive student organization designed to encourage and support individuals seeking to enter the medical profession. The organization was founded as the Bernard Harris Jr. Premedical Society. (TTUHSC Daily Dose, February 20, 2019)
2000
The Texas Tech Hispanic Alumni Chapter was officially chartered as Raiders Rojos National Alumni. From 1998-2002, the organization held a graduation convocation reception to honor graduating Hispanic students.
2001
David R. Lopez was appointed to the Texas Tech Board of Regents by Governor Rick Perry for 2001-2003.
2003
Raiders Rojos held its first annual Hispanic Graduation Convocation ceremony in the Lubbock High School auditorium. Colorful Serape stoles made by ninth grade students at Cavazos Middle School, in recognition of the first Hispanic President of Texas Tech, Dr. Lauro Cavazos, were presented to the graduates. Approximately 35 Texas Tech graduates and 40 South Plains College graduates participated. As many SPC students later enrolled in Tech, Raiders Rojos viewed the event as a way to welcome them to the Red Raider family. The joint convocation was held for four years. (Left, scene from the 2022 convocation ceremony showing graduates wearing their stoles, courtesy of Raider Rojos).
The Latino(a)/ Hispanic Faculty and Staff Association (LHFSA) was established to proportionally increase the presence and improve opportunities for Latino/Hispanic individuals at both the TTU and TTUHSC campuses.
2005
Ginger Kerrick (right) was the first Hispanic female Flight Director at NASA. (Ginger Kerrick Monitors Action Aboard the International Space Station)
Chino Chappa was inducted into the College of Media and Communication's Hall of Fame.
2006
Latino Lubbock Magazine was created by Christy Martinez-Garcia (left), who both owned and published the magazine, to address and promote the educational and community needs of the growing Latino community in Lubbock.
2009
The first Los Tertulianos Hispanic Alumni Reunion was held on November 13th-14th at the Ashmore Inn.
2012
Robert Montemayor was inducted into the College of Media and Communication's Hall of Fame.
2013
Christy Martinez-Garcia and her husband, Frank Garcia, were honored as one of the recipients of the 2013 Texas Tech Parents of the Year Award.
Jobi Martinez, Director of Cross-Cultural Academic Advancement Center at Texas Tech, became the first president of the Big 12 chapter of Chief Diversity Officers.
John Esparza was appointed to the Texas Tech Board of Regents by Governor Rick Perry for 2013-2019.
2014
Gabe Rivera (right), nicknamed “Señor Sack,” was inducted into the Texas Tech Football Ring of Honor, which was begun in 2012 to honor an “elite group of players and coaches that made outstanding contributions to Red Raider Football.” Rivera was also one of eleven former Red Raiders inducted into the Southwest Conference Hall of Fame on August 30th. He passed away four years later.
2015
El Editor, by 2015, was the longest running bilingual newspaper in the Texas Panhandle region and continued to be published by the Aguero family. Olga Aguero, wife of Bidal, and their daughters carried on the family paper operation. (Link to Bidal Augero's biography in the Handbook of Texas website)
Arcilia C. Acosta, a 1989 political science graduate, delivered an eloquent commencement speech during the May commencement ceremonies emphasizing the importance of investing in people rather than material gain.
2016
In March, Arcilia C. Acosta (left_, President and CEO of CARON Industries, was appointed to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board by Governor Abbott.
Ginger Kerrick, representing the area of STEM, was selected by the Texas Governor’s Commission for Women to be inducted into the Texas Women's Hall of Fame for 2016. The induction ceremony was held at Texas Woman’s University in Denton on October 21st.
Abner Euresti (right), a 42-year news veteran in Lubbock, was awarded the second annual Adelante Lifetime Achievement Award in May of 2016 by Los Hermanos Familia.
2017
Undergraduate enrollment for full-time equivalent (FTE) Hispanic students reached 27.8% in the fall semester, qualifying Texas Tech to meet the minimum student enrollment requirement for status as an Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). This status opened new funding opportunities for the university, its faculty, researchers and students.
48 year-old Texas Tech police officer Floyd East (left) was killed in the line of duty by a Tech freshman Hollis Daniels on October 9th. The campus was placed on lock down for a short time and the incident made national news.
Abner Euresti was the commencement speaker for the December 2017 commencement ceremonies.
2018
Jaclyn Cañas-Carrell, Department of Environmental Toxicology, was promoted to the rank of professor.
October 9, 2018 - A moment of silence was held in Memorial Circle in remembrance of fallen police officer Floyd East, who had been killed the previous year. A donated boulder bearing East's name was installed outside the Texas Tech Police Department on October 27th.
Through a $5 million grant from the Governor's University Research Initiative (GURI), Texas Tech hired its first National Academy of Sciences (NAS)
faculty member, Luis Rafael Herrera-Estrella. He joined the faculty of the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.
2019
Ginger Kerrick was appointed by the Governor Abbott as one of three incoming Board of Regents members to serve from May 2019-January 2025.
Jesse Perez Mendez began his term as Dean of the College of Education on August 1, 2019. He was the first Hispanic to hold the rank of dean at Texas Tech.
2020
Joseph Acaba (left), a Master's of Education graduate from Texas Tech in 2015, was among a group of 18 astronauts selected for training for NASA's Artemis moon-landing program. (Link to Texas Tech Today article)
Raiders Rojos National Alumni was renamed Raiders Rojos Alumni Network.
2021
In January, the LISD Board of Trustees approved naming the new North Lubbock elementary school, located at 2010 Cesar E. Chavez Drive, in honor of Anita Carmona-Harrison, the first Hispanic female entirely educated in Lubbock to graduate from Texas Tech (1967). She taught bilingual education at LISD for almost 30 years.
Arcilia Accosta was named one of three new appointees to the TTU Board of Regents.
The inaugural Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) Week was held from September 13-17, 2021 as part of the Hispanic/LatinX Heritage Month celebratory activities.
On November 16, 2021, the College of Arts and Sciences announced the official formation of the Institute for Latina/o Studies, the result of combining the collective efforts of the existing Latin American and Iberian Studies Center and the Mexican American and Latina/o Studies Center supported by 36 associated faculty members. (Texas Tech Today press release)
Señor Sack: The Life of Gabe Rivera, authored by Jorge Iber, Associate Dean in the College of Arts & Sciences, was published by Texas Tech University Press. Thirteen of Dr. Iber’s fifteen books to date focused on Latino/a athletes.
2022
Martin Camacho was named dean of the J.T. & Margaret Talkington College of Visual & Performing Arts on February 7th.
May 24, 2022 - The Naming Commission of the U.S. Department of Defense recommended renaming Fort Hood as Fort Cavazos in honor of General Richard E. Cavazos, Texas Tech graduate and the first Hispanic to become a four-star general in the U.S. Army.
June 9, 2022 - Texas Tech was one of twenty top U.S. research universities to form the Alliance of Hispanic Serving Research Universities (HSRU) to increase opportunities for underserved Hispanics in higher education.
September 9, 2022 - Grand opening of the new Black Cultural Center at 2533 15th Street. It was the first of its kind on campus and included a new TTU branch library, The Peters Family Legacy Library, endowed by Rawls College of Business alum Brenda J. Peters, and supervised by new Assistant Librarian Uriel Onye.
2023
Fort Hood was officially renamed Fort Cavazos on May 9, 2023.
Raiders Rojos Alumni Network raised nearly $500,000 in scholarship money since 2000. The organization anticipates giving out twenty $2,000 scholarships in the fall. Fifteen scholarships were awarded the previous year.
2024
Hector Lopez, a senior in the Huckabee College of Architecture, received the Brent Ross Fearless Champion Award at the October 18, 2024 "A Matador Evening" awards dinner.