TTU Home Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library Home Resources Home

Texas Tech University Archives

Alumni, Student and Faculty Organizations

Listed below is a small sampling of some of the social and honor organization collections [both faculty, students and/or alumni] that are available for viewing in the reading room.

I. Alumni Organizations, II. Faculty and Staff Organizations, III. Honor Organizations IV. Student Organizations


I. Alumni Organizations


Black Alumni, Lubbock Chapter


Dads and Moms Association
Now known as the Dads and Moms Association, the Dads Association was created for fathers to show support to their children who attended Texas Tech University. An annual Dads Day event was held to honor Tech Student fathers, and many times, there was also a Mother's luncheon held simultaneously. The Association also helped raise funds for and administer scholarships to Tech students.


Parent and Family Relations, Department of
The Parent and Family Relations Department seeks to connect and engage families and their students attending Texas Tech.

  • U 411.1 Department of Parent and Family Relations Collection, 2002: This 3 oversized box collection consists of 37 (3' x 3') quilts made by alumni and/or family members to celebrate their family's attendance at Texas Tech. The quilts were submitted in a competition for the Family Weekend 2002 events.
  • U 411.2 Parent and Family Relations Department, 1957-2011: The 2 box collection includes brochures, meeting minutes, newsletters, award certificates, memos, correspondence, event planning information, and two prints.

Texas Tech Alumni Association (formerly the Ex-Students Association)
Begun in 1927 with the first graduating class, the Tech’s Alumni Association went through several name changes before settling on the name of Ex-Students Association in September 1949. The organization represents all who have attending Tech, not just its graduates, and publishes a bimonthly magazine called the Texas Techsan. Sponsoring events such as Homecoming, awards programs and chapter activities, the Association also provides numerous academic scholarships and offers support for various University and student groups. Another name change occurred in February 2002 when members of the organization voted to become the Texas Tech Alumni Association.

Alumni Association Publications:

Oral History Interviews:

Manuscript Collections:

II. Faculty and Staff Organizations


After Dinner Forum

American Association of University Professors
The nation’s principal organization of college professors, the AAUP’s aim is to encourage growth of faculty participation in university governance, strive for economic benefits, and to uphold academic freedom. Texas Tech was placed on the AAUP’s censure list from 1958-1967 for improper dismissal of three professors.


American Association of University Women (AAUW)


Black Faculty and Staff Association


Faculty Club
The purpose of the Faculty Club was to promote social activities for and among its membership. Faculty, Graduate Assistants, officers of the administration, and monthly salaried staff of Texas Tech were eligible for membership. Complimentary, non-voting memberships were given to members of the Board of Regent and former Tech presidents.


Faculty Women’s Club


Faculty Senate
The Texas Tech Faculty Senate maintains its own office and historical records.


Latino(a) / Hispanic Faculty and Staff Association


Minority Faculty and Staff Association
The Texas Tech University/Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Minority Faculty and Staff Association was founded in May, 1988, by a group of Black and Hispanic faculty and staff members.


Quarterly Club


Questers
Questers, whose name was derived from "questing for knowledge," began with a membership of 20 men. Membership is done by nomination and majority vote. The wives of the members have their own group called the Jesters.


Sachems
Sachems was a faculty organization for fellowship and discussion.


Techsan Garden Club
The Techsan Garden Club was an organization of the University Women’s group, started in 1962, and was a member of the National Council of State Garden Clubs. Membership consisted of women faculty members, faculty wives, mothers or sisters of members living in the home, and wives and widows of former faculty members of Texas Tech University. Some the purposes of the club included advancing the interests, the organization, and fine art of gardening and garden clubs and plant societies; aiding in the protection and conservation of natural resources by helping to protect civic landscapes and promoting improvements of roadsides and parks; and assisting in the maintenance of the Municipal Garden and Arts Center and supporting the Lubbock Memorial Arboretum.

  • U 201.1 Techsan Garden Club Records, 1962-1988: Materials in this 2 box collection detail the clubs activities, including financial materials, newspaper clippings, and photographs. Also includes 4 large scrapbooks filled with photographs and information on the club’s activities and members.

Texas Association of College Teachers. Texas Tech Chapter
Organized as the College Classroom Teachers' Association of the Texas State Teachers' Association in November 1948, the Texas Association of College Teachers was reorganized and separated from the Texas State Teachers' Association in 1956. It is composed of local chapters located in state-supported universities and colleges and helps develop programs to attain high personal standards of teaching, scholarship and research. The Texas Tech Chapter is one of the largest chapters.

  • S ? Texas Association of College Teachers. Texas Tech Chapter Records, 1956-1970: This collection contains materials related to the Texas Association of College Teachers and the Texas Tech Chapter. It bulks with correspondence (1961-1970) and general files (1957-1967). Other material includes membership, printed, and miscellaneous material, minutes, legal and financial documents, charts, and lists. The correspondence offers a wide variety of discussions related to the Texas Association of Classroom Teachers activities and interests.

University Women’s Club
The organization was composed of two units. The Newcomers’ Club was comprised of the wives of faculty who have served three years or less at Texas Tech. The Faculty Women’s Club was for the wives of faculty who had served longer than three years at Texas Tech. Various social activities included tea parties, theatre parties, and a style show. The organization also participated in raising funds for the Paul Whitfield Horn Fellowship that gave an annual award to female graduate student at the university. Another activity of the organization was to prepare and give out information packets on Lubbock and Texas Tech to any incoming faculty.

  • University Women's Club Photographs
  • U 188.1 University Women's Club Records, 1960-1991: This 3 box collection contains details of the clubs activities including financial materials, newspaper clippings, and photographs. Also includes 5 large scrapbooks filled with photographs and information on the club’s activities and members.
  • U 188.1 University Women's Club Photograph Collection, 1960-1995: This collection of 235 prints contain images detailing of the club's activities, particularly it's social events such as cooking, fashion shows and parties.
  • U 188.2 University Women's Club Records, 1930-2009: This 2 box collection contains correspondence, a history of the organization dated 1930-2009, information on fundraisers and events, yearbooks and the president's notebooks, files and reports. Also included are 292 photographs.

III. Honor Organizations


Alpha Chi
A national scholastic fraternity comprised of juniors and seniors ranking in the upper 10 percentile.


Alpha Lambda Delta


Blue Key


Delta Psi Kappa
A national professional fraternity in Health, Physical Eduation and Recreation.

  • Delta Psi Kappa Scrapbook, 1985-1988

Freshmen Honor Society / Freshmen Girls Honor Society


Gamma Sigma Delta
Honor society for students in the field of agriculture.


Golden Key
An international honor society whose invitational membership is comprised of the top 15% of sophomore, junior and senior college students.


Kappa Mu Epsilon
A mathematics organization, Kappa Mu Epsilon was founded in 1931 and granted membership into the Association of College Honor Societies in 1968. The Texas Tech chapter appears to have been established in 1940.


Mortar Board


Leadership, Scholarship, and service is the motto of the Mortar board, founded nationally in 1918 through the efforts of four local women’s honor societies at Swarthmore College, Cornell University, Ohio State University, and the University of Michigan.  Texas Tech’s service organization, Forum, founded by Mrs. Mary Doak in 1927, was accepted in the spring of 1949 into the national chapter of the Mortar Board by A.A.U.W. Projects sponsored by TTU’s Mortar Board included Homecoming Coffee for Alumnae, Operation Senorita, and work in Registration.


Omicron Delta Kappa
Omicron Delta Kappa is a leadership/honor fraternity. Student members must have over sixty hours of university credits and at least a 3.0 grade point average. They must show competency in at least two of seven leadership areas including campus athletics, publications, literature, music, etc.


Phi Alpha Theta
Phi Alpha Theta, the International Honor Society in History, was created in 1921 at the University of Arkansas. Seeking to bring together students, teachers, and writers of History, Phi Alpha Theta is a professional society whose purpose is to promote the study of history through good teaching, publication, research, and interactions among historians. Publications put out by the society include The Historian, a historical quarterly is which prints articles by members as well also numerous reviews of scholarly books and news of historical activities, and The News Letter, which is published three times per year and carries articles covering current activities and awards of the Society.


Phi Beta Delta
A international honor fraternity.


Phi Beta Kappa
Phi Beta Kappa is the nation’s oldest academic honor society and was established at the College of William and Mary in 1776. Faculty at Texas Tech University submitted applications to get a chapter in 1982, 1985, 1997 and 2000. Texas Tech faculty finally succeeded in gaining charter approval in 2006, thus making Texas Tech one of only three public universities in the state of Texas granted the right to host a Phi Beta Kappa chapter. The formal installation ceremonies were held at 4 p.m. on April 11, 2007, at the Allen Theatre on the Texas Tech campus.


Phi Eta Sigma
Freshman students who achieve at least a 3.50 grade point average during their first two semesters are eligible for membership into Phi Eta Sigma, an academic honorary organization that was chartered at Texas Tech in 1946.


Phi Gamma Nu
Phi Gamma Nu was a professional business sorority whose activities included helping take the minutes at Dad's Day meetings and hosting a Homecoming reception for the College of Business Administration.

  • U 9.1 Phi Gamma Nu Photograph Collection, 1979-1981: The collection contains three group and composite portraits of Phi Gamma Nu members.

Phi Kappa Phi
Texas Tech University’s international honor society, Phi Kappa Phi’s primary objective was the recognition and encouragement of superior scholarship in all academic disciplines. The honor society was founded in 1897 at the University of Maine. There are now chapters in 49 states as well as the District of Columbia, the Philippines and Puerto Rico. Membership in Phi Kappa Phi is the highest academic honor offered by Texas Tech.


Phi Theta Kappa


Phi Upsilon Omicron - Double Key Chapter
The Double Key Chapter of the Phi Upsilon Omicron Sorority was an honor sorority for students in the School of Home Economics at Texas Tech. The Chapter was granted recognition from the national sorority, Phi Upsilon Omicron, in 1937. The sorority was active until 1992.


Pi Epsilon Tau
National honor society of petroleum engineers.


Scroll and Key
Honor society of freshman men students organized in the spring of 1944.


Sigma Delta Chi
Sigma Delta Chi promotes excellence and ethics in journalism.


Sigma Tau Delta
Sigma Tau Delta is an international honor society for students studying English.


Sigma Xi
Previously started on May 26, 1931 as a club, the Sigma Xi group on the Texas Tech campus offically became a Chapter of the national Sigma Xi organization on April 22, 1960. The Texas Tech Chapter became the fifth chapter of Sigma Xi, a graduate science research society, in the state of Texas. Sixty-one members were inducted under the 1960 initiation ceremonies.


Texas Tech Masonic Guild
The Texas Tech Masonic Guild was established in 1930 by 11 Texas Tech faculty members. The organization was later expanded to include students and other Masons in good standing and reorganized in 1960 as the Lubbock Study Committee of the Texas Lodge of Research.

  • Texas Tech Masonic Guild, 1922-1982 and undated: This one box collection consist of materials collected by and created by Fred G. Harbaugh during the course of his time with the Texas Tech Masonic Guild and the Lubbock Study Committee.

Tau Beta Pi
Oldest engineering honor society and the second oldest collegiate honor society in the United States.


Back to the Texas Tech University Archives Collections Page