Texas Tech president shares plans for future enrollment, research and eyes AAU

In another year of breaking university records and bucking the emerging trend of decreasing enrollment at higher education institutions nationwide, Texas Tech President Lawrence Schovanec shared significant wins and goals for the university during his annual State of the University address Wednesday.

"The initiatives we're undertaking are laying the foundation for a Texas Tech that will continue to grow in prominence, impact and excellence," Schovanec said. "As we move into our second century, our commitment is steadfast, our impact is meaningful and our future is bright."

In a speech to students, faculty and staff in the university's Charles E. Maedgen, Jr. Theatre, Schovanec touted various academic, research, and enrollment milestones the university accomplished in the last year while shedding light on the university's future. Here are takeaways from his address.

Dig Deeper: Texas Tech University 2024 enrollment, Honors College break records, again

The road to Association of American Universities status

"It is our intent to achieve status as a preeminent national research university, with the goal of achieving the benchmark shared by institutions and the Association of American Universities," Schovanec said.

For context, the AAU is comprised of 71 research-leading universities in the U.S. and Canada with such names as Harvard, Texas A&M, University of Texas, Princeton and many more.

Tech is setting a 10-year goal for achieving AAU status, identifying seven key indicators to get there:

• An increase in competitively funded federal research support.

• An increase in faculty awards, fellowships and memberships.

• Number of citations in peer-reviewed publications.

• Number of books having been published by faculty.

• USDA, state and industry research funding.

• Number of PhDs granted.

• Number of postdoctoral appointees.

Schovanec said that Texas Tech has surpassed some AAU members in some of these metrics, but the university is trying to meet the federal research funding requirements. In the past five years, Tech has increased its federal research funding from $30 million to $63 million.

However, Schovanec told the A-J after his address that university leaders don't intend to lose focus on Tech's founding priority to serve students while the institution pursues AAU status.

"You don't forsake the culture and mission of this institution to change a designation," Schovanec said. "Here we're all about students, so we don't want to compromise it."

Looking to future enrollment

As Tech leaders addressed in the State of the Texas Tech University System luncheon a few weeks ago, higher education faces an anticipated challenge of declining student enrollment, known as "the cliff."

Others are reading: Texas Tech System presidents boast significant accomplishments, future goals

"The cliff" is a reference to the anticipated decrease in college enrollment in the next few years due to fewer high school students graduating, along with questions some may have about the value of a traditional college degree.

Although Tech announced another year of record enrollment this fall, topping 41,000 students for the first time, Schovanec said the university has developed a strategy to help it avoid a "significant drop" in enrollment by 2028.

"The strategic enrollment planning effort was a necessary exercise to assess the capacity of colleges and departments to identify opportunities both for students and this institution and to grow with a purpose," Schovanec said. "We seek a student body of size and composition that aligns with our mission and meets the needs of our state and our nation."

To achieve this, the university is embarking on six initiatives:

• Enhance digital marketing and recruitment efforts.

• Drive program innovation, including a new degree in human-centered AI.

• Optimize financial aid and scholarship distribution.

• Increase retention rates through targeted interventions.

• Establish a dedicated online school with flexible learning options.

• Expand financial literacy efforts for the students.

Mapping, funding the growth of the university

Ambitious research and enrollment plans must ensure that the university's infrastructure is up to par to accommodate future students. Schovanec said the university is in the final stages of developing a comprehensive master plan to do this.

"Our planning efforts, whether they pertain to enrollment, research or the campus master plan, will guide us in crafting a vision for Texas Tech that will move us into our second century as a leading institution of higher education," Schovanec said.

The President also touched briefly on an upcoming capital campaign set to launch publicly in October. The campaign, which began silently four years ago, has already raised more than $700 million from 75,000 donors.

But more details and goals for the eight-year campaign will be announced in a public launch event in October.

"The first pillar of the campaign will be focused on increasing resources to support students," Schovanec said. "The conflating factors of cost, decreasing number of high school graduates and competitive recruitment pressures from institutions in and outside of Texas make scholarship support more important than ever."

The campaign will also support the university's research and "creative activity." Its public debut is slated for Homecoming Week, Oct. 14-19.

The impact of the Texas University Fund

Tech saw its first year of receiving $44 million from the newly created nearly $3.9 billion Texas University Fund, an endowment approved by Texas voters last November.

Previous Reporting: Texas voters approve $3.9 billion research fund for Texas Tech, other universities

"It provides us with unprecedented opportunities to enhance our research capabilities, improve our facilities and invest in our people," Schovanec said.

Recent projects the TUF has funded include:

• Equipment acquisitions.

• Research support services.

• Development of Research infrastructure.

"We plan to add about 100 new faculty lines over the next five years," Schovanec said. "Some of those lines represent the ongoing strategic hiring process, but roughly 60 new lines will be made possible by TUF proceeds."

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Takeaways from Texas Tech's State of the University address