Texas Tech to rename one of its founding colleges, create new department

Major changes are coming to one of the four founding colleges at Texas Tech University.

At its regularly scheduled meeting, the TTU System Board of Regents authorized changing the name of the College of Human Sciences to the College of Health & Human Sciences.

Founded as the College of Home Economics in 1925, Texas Tech Provost Ron Hendrick said that the college has always focused on aspects of human health, including nutrition, hygiene, home management, child-rearing and family relations with the guiding vision statement of "Improving and Enhancing the Human Condition."

According to the university, the name change better reflects the vision statement and other shifts in higher education institutions and organizations around the nation, such as the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities changing its key subgroup to the Board of Health and Human Sciences.

"Students increasingly turn to the College of Human Sciences for pathways to health careers," the agenda book stated. "Many of our students plan to pursue careers in nursing, medicine, mental health counseling, dietetics, healthcare management, and occupational and physical therapy."

The college currently houses two programs, six degrees, and two centers, but another change was also approved within the college — the creation of the Department of Interdisciplinary Human Sciences.

The creation of the new department will help with "typical organizational structure to consolidate and standardize the department level functions," according to the university.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech University to rename College of Human Sciences