One West Campaign Brings Massive Changes to WT Campus

Copy by Chip Chandler, 806-651-2124, [email protected]

CANYON, Texas - From a resurrected historical building to new construction, the nine-year-long One West comprehensive fundraising campaign has had a transformational impact on West Texas A&M University.

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.

Improving the Campus

One of the campaign's three overarching priorities was places, through University and college priorities. More than $30 million has been donated specifically to support this priority.

Many of the larger construction projects were made possible through a partnership between public and private funds, including legislative outlays from the state of Texas, funding from The Texas A&M University System, and grants from the federal government. The root of all of the projects, though, is the devotion of WT's supporters.

Jim Pollard and his late wife, Peggy, provided an endowment for seasonal maintenance and replacement of plants around the Joseph A. Hill Memorial Chapel. After his wife's death, Jim Pollard made an additional donation to establish an endowment for landscaping needs around the Geneva Schaeffer Education Building.

"Both of us had all of our undergraduate education classes in that building," Pollard said. "I wanted to find something I could do that could put her name on it because it meant so much to her. That building was the heartbeat of her success."

Major Construction and Renovations

The Happy State Bank Academic and Research Building-which houses the Caviness Meat Science and Innovation Center, Doc's Meat retail store and classrooms and office space-officially opened in September 2018, almost a year after the historic $80 million gift from Paul Engler and the Engler Foundation. Also opening were the Piehl-Schaeffer Pavillion and the Bain Event Center.

High Plains Christian Ministries Foundation made a $3 million gift in February 2021 to fund the Baptist Community Services Nursing Education Floor at Harrington Academic Hall WTAMU Amarillo Center.

After the One West campaign launched publicly, more gifts were made to support campus locations.

Soon after the launch, WT announced the planned gift of the Gerdsen Family Centennial Ranch near the WTAMU Nance Ranch, about seven miles east of Canyon.

In February 2022, two major gifts named campus landmarks both old and new: A $5 million gift to name the Bain-Schaeffer Buffalo Stadium, which had brought football back to campus in 2019, and a $2.5 million gift to name the Geneva Schaeffer Education Building, which reopened in January following a $40 million renovation, and.

In addition to providing a new, expanded home for the Graduate School, research and compliance services, and Education on Demand offices, the Geneva Schaeffer Education Building, which reopened in January, is home to a state-of-the-art instructional design space that will advance digital learning.

The building's new addition, which clad in matte black metal, houses Buffalo Vision: The Frontier of Learning. Built and designed by Igloo Vision, a shared immersive space company based in the United Kingdom, the room offers a near-360-degree virtual reality lab that users can experience without the need for a headset.

HPCMF made a second major gift in April 2022, donating $1.5 million to fund the first major renovations for the 72-year-old Joseph A. Hill Memorial Chapel.

A 15-year, $12.5 million project to provide the state-of-the-art Bain Athletic Complex officially opened in July 2024 ; funds for its completion were part of the Bain family's naming gift for the football stadium.

Ground was broken in November on the West Texas A&M University Foundation's $15 million feedlot and educational complex , made possible in part by both a $2.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and a 2024 land legacy gift of 42.84 acres adjacent to the Nance Ranch. Additionally, a $2 million gift named the Paul F. and Virginia J. Engler Foundation Education Building, which will be constructed at the complex.

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.

Top photo: The Joseph A. Hill Memorial Chapel reopened June 23, 2024, following an extensive renovation funded through gifts to the One West comprehensive fundraising campaign.

-WT-