WT Looking To Amarillo For Expansion

[bevans22]

Finally.......

Firm Hired to Study Feasibility of WTAMU Presence in Amarillo

www.wtamu.edu/news/releases/1-1-01/study.htm

[westtexan]

Finally is the word for it.

As a WTSU alum...I think it's about time for us to see some WT buildings in west Amarilllo...and not just big Texas Tech ones.

What I want to eventually see...is for WTAMU to have a similar presence in Amarillo...to the Amarillo College West Campus.

[petiepanzer]

They should have made AC a 4 year university a long time ago. It is a much better school than WT and is run much better as well.

I don't have much faith in them putting an Amarillo campus in any time in the near future. They have had almost 100 years to do this. Also, they seem to have trouble with fundraising since they ran T. Boone off. Boy, it sure would have been nice if they had gotten even a small portion of the Money he has donated to OSU, wouldn't it?

[bevans22]

How is AC better? Academics? Campus Life? I felt like I received a quality education in the College of Business at WT and have no complaints about the campus life either.

We can't look at the years gone by and wish WT would've expanded then. We need to look to the future and expand physically into the Amarillo area.

As far as T. Boone goes....well, he was never around WT and I never heard much of his name other than his name being on the College of Business when I was there. WT in no way could compete with OSU for his money.....it wouldn't give him attention on national TV like OSU can.

I think you'll see the fund raising efforts of Dr. O'Brien in the near future. Once he gets entrenched in the community you'll see the money start to flow in. His background is in economics......which is a big plus for WTAMU and will help move the university in a new and different direction.

[petiepanzer]

Amarillo College has always been considered better academically than WT. Anyone even remotely familiar with both universities understands this. AC is considered one of the top junior colleges in the country. I went to the University of Colorado, but I would often come home and take classes during the summer at AC because it was much less expensive to do so. I never had any problems getting CU to accept any of my transfers, which is saying something because CU was notorious for dinging people on transfer hours when I was there. The only limitation with AC is they do not allow people to pursue a degree higher than an associate's degree. That is why most people that start at AC end up transferring to universities with much more national clout than WT.

The only way I have to measure schools against one another is through U.S. News and World Reports annual ranking of the nation's top 4 year schools. In this, we have the top National universities which includes most of the Big 12 schools, including my own alma mater. After that, we have the Tier 3 national universities. The only 2 big 12 schools on this list are Oklahoma State and Texas Tech, but I would expect OSU to move into one of the top schools list within the next few years, once T. Boone's donation makes itself fully felt. Also in this list are schools like the University of New Mexico, Arizona State University, and the University of Wyoming. Now, they are not necessarily bad schools, but they don't have the same academic reputation as the top schools do. Last, you have the tier 4 national universities. These guys are the bottom of the barrel nationally and include schools like UNLV, New Mexico State, and Wichita State. Strangely enough, WTAMU does not appear anywhere on the list of National universities. To discover their true ranking amongst schools, one must look at the regional or Master's universities list. There, one will discover that WTAMU is considered a tier 3 university amongst the Western region. Why does this matter, one may ask? It matters because both employers and graduate schools take this into consideration and 9 times out of 10, the decision is going to go to the applicant whose alma mater is higher up on the pecking order. It is unfair and elitist, but that is just the way the world works. Also, WT is not exactly set up well in terms of their endowment. Most universities have at least $100 million in their endowment fund before they start talking about things like expansion and creating new satellite campuses. The balance of WTAMU's endowment fund sits at a paltry $14 million and some change. That is really not very much money when one considers the cost of what a satellite campus would run, both in terms of construction and upkeep. I know T. Boone has given a ton of money out to other schools as well as OSU. Just think what even 1/10th of the 1/4 of a billion given to OSU would have done for the university. Sadly enough, that will never happen now and I suppose Amarillo people need to move on. They should, however, start looking for another sugar daddy that would be willing to shell out some money for WT. As of yet, this person has not emerged. I hope for the sake of WT and Amarillo that Dr. O'Brien is able to pull some magic and raise the necessary funds for a WT expansion. Until it happens, however, I will continue to remain skeptical.

www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/rankindex_brief.php

[catsmeow]

PetiePanzer ... doesn't it suck how everyone with the good ideas to get things done seems to lack the funds to make it happen?

That lottery would come in handy sometimes.

[westtexan]

According to the USNews link...Eastern New Mexico University...is smaller than WTAMU...yet has a higher endowment...at almost $15 million.

Also...Angelo State University...which is the same size as WTAMU...has an endowment of almost $84 million.

So...we have to wonder what has been going wrong at WT...for so many years...and how it can be corrected.

If the public had been kept informed of the state of affairs at WT (by the Globe News) there would have been a lot more public interest...and quite possibly more donations to help WT.

It's good to have these problems dragged out into the daylight...to generate public interest...and start getting these problems solved...rather than keeping them buried.

[catsmeow]

OK, WT ... spill 'em. What are the problems. This is a fairly new issue for me. I've heard you talk about the generalities, but I don't think I know specifics. What's up?

[westtexan]

I don't know all the specific problems at WTAMU...but I was attending WT...in it's period of worst turmoil...and I can say that they have a long-standing history of alienating alumni and students.

When I was at WT...by the time you graduated...you were generally fed up with the place...but too far along to transfer to Tech.

The worst things I saw at WT...during my time there...were lazy staff (not faculty) employees and management problems and student and alumni apathy.

The Amarillo media will not report on the long-term issues in Canyon...and others try to keep them buried...and away from public knowledge...which lets the problems continue.

Probably the big ones have been management...and a lack of job accountability for employees.

[petiepanzer]

catsmeow,
Lack of financial capital should never be a barrier to anyone pursuing a sound idea or business plan. There are a number of government grants made available every year to people with good ideas, depending on the nature of one's idea. If the government is not an option, then there are always financial institutions which offer a wide range of solutions for the start-up business person. Now, if the banks are not able to cover the particular venture one has in mind, they call in people like me. Through venture capitalism, many people are able to put their good ideas into motion. I will be honest, though. Somebody should only call me after they have exhausted other potential sources of revenue. I do not come cheap and my finder's fee is usually 2 points. The problem most people have is that they are unable to turn their idea into an actual plan of action. They find it quite difficult to put all the pieces together and come up with something that looks acceptable to the powers that be. In essence, they fail to do the groundwork necessary to pull something like that off.

Entrepreneurs are typically pretty quirky people. They don't traditionally fall into the same catagories that would make a good manager or employee. In many ways, they are sort of square pegs in round holes. Of course, that is what makes them successful. They are able to see things a little bit differently than John Q. Public, and that is what makes them successful. It actually takes a lot of creativity to accomplish something like that and I would compare them in many ways to an artist or a musician. Also, contrary to popular belief, most of those guys are not doing it for the money. It usually involves some type of passion of theirs and they are able to build on it from there. Quite often, they were the kids that always got into trouble in school and quite a few of them have learning disabilities like ADHD. Contrary to popular belief, those people with ld's are not less intelligent than the general populus, their minds just work differently. In fact, I have found them quite often to be considerably above average. One of my favorite examples is Sir Richard Branson, founder and CEO of Virgin. That guy dropped out of school at 16, but has managed to accumulate a fortune of several billion dollars.

[catsmeow]

PetiePanzer ... I know what you're saying on all fronts. I was just being half-way facetious. After all, who wants to work really hard at anything??

The good ideas worth pursuing truly do take a lot of footwork, groundwork and effort to make them happen ... and sometimes people are too lazy or not persistent enough to do what is necessary.

In this case of WT, however, it would be nice if someone with lots of money to spare would just dump some into the school ...

[westtexan]

In the case of Pickens...he ended up being run out of town by the AGN and the public...because he tried to screw Amarillo...on a natural gas deal.

That was back when the AGN still had some teeth.

I've got high hopes for the new WT president...and hope he can pull off a good deal.

He has a lot of energy and drive...which should help a lot.

If I were WT...I'd be looking bigtime at large national corporations and philanthropist funds...because it is a very worthwhile cause to spend lots of money on.

[ras619]

westtexan said:

I don't know all the specific problems at WTAMU...

The Amarillo media will not report on the long-term issues in Canyon...and others try to keep them buried...and away from public knowledge...which lets the problems continue.

Probably the big ones have been management...and a lack of job accountability for employees.

Well for not knowing I think your subsequent comments pretty well cast a net over what the underlying problems have been.

Canyon has always seemed to just be content being a "bedroom" community for Amarillo, and then at the same time resenting this same fact. The real industry that was dropped in their lap was WT, but they just don't seem to want to expand on that and sure don't want to spend any money. As for keeping it buried I have no knowledge, but then how many different ways can say the apathy of Canyon has yielded no growth unless there is more specifics on what has caused this.

It may very well be that your last comment on management and job performance may even be a major part of the apathy in Canyon, but there is no doubt that it has been a major factor in WT not growing. People in that small closed society are very resistant to change.

However, now along comes Dr. O'Brien and he has already been shaking up some of those dead branches. There have been numerous changes in personnel and I expect many more over the next year too. The long-term backbone of any university is a successful alumni base (WT has failed to build that bridge) with a good educational experience & I hope that will now begin to happen with WT.

It seems that the more successful universities are "known" for one or more aspects that are featured even though they maintain a broad base educational experience. For many, maybe not all, the "feature" is a vibrant and successful athletic program. There are numerous studies that indicate that the enrollment increases more rapidly when a school is excited by the athletic venues. WT is seeing more new growth due to this change than they ever will because of their great programs in music, nursing, agriculture, etc., but they need these and more advanced degree programs for the long-term. Bottom line is that WT may have to branch out into the mainstream Amarillo in order to achieve real growth - hope we will provide the support needed for that to happen.

[bevans22]

West-Texan is right...apathy has been a big problem.

I've heard many things from people close to Dr. O'Brien and they are all very good. He has put pressure on the staff members and they are well aware of the expectations. Like I've said before, we will start noticing changes in the near future. He has a great vision for what WT should be and he is headed down that path whether it pisses some people off or not.

The Alumni Association has been working harder to develop that alumni base that they need. They have been holding big events outside of our area to attract those alumni in places like the DFW area. Last summer, the association held golf tournaments in towns across the panhandle. I know they were doing events in places like Perryton, Hereford, Canadian, and other surrounding towns to get those alumni that are in our backyard to be active.

Dr. O'Brien is big on campus beautification as well. He envisions a campus full of grass, park benches, and trees. Most people believe academics should attract students to a campus....which would be nice if that wasn't wishful thinking. Athletics, campus life, and campus beauty also work into the equation and he is trying to bring those all together.

[catsmeow]

WT has on campus an over-looked and well-respected professor who has authored books, is a mover and a shaker in his field (marriage and family therapy/counseling), has been on national television interviews, and quite frankly, is the best teacher I've ever had. Granted, my experience is limited, but I've been to AC, WT, TTU, and Auburn University. Dr. Terry Hargrave is by far the best. He remains in this area because of family responsibilities.

WT should capitalize on him. He is brilliant in so many areas, not just the one he teaches in.