WT’s One West Campaign Seeds Massive Increase in Scholarships, Professorships

Copy by Chip Chandler, 806-651-2124, cchandler@wtamu.edu

CANYON, Texas — In the nine years since the roots were laid for West Texas A&M University’s historic One West comprehensive fundraising campaign, donations earmarked for scholarships and professorships have made school more affordable for students and widened opportunities for faculty member across campus.

The campaign, which funds the long-term goal WT 125: From the Panhandle to the World,  officially will wrap with a donor celebration Thursday, at which the history-making campaign total will be announced.

The groundwork was laid for the campaign in 2017, when Paul Engler and the Engler Foundation made an $80 million gift to WT, $24 million of which was counted in the campaign. The public launch was held in September 2021, with an original goal of $125 million, which was reached just 18 months later. A second goal of $175 million was reached in September 2025.

In all, 13,377 different donors made a contribution to the campaign.

One of the campaign’s three overarching priorities was people, through scholarships and professorships. Nearly $50 million has been donated specifically to support this priority.

Making College Affordable for Students

Prior to the campaign, 1,451 students received $2 million in scholarship funds from endowments. As a result of the campaign, 2,000 students now will receive $4 million in endowed scholarships — an increase of more than 30 percent over the course of the campaign. Because those funds are in endowed accounts, they will continue to grow over time, ultimately providing more funding for students.

When combined with other scholarships, more than $8 million is now available annually to help WT students to graduate and succeed with reduced educational debt.

“WT was the best choice for me … because it’s more about the opportunities I’m able to seek out, such as leadership opportunities in different programs on campus, and that wouldn’t be possible if I was worried about funding my schooling,” said Romie Rubio, a senior finance major from Amarillo and Rogers LEAD WT student. “Because of the One West campaign, I’m able to do so much more than just my education, and I think that’s really impactful because not only have all of those things taught me the values that I keep close to my heart, but it’s also something that I’m going to be able to continue to share with our community.”

Rubio has received several scholarships that were enhanced by the One West campaign, including the Terry Family Leadership Scholarship, the LEAD WT Endowed Scholarship, and the Dyke and Terry Rogers LEAD WT Scholarship and more.

Expanding Research, Service Activities for Professors

Through the One West campaign, WT’s roster of endowed professorships and chairs has grown from 26 to 109.

Endowed professorships and chairs make it possible to recruit, retain and reward outstanding faculty by providing annual financial support for teaching, research, service and other professional activities. 

“This professorship gives me motivation to help (students) achieve their goals, in terms of how do you empower them, how do you contribute to society in terms of advancing the knowledge, especially in science, technology, engineering and math fields,” said Dr. Anitha Subburaj, who was named the McFather Professor of Engineering, Computer Science and Mathematics in January 2022. “We try to implement all of these tools and advance technologies we learn from outside in most of our course materials … (and see) what can best fit our students so they can then serve the individual needs in our Panhandle region.”

Professorships or chairs have been added in each of WT’s six Colleges: the Paul Engler College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, the Paul and Virginia Engler College of Business, the Terry B. Rogers College of Education and Social Sciences, the College of Engineering, the Sybil B. Harrington College of Fine Arts and Humanities, and the College of Nursing and Health Sciences.

Wide-Ranging Impact

The One West campaign—through its priorities of people, programs and places—has made an impact across the University. The six Colleges, the Graduate School, WT Athletics and Student Affairs all have benefited from the impact of philanthropic investments from donors. Gifts to create endowments will ensure sustainability for generations to come through perpetual funding.

“One West, to me, means opportunity and being able to experience things that maybe (students at) other schools don’t have the opportunity of having,” said Bentley Wesbrooks, a senior speech and hearing sciences major from Canyon and Rogers LEAD WT student. “The donors who do so much for WT are really impactful because they’ve helped me in my journey. It’s also inspiring and something I hope that I can do some day — to be able to give back and help students as they also go through WT.”

At least three of Wesbrooks’ scholarships were created or enhanced through the One West campaign: The Panhandle Down Syndrome Guild Scholarship, LEAD WT Endowed Scholarship, and the Dyke and Terry Rogers LEAD WT Scholarship.

Other major gifts that impacted people around campus over the course of the campaign included:

• A $2.8 million estate gift from the late Dr. Jenny Lind Porter Scott to expand Cornette Library’s Texas Poets’ Corner and establish three professorships and a scholarship fund
• Two gifts totaling $5 million to fund two chairs of meat science in the Engler College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences
• A $1.8 million gift for women’s athletics scholarships and program support, followed by a separate $1 million scholarship endowment
• A $1.5 million gift to cover WT tuition for Pampa and White Deer students

About West Texas A&M University

A Regional Research University, West Texas A&M University is redefining excellence in Canyon, Texas, on a 342-acre residential campus, as well as the Harrington Academic Hall WTAMU Amarillo Center in downtown Amarillo. Established in 1910, the University has been part of The Texas A&M University System since 1990. WT boasts an enrollment of more than 9,000 and offers 66 undergraduate degree programs, including eight associate degrees; and 44 graduate degrees, including an integrated bachelor’s and master’s degree, a specialist degree and two doctoral degrees. WT recently earned a Carnegie Foundation classification as a Research College and University. The Buffaloes are a member of the NCAA Division II Lone Star Conference and offers 16 men’s and women’s athletics programs.

—WT—