Key Performance Indicators

By 2030, we aspire to:

• Track and report engagement activities annually, including the number of opportunities, external partnerships, and faculty/staff/student awareness, all explicitly aligned with Texas Tech’s five strategic research areas and engagement priorities.
• Increase participation in engagement activities, with a focus on faculty, staff, students and research centers connected to strategic research themes.
• Expand and monitor community-engaged learning, including the number of designated courses, faculty teaching them and student enrollment in these courses.
• Assess the quality and impact of engagement, by developing a reciprocity metric (e.g., annual stakeholder surveys) and by reporting the percentage of undergraduates completing engagement-focused capstone projects, internships, fieldwork or undergraduate research.

Highlighted Initiatives

Community Engaged Learning

Community-Engaged Learning (CeL) is a university-wide program designed to integrate high-impact practices into coursework across all colleges, departments and divisions at Texas Tech University. CeL integrates community engagement with academic learning to deepen students’ understanding of content, ethical principles and civic responsibility. This educational approach aligns academic knowledge with real community needs, emphasizing social impact through sustained, collaborative and reciprocal partnerships. Students work alongside community members to address long-term social challenges and support community-driven solutions, resulting in meaningful transformation for both students and communities.

Tech Leadership Institute

The Tech Leadership Institute (TLI) is an 8-week program designed to help new students (first-year and transfer) develop their personal and professional skills so they can be more successful both in and out of the classroom and have a positive impact on the Texas Tech community. Students admitted into the TLI program meet weekly for two hours during the semester they are admitted for (offered in fall and spring). Each week will cover a different topic of leadership that is taught through discussions and activities done in both small and large group settings.

Key Performance Indicators

By 2030, we aspire to:

• Create an incentive framework linked directly to external funding, consistently tracked across colleges and programs.
• Release annual impact assessment reports clearly tracking sustained societal impacts beyond initial funding cycles.
• Grow industry partnerships and memoranda of understanding in identified high-growth sectors tracked against strategic engagement goals.

Highlighted Initiatives

Texas Tech Innovation Hub Faculty C-Startup

This competitive grant program supports faculty in developing or enhancing courses that foster innovation and entrepreneurship, with a focus on incorporating best practices such as the Business Model Canvas and Lean LaunchPad. Awardees serve as ambassadors for entrepreneurship throughout the academic year, and their bios, photos and courses are featured online.

Enhancing Weather Intelligence and Flood Management in the Texas Hill Country

The proposed integrated weather solution for Flash Flood Alley, a highly flood-prone region located in the Texas Hill County, aims to enhance flood forecasting and warning capabilities through a high-resolution monitoring and modeling network. By expanding the West Texas Mesonet with new weather stations, adding automated rain gauges, deploying multiple high-resolution radars, and developing Texas-focused probabilistic and real-time weather prediction systems, the initiative will address critical gaps in current systems to predict catastrophic flooding events. These enhancements will provide real-time, high-fidelity data and tailored products to improve forecast accuracy and timeliness, ultimately reducing the devastating impacts of flash floods, as seen in the catastrophic 2025 event. The $24M project funding through the State of Texas and SB5 leverages existing Texas Tech University infrastructure and expertise to deliver actionable data to state agencies, the National Weather Service, and other stakeholders, with a two-year implementation timeline.

Key Performance Indicators

By 2030, we aspire to measure our societal impact by:

• Increase faculty participation in professional development related to outreach, engagement, community-engaged learning and engaged scholarship.
• Ensure tenure and promotion practices value engagement, with a goal of expanding the percentage of academic departments that explicitly recognize outreach and engagement in their criteria.
• Recognize excellence in engagement and scholarship, by tracking and increasing the number of annual awards for community-engaged learning and engaged scholarship activities.
• Align incentive structures with institutional and AAU priorities, by defining clear incentives for engaged scholarship and monitoring the number and percentage of externally funded projects in this area.

Highlighted Initiatives

Engaged Scholars & Practitioner Network

The Engaged Scholars & Practitioner Network was established to bring together engaged scholars (faculty, professional staff and graduate students) to connect, collaborate and build a culture and community of engagement. The benefits of this network include collaboration and networking opportunities, participation in workgroups to facilitate partnerships for engaged scholarship and grant opportunities, development pathways to community partnership and monthly newsletters including communication, resources and workshops.

Discoveries to Impact

Discoveries to Impact brings together the best of the best in West Texas. From researchers and scholars to innovators and entrepreneurs, this partnership has fostered a unique experience on Texas Tech campus. Discoveries to Impact is made possible through the exciting  partnership between the Center for Transformative Undergraduate Experiences (TrUE), the Innovation Hub at Research Park, the Center for Integration of STEM Education & Research (CISER), and Outreach & Engagement.

Key Performance Indicators

By 2030, we aspire to:

• Establish a baseline and increase the number of grant-funded community partnerships.
• Monitor and expand the number of professional development opportunities offered annually to community partners.
• Develop and implement a framework to evaluate partnership effectiveness, with a focus on community reciprocity and societal impact.
• Measure and increase the number and growth rate of meaningful agreements with corporate, governmental and international partners.
• Document and encourage faculty and student participation in innovation and entrepreneurship activities involving community partnerships.

Highlighted Initiatives

Industry Advancement Technology Track

The Industry Advancement Technology Accelerator supports faculty, students, and entrepreneurs in launching startups or licensing opportunities based on AI, machine learning, or advanced manufacturing technologies. Selected ventures receive funding, mentorship and co-working space to help them grow into successful companies addressing today’s complex challenges.

The Center for Early Head Start

The Center for Early Head Start (CEHS) in Texas Tech University’s College of Human Sciences is a federally funded program serving about 100 Lubbock families with children ages 0–3. At no cost to qualifying families, CEHS offers year-round, full-day childcare, nutritious meals, health and developmental screenings, parent education and support, and a home visiting program for expectant mothers and young children.

The mission of CEHS is to promote school readiness by nurturing the physical, emotional, social, language, and cognitive development of infants and toddlers; strengthening families as primary educators of their children; and advocating for children and families through a program grounded in state-of-the-art research.