Visionary Leadership for a Bold Mission
With the priorities of transforming lives, fueling academic excellence, elevating campus and communities and building champions, each dollar raised during this campaign has made and will continue to make a marked difference at Texas Tech now and for generations to come.
This bold mission was set, and leading the way forward would call for ambition, creativity and fearless leadership. University leadership knew they would need visionaries who could rise to the occasion – donors who embodied the true spirit of a Red Raider and were authentic, tenacious, passionate and ready to seize this opportunity.
Four philanthropic leaders rose to the top: Joyce and Gordon Davis and Robin and Chris Huckabee.
Both Gordon and Chris are visionaries in their respective fields. Gordon uncovered and addressed a vital need in career training and technical education when he launched iCEV. Chris’ architectural design firm, MOREgroup, is revolutionizing the design of educational and healthcare spaces.
The Davises and the Huckabees made transformational gifts to the Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources and the Huckabee College of Architecture. With those gifts came ambitious goals for the colleges, driven by the same enterprising foresight that fostered their business successes.
But what drives the philanthropic vision for these leaders is the same thing that fuels the ON&ON Campaign – impact.
“That was the major reason for our gift, the kids,” Gordon said. “It’s all about the kids. Everybody deserves a shot, a fair shot. Some of the [scholarship] letters Joyce and I have gotten over the years will bring you to your knees. The kids that want it the worst are the ones that are going to work the hardest, and that’s where we, as philanthropists, can make a difference.”
The same was true for Robin and Chris.
“The fact that at Texas Tech we can make education available for more first-generation students, for students who just in general are struggling to get a degree that will have an impact and truly change their family, that’s the game-changer,” Chris said. “For us, that was the important part. The name on the building and the name on the degree are nice, but that was not what mattered. It was, ‘What do these dollars really do to impact our students, our faculty and the resources that they have to connect with our students?’”
Joyce, Gordon, Robin and Chris have now partnered to serve as the co-chairs for the ON&ON Campaign. They are applying their expertise and focusing their efforts on how this campaign can elevate the entire university.
Texas Tech is uniquely positioned to change lives and solve some of our world's greatest challenges. Through investment, the campaign provides the opportunity to amplify how and the scale at which this is done.
For Gordon, this is the time for Texas Tech to enhance the classroom and laboratory spaces on campus and the faculty who work in them. He is passionate about pursuing excellence in every aspect of life, and the university is no exception. Whether it involves the latest technology, the most renowned experts in their fields or the most elite athletes and coaches, Gordon believes the campaign has the potential to attract them to Texas Tech.
“We need to be on the cutting edge. We don’t need to be looking behind,” Gordon said. “There’s no doubt the big problems aren’t going to be solved by accident, and it takes some of the brightest minds. By getting people at the endowed level, you attract high-level scientists who have more influence, get on national programs and represent the university well. There’s no question about it. It’s all part of the excellence.”
As the campaign grows Texas Tech’s ability to attract the brightest minds to West Texas, Chris sees its potential to bring them together in the same room, allowing them to collaborate in unprecedented ways. A core component of a Texas Tech education is preparing graduates to enter a career ready to contribute meaningfully on day one, which is at the core of Chris’ outlook.
“We are going to bring together disciplines across different colleges and put them together in a very collaborative environment where our students get experiences that they wouldn’t get sitting in an individual college, making them a more rounded and broader, employable graduate sought after by companies across the U.S.,” Chris said. “Why is this so important? Because it’s what we do at work. Every day in our job, we come to work, and we work with people from all these different disciplines. There will not be another program out in the U.S. like this – it’s groundbreaking.”
Texas Tech has a bold vision for the ON&ON Campaign and the impact donors can have at the university. The Davises and the Huckabees see the potential. They also know it will take hard work and collaboration to achieve it.
Nonetheless, leading a campaign of this magnitude was a significant undertaking. What ultimately compelled them to step forward?
Unsurprisingly to most Red Raiders, the answer for both couples was quintessentially Texas Tech – they love Texas Tech, there was a need that required hard work to fulfill, and good people were ready to partner with them to do it.
“It was the right thing to do,” Gordon said. “We have a deep affinity for Texas Tech, even though this is not my alma mater. To tell you the truth, when they first asked us, it was a really easy decision.”
After thoughtful consideration, Robin and Chris came to the same answer.
“Seeing the need and seeing that Texas Tech really had a great plan and a great need that we could help steward was the reason that we ultimately came to a yes,” Chris said. "The day we made our decision, we said, ‘We’re not signing on as a box check. We want to work. We want to roll up our sleeves, and we really want to go to work on this because we think this is so worthy of our alumni support.”
To learn more about ON&ON: The Campaign for Texas Tech University visit www.campaign.ttu.edu
This content was paid for and created by the campaign for texas tech. The editorial staff at The Chronicle had no role in its preparation. Find out more about paid content.
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