Texas Tech University Archives
Academic Firsts and Milestones
Enrollment Information
The Department of Institutional Research gathers and compiles statistical information on the university, including enrollment, graduation rates and degrees given. The reports are now available online and go back to the beginning of the university. Visit the Institutional Research's
home page to view these types of statistics.
The Fact Books are a compilation of statistics on TTU's student profile and include information on student enrollment, degrees, credit hours, test scores, location distribution, majors, ethnicity, gender and age.
Educational Milestones:
Ph.D.'s were first offered beginning in the 1950-1951 academic year, with the Chemistry, English and History departments the first to do so. Later, Psychology and Education began offering Ph.D. degrees. (Memorandum from Office of the Academic Vice President, 12-21-60)
Mrs. Lucille Sugar Graves is noted in her oral history interview (1974) as being the first African American student at Texas Tech. She came to Tech with a bachelor's degree and was working on her master's degree in the summer of 1961. It was Mrs. Graves's persistent petitioning for entrance into the college that paved the way for other African Americans to attend Texas Tech.
Canon Clements was the first Texas Tech student to receive a Rhodes Scholarship in 1935.
Graduation Milestones:
- Mary Dale Buckner won the drawing to become the first graduate from Texas Technological College. Buckner graduated with a bachelor's degree in English on May 30, 1927.
- Eldon Thorp received his B.A. in 1927 and was the first geology graduate.
- The first master's degrees were awarded in 1928 to Horace Bailey Carroll in history, R. W. Matthews in education and Walter Irwin Wilkins in sociology.
- The first master's of science degree was awarded to Lonnie M. Starr, a agriculture student, in June of 1931. Starr had received his B.S. in agriculture from Tech in 1928.
- Laura Song, a native from Korea, was the first Asian student to graduate from Texas Tech on June 5, 1933. She received a Bachelor's of Science degree in Home Economics. (June 15, 1933 issue of the Toreador)
- Carl Bechtold was the first industrial engineering graduate in 1938. \ (Toreador, February 17, 1940)
- Estus C. Polk, who majored in English, earned the first Ph.D. at Texas Tech in 1952. (Texas Techsan article, September 1952)
- Ophelia Powell-Malone was the first African-American to receive a B.A. degree from Texas Tech in 1964. A short bio on her can be found on the Mentor Tech page.
- James Clark Huff became the first Tech graduate to complete his entire degree requirements in the School of Arts and Sciences with a perfect 4.0 grade point average. (Tex Talks, August, 1965)
- Reagan Harrison Beene Jr. and Eldred Donald Merkl were the first graduates of a Ph.D. program in engineering in 1965. (Tex Talks, August, 1965)
- Anita Carmona Harrison was the first native Chicana Lubbockite to graduate from Texas Tech in 1967. She was also the first Mexican to go through the entire Lubbock School system and graduate from Texas Tech. (El Editor, February 15-22, 1979)
- Gerald L. Morris was awarded the first Ph.D. in Mathematics on August 26th. (University Daily, August 4, 1967)
- Stella Crockett Courtney oral history interview(2010) was the first non-transfer African American student to graduate from Texas Tech University.
- Rosemary Pledger received the first Ph.D. degree of Business Administration in Business Education from Texas Tech on June 1, 1968.
- Fifteen students of the class of 1970 finished up their degree requirements early to become the first Law School graduating class in December, 1969. (TTU Press Release 5-12-17-69)
- Hui-Ying Tseng was the first woman to receive a master's degree in agronomy from Texas Tech in 1970. (Photo)
- Dr. Hortense W. Dixon, who majored in Higher Education and minored in Home Economics, was the first African-American to graduate with a doctorate from Texas Tech University. She graduated in August, 1970, and then went on to become an associate professor of Home Economics at Texas Southern University. (TTU Press Release 5-9-15-70)
- Three additional Latinos graduated from Texas Tech in 1972 - Bidal Aguero, Jesse Rangel, and Rosa Gonzalez. (El Editor, February 15-22, 1979)