Joyce Davis Arterburn originally hailed from Denver City, Texas, before her family moved to Lubbock while she was in high school. She attended Texas Tech, earned a bachelor’s degree in physical science in 1954, and worked in the physical education department for 37 years. The following year, she married Tech football player E.F. “Junior” Arterburn, Jr. In 1966, she earned her master’s in physical education from Texas Tech.

In 1976, she became the first faculty sponsor (along with Dr. Bill Marshall of the Physics Department) for the High Riders student organization. The group was initially founded as a female counterpart to the Saddle Tramps and to support women’s athletics, as well as minor men’s sports. Arterburn sponsored the organization for over twenty years and, under her influence, the High Riders began many traditions that are still part of the organization today. For instance, while she was the advisor for the group, the High Riders began ringing the Victory Bells and participating as Raider Red, two responsibilities only the Saddle Tramps previously carried out. During Arterburn’s sponsorship, the High Riders also began taking part in Carol of Lights and homecoming events.

In 1984, Arterburn was promoted from Instructor to Assistant Professor and received tenure. She continued to teach in the physical education department until her retirement in 1996. Arterburn was named Woman of the Year by Mortar Board and the Women in Communications Inc. in 1981, and was inducted into the Texas Tech Athletic Hall of Honor in 2003.

Related collections within the University Archives and the Southwest Collection holdings:
Joyce Davis Arterburn faculty file, 1960-1990
Joyce Davis Arterburn reference file
Margaret E. Wilson Papers, 1935-2007 - file on Joyce Arterburn, 1954-2003

See also:
Maeley Herring, “A True Legacy,” Texas Techsan magazine, January/February 2020, p. 26-29.

Born in Pampa, Texas, on January 28, 1960, Sharon Moultrie Bruner was a competitive track and field athlete in high school. During her first year at Texas Tech in 1979, she earned a full athletic scholarship after competing on the women’s track team as a walk-on and, over the course of the next three years, distinguished herself as a standout student and athlete. In 1981, Moultrie became the first African American as well as the first female athlete to be elected Homecoming Queen. She was also the first Texas Tech female athlete to earn All-American honors, for long jump in 1981 and 1982, and was a seven-time NCAA qualifier in sprint and jumping events. In April of 1982, she won the Outstanding Senior Athlete Award, one of the university’s top women’s athletic prizes.

After graduating in the spring of 1983 with a B.S. degree in physical education, Bruner taught and coached boys and girls' cross-country and girls’ track at South Grand Prairie High School, where she was named Coach of the Year and Teacher of the Year. In 1998, she was inducted into Texas Tech’s Athletic Hall of Honor. In 2001, she was admitted into the Texas Black Sports Hall of Fame.

Related collections within the University Archives and the Southwest Collection holdings:
Athletic Media Relations Records, 1928-2012 – player file for Sharon Moultrie (Track), 1979-1998
Margaret E. Wilson Papers, 1935-2007 - file on Sharon Ann Moultrie, 1978-2000

See also:
Amanda Castro-Crist, Texas Tech African-American History: Sharon Moultrie Bruner, Texas Tech Today, February 26, 2019
Terry Greenberg, Corky Classic Kicks Off Indoor Season, Celebrates Life of Texas Tech Athletics’ Oglesby, Texas Tech University System Institutional Advancement website, January 16, 2018

Faye LaVerne Bumpass graduated Lubbock High School as valedictorian in 1927 and received her bachelor’s degree in 1932 and her master’s degree in 1934, both from Texas Technological College. Between the years of 1932-1941 Faye taught Latin and Spanish in Texas high schools and served as a visiting instructor in Spanish during the summer at Texas Tech. She extensively traveled Latin America between the years of 1945-1951, working as a teacher of Latin and English as a second language in Lima, Peru. In 1948, she completed her Doctor of Letters degree from San Marcos University.

Beginning in 1957, Faye served as an assistant professor in both English and Foreign Languages. Her broad teaching experience would come in handy as she wrote several textbooks on bilingual education. Her testimony before Congress in May of 1967 on bilingual education was the only one selected for publication in the Congressional Record proceedings (Vol. 113 No. 81). In 1969, she became one of two women to acquire the high rank of Horn Professor, a rank previously only held by male professors. She continued to teach as a tenured faculty member at Texas Tech until 1974.

Related collections within the University Archives and the Southwest Collection holdings:
Faye LaVerne Bumpass Reference File
Faye Bumpass faculty file, 1941-1978
Homage to Faye LaVerne Bumpass. Third annual Gaye LaVerne Bumpass lecture papers. Dept. of Classical and Romance Languages and the Latin American Area Studies Program at Texas Tech University, 1981

Born in Cleburne, Texas, Beatrix Aldrena Cobb received her Ph.D. from the University of Texas and worked with M.D. Anderson Hospital in Houston. In 1958, she joined the faculty of the psychology department at Texas Tech University. Cobb’s work with special problems in rehabilitation led to her promotion as Director of Research and Training in Mental Retardation. She wrote and edited textbooks on rehabilitation and royalties from two of those books, which were sold in the campus bookstore, were donated to a scholarship fund named after her. Some of her university related activities included being a sponsor for Mortar Board, serving on the 1971 Student Publications Committee and being named Faculty Woman of the Year in 1962 by the Association of Women Students. Cobb also holds the distinction of being one of the first two women to achieve the rank of Horn Professor, the highest academic rank of a professor at Texas Tech. She passed away in 1990.

Related collections within the University Archives and the Southwest Collection holdings:
Beatrix Cobb Reference File
Beatrix A Cobb. et al. "Psychology at Texas Tech University: Legacy and Legend, a Chronicle of the Origin and Development of the Department of Psychology, 1925-1987," Texas Tech Press, 1988

Stella Ruth Crockett Courtney was born on October 4, 1943, in Lubbock, Texas, and attended Dunbar High School where she was a member of the band. In the summer of 1961, after learning that Texas Tech would integrate, Stella was among a very small group of African Americans who decided to attend Texas Tech and together they formed a kind of support system for each other. Having turned down a band scholarship elsewhere Stella continued her musical training by joining the Texas Tech marching band, then lead by Dean Killion.

It was not an easy task to be among the first to break a long held barrier. Stella had to enroll in another section of a class because the first instructor used disparaging language toward her. Support from her family, church and community helped her stay on course and she pointed to her mother’s encouraging words of “sticking it out” as a motivator. “It’s my right to be here. I deserve an education and I’m going to get it,” she recalled in her March 3, 2010 oral history interview.

Influenced by strong mentors Stella knew from the 2nd grade she wanted to be a teacher. In May of 1965 she earned her bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and thus became the first African American to attend Lubbock schools from K-12, attend all undergraduate years at Texas Tech and successfully graduate. Crockett retired in June of 2009 after 43 years of teaching.

Having turned down a band scholarship elsewhere, Stella continued her musical training by becoming one of 15 African Americans to join the Texas Tech marching band.

One story shared about the band's integration years appears in the book Remember When? A History of African Americans in Lubbock, Texas. "...We were to march in the Cotton Bowl for the game and spend the night," recalled Stella's band mate Jean Nichols. "The only problem was that the Cotton Bowl had some rule about blacks on its playing field. None of the band members thought much about it until we were told that our black members could not march. As a drum section we informed Mr. Killion that if our black drummers could not go and march then we all would stay home… This was not done to make a statement but truly out of friendship and respect. As a group (the entire band) and especially the drum section, we made sure there were no back doors and no eating in the kitchen. Where we went our friends went." Dean Killion, then Band Director, made sure that his entire band was able to perform together.

Related collections within the University Archives and the Southwest Collection holdings:
Stella Courtney Crockett oral history interview [sound recording], 2010
Stella Courtney Crockett oral history interview [sound recording], 2014

See also:
Kristen Barton, Diversity Exhibit Highlights First Black Woman to Graduate in Four Years From Texas Tech. Texas Tech Today, February 7, 2017
Michael Cantu, Defining Decades: Courtney Speaks on Experiences as First Black Tech Graduate Daily Toreador, February 8, 2017
Amanda Castro-Crist, Texas Tech African-American History: Stella Courtney Crockett, Texas Tech Today, February 12, 2019

Vivian Imogene Davis was born on June 16, 1933 in Indianapolis, Indiana. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Ball State University in 1954 and a master’s degree in English Education from the University of Chicago in 1969. With a background in teaching English and Spanish at the high school and undergraduate level, as well as work experience in social work, Davis was hired as an assistant professor of English by Texas Technological College in February of 1972, making her the first female African American faculty member hired at the college as well as the second official African American faculty member hired (her husband, Dr. Emory Grant Davis, also hired in 1972, being the first). She acquired a doctoral degree from Northwestern University in June of 1973.

During her time at Texas Tech, Davis was a co-sponsor of the Student Organization for Black Unity at Texas Tech and actively shared her interest in teaching Black Literature to the campus and local community, serving as editor of the English Department’s Southwest Multi-Ethnic Newsletter and director of the Ethnic Studies program. Both she and her husband left Texas Tech in 1977 to accept teaching appointments at Bishop College in Dallas, Texas.

Dr. Davis continued to be active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), was chair of the Conference on College Composition and Communication in 1978, and served in several capacities in the National Council of Teachers in English (NCTE), including being heavily involved in the redirection and growth of the Black Caucus, serving as a member of the Advisory Board for its publication, College English, and holding several officer roles such as secretary in 1972-1973 and president in 1978-1980. More than two decades of service to NCTE resulted in her being awarded their Distinguished Service Award in 1994. In the early 1990s, she taught at Eastfield College in Mesquite, Texas for a decade, where a textbook scholarship continues to bear her name. Dr. Davis passed away on August 11, 2017.

Related collections within the University Archives and the Southwest Collection holdings:
Vivian Imogene Davis faculty file, 1972-2019

Hortense Williams Dixon holds the distinction of being the first African American to graduate from Texas Tech with a doctorate degree. The chairman for her doctoral advisory committee, Dr. Berlie J. Fallon, described her academic work as being outstanding. "Her defense of the doctoral dissertation was one of the most masterful I have ever attended in my fifteen years at Texas Tech."

She was born on January 29, 1926, in Houston, Texas. Dixon attended several universities to acquire the appropriate degrees in higher education. She received her B.S. degree from Prairie View State College in 1946, a M.S. degree in 1949 from the University of Minnesota, and a Ed.D. degree from Texas Tech in 1970. Her degrees were in the area of education with a minor in home economics. While pursuing her studies she also held several academic positions, including Director of the Home Management Residence at Bishop College, Assistant Professor of Home Economics Education at Texas Southern University, and Part-time Instructor in Home Economics Education at Texas Tech University. After graduating from Texas Tech, Dixon returned to Houston to continue serving as an Associate Professor in home economics at Texas Southern University.

Related collections within the University Archives and the Southwest Collection holdings:
Hortense Williams Dixon Collection, 1970

See also:
Hortense Selena Williams Dixon, 1926-1988 (links to her biography on the Handbook of Texas website)
Amanda Castro-Crist, Texas Tech African-American History: Hortense Selena Williams Dixon, Texas Tech Today, February 21, 2019

Mary Woodward Doak was born on February 15, 1877, on the Bar Bona Ranch in Live Oak County, Texas. She received her B.A. in English and government from the University of Texas in 1925 and her M.A. in English and sociology in 1929 from Texas Technological College, where from 1925-1945 Doak served as Dean of Women and a professor in the English Department. She continued to teach in English from 1945-1949 until her retirement in 1950.

During her tenure she was very active in promoting women’s education. She organized the Tech chapter of the Association of Women Students in 1929, and worked to establish the Council of Women Graduates in 1927 which helped the Lubbock chapter of the American Association of University Women become officially affiliated with the national association in 1949. The Forum, an honorary service organization for senior female students was established in 1937 largely due to her efforts. In cooperation with Margaret Weeks, Dean of Home Economics, she inaugurated the Women’s Recognition Service in 1932 which continued until 1947 with sponsorship from the Quarterly Club and the Association of Women Students. The first women’s dormitory on the Texas Tech campus, built in 1934, continues to bears her name. Additionally, a scholarship was set up under her name by the Lubbock chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma.

Related collections within the University Archives and the Southwest Collection holdings:
Mary Woodward Doak Reference File
Mary Woodward Doak faculty file, 1933-1952
Warren P. Clement oral history interview [sound recording], 1981
Virginia Black Landwer oral history interview [sound recording], 1982
Mrs. George Langford oral history interview [sound recording], 1973
Margaret Woodward Weeks Papers, 1925-1967
Susan Wesendonk oral history interview [sound recording], 1975

See also:
Ruth Horn Andrews, The First Thirty Years: A History of Texas Technological College, 1925-1955
Glenys Young, Campus Buildings Honor Legacies of Women, Texas Tech Today, March 24, 2016

Born on July 5, 1917, in Lockney, Texas, Maxine Fry was a noted beauty who enrolled in Texas Tech in 1934 to study journalism. An active participant in campus life Fry was a member of The Forum (later renamed Mortar Board), President of the Las Chaparitas sorority (later renamed Kappa Kappa Gamma), an occasional reporter for the Toreador newspaper, and winner of several school beauty contests including being named a 1938 Sun Bowl Princess. In May of 1937 she became the first elected female president of the Student Council, an achievement that neither UT nor Texas A&M’s female students could reach until 1975 and 1994.

Under her leadership, and with the help of classmate Arch Lamb and the Saddle Tramps, Fry was able to successfully reinstate the school’s bonfire tradition. They had been banned by school administrators following outrage by Lubbock citizens over vandalism and theft of wood by Tech students. Her administration also wrote a revision of the Student Council’s constitution. After graduation she married Hugh McCullough, who had been her Vice-President when she was student body President, and the couple had two children during their 50 plus year union. Fry went on to teach journalism for two years in Littlefield and Grandfalls, worked on The Midlander Magazine its first seven years in publication, and was a charter member of the Midland Symphony Guild.

Related collections within the University Archives and the Southwest Collection holdings:
Maxine Fry Scrapbook, 1937-1940

See also:
Shelby Chapman, “Maxine Fry McCullough: In Memorium,” College of Media and Communications, August 2005
Lori Cortez, " Maxine Fry McCullough: Texas Tech’s First Woman SGA President," Texas Tech Today, 2012

Born in 1949 in San Angelo, Texas, Tina Fuentes knew from a young age that art was her calling. She, accordingly, channeled her passion, strength, and understanding of the fundamentals of composition, perspective, and color into a becoming a nationally recognized multi-media artist. She earned a B.F.A. degree in 1973 and an M.F.A. degree in 1975 from North Texas State University. Tina specializes in the areas of painting, drawing and printmaking. Since 1982, her work has been featured in a large number of one-woman and multi-artist exhibitions, as well as a documentary film, El Arte de Tina Fuentes, that was broadcast on PBS.

Her versatility and driven mentality has resulted in her being selected as an exhibition juror and being appointed to several arts organization boards and programs. She has received several artist-in-residence awards, faculty awards, and research grants, with the most recent being a sizable National Science Foundation collaborative grant with Atmospheric Science Professor Eric Bruning. Tina also shares her love of art with students through a long and productive teaching career that began in 1972 in the Abilene Independent School District and continues into 2017 at Texas Tech, where she is a tenured professor in the School of Art.

Related collections within the University Archives and the Southwest Collection holdings:
Tina Fuentes Reference File
Christina Fuentes Faculty File, 1986-2017
Tina Fuentes oral history interview [sound recording], 2001
Tina Fuentes oral history interview [sound recording], 2021
KTXT-TV Recordings, 1994-2008 – “El Art De Tina Fuentes” video (2000) and Tina Fuentes interviews (5 recordings), undated
University News and Publications Recordings, 1994-2008 – “Day of the Dead” interview, undated

See also:
Allison Boroda, “Transformations through Art and Science,” Ampersand, College of Visual and Performing Arts, Fall and Winter, 2015: 5-9
Kippra D. Hopper and Laurie J. Churchill, Art of West Texas Women, Texas Tech University Press, 2010

Susan Graham was raised in Midland, Texas. In the early 1980s, she attended Texas Tech University, during which time she participated in student opera productions such as Der Rosenkavalier prior to receiving a bachelor of fine arts in music performance degree in May of 1983. Her career as a rising star in the opera world began with winning the New York Metropolitan Opera’s National Council Auditions in 1988, and she made her international début in 1994 at Covent Garden playing Massenet's Chérubin.

In the course of her 30-plus year career as a noted Mezzo-soprano, Graham has performed in a variety of famous musical stages across the globe, including La Scala Milan, the Sydney Opera House, Paris’s Théâtre du Châtelet, Vienna State Opera, the San Francisco Opera, Carnegie Hall, the Santa Fe Opera, and the Salzburg Festival. She has performed regularly with various well known symphonies such as the Boston Symphony, the London Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and Orchestre de Paris.

Numerous accolades have been bestowed on Graham over the years, include being a recipient of the Schwabacher Award from the Merola Program of San Francisco Opera, winning a Career Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation, being named Musical America's Vocalist of the Year in 2004, being awarded the Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government, and appointment as a U.S. delegate for UNESCO. She was praised by Gramophone magazine as “America's favorite mezzo,” and a 2018 New York Times profile on her prolific vocal career described in her as “Opera’s Sweetheart.” Graham performed at George W. Bush's second inauguration in 2005 and Senator Edward Kennedy’s funeral mass. In 2006, her home town of Midland declared September 5th as “Susan Graham Day.” In 2019, Graham was the guest speaker for the May 17th Texas Tech commencement ceremonies and was inducted into the West Texas Walk of Fame that September.

Related collections within the Southwest Collection holdings:
Susan Graham Papers, 1968-2017
John Gillas Collection, 1971-2015

See also:
Chester Rosson, “Susan Graham,” Texas Monthly, April 2004
“Susan Graham (Mezzo-soprano)” at https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Graham-Susan.htm

Edna Maynard Gott was born on March 19, 1920, in Chandler, Texas. After receiving her B.S. degree in Economics from the University of Texas in 1942 and her M.S. degree from Texas Technological College in 1954, she began her teaching career as an instructor in Economics at Texas Technological College. For more than a decade she battled with the department and university administration for equality in teaching rank, promotion and tenure. In the spring of 1973 she was promoted to the rank of Assistant Professor. Nine years later, Gott became the first women to achieve tenure in the Department of Economics.

Her work focused on the economic status and challenges facing women and minorities. To advance the cause for women’s rights she unmasked the inequities towards female faculty in academia and was the coordinator of the Lubbock Chapter of the National Organization of Women. Gott was also an active member of the International Center for Arid and Semi-Arid Land Studies where she served on the Women in Development committee and was a founding member of the Women’s Study Program.

Gott was involved with a variety of academic and professional organizations, serving on several boards. She was the faculty advisor to Phi Gamma Nu and four-term Vice-President of the American Association of University Professors. In 1983 she received the Outstanding Teaching Award by Mortar Board and Omicron Delta Kappa. Edna Maynard Gott passed away in 1986. Her legacy lives on through the Florence Brown En Avant Club Scholarship and the Edna Maynard Scott Memorial Library.

Related collections within the University Archives and the Southwest Collection holdings:
Edna Maynard Gott Reference File
Susie Edna Maynard Gott faculty file, 1951-1986
Edna Maynard Gott Papers, 1960-1986
Edna Maynard Gott and Preston Frazier Gott Papers, undated
National Organization for Women, Lubbock Chapter, Records, 1967-1978

Mrs. Lucille S. Graves is noted in her oral history interview, conducted in 1974 by the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, as being the first African American student at Texas Tech. She came to Tech with a bachelor’s degree and was working on her master’s degree in the summer of 1961. It was Mrs. Graves’ persistent petitioning for entrance into the college that paved the way for other African Americans to attend Texas Tech.

Her 10 minute interview discusses how, when repeatedly refused entrance into the college on the grounds that the its charter, Senate Bill No. 103, specifically outlines that Texas Tech is a college for white students, she in turn sought the help of the NAACP. Robert Cabiness Goodwin, President of Texas Tech, was contacted by the NAACP and was told a lawsuit would be filed if Texas Tech did not allow Mrs. Graves to attend.

Mrs. Graves shared her excitement at getting a call from Texas Tech President Goodwin, who told her that if she could get to the college within 15 minutes before registration shut down she would be able to enroll. She was so nervous she had to get a neighbor to drive her and, despite forgetting her transcripts, she did indeed make it to the college to enroll within the time limit.

Her quiet enrollment led to a peaceful, non-violent integration of the traditionally white college. In her oral history interview, Mrs. Graves harbored no ill-will toward the college nor its administration against their initial refusals to allow her attend. Her determination to gain the additional education she so desperately wanted shines through and perhaps it was because of this and her strength of character that she was able to achieve her goals in life.

The book, Remember When?: A History of African Americans in Lubbock, Texas, provides a biography of trail blazer Lucille Sugar Graves. Besides breaking the race barrier at Texas Tech, Mrs. Graves was also the founder of Mary and Mac, the first black private school in Lubbock, Texas, on September 17, 1955. She chose the name of her school after the children’s nursery rhyme on the reasoning that “This poem depicts the act of boys and girls in their desire to become useful in this society.” Eventually, Graves earned her doctoral degree from the University of Houston. She also continued to serve as administrator of the Mary and Mac Private School until retiring in 1991.

In a brief article in the February 25, 1982 issue of the Lubbock Digest (p. 10), Dr. Graves recalled the discrimination she faced in the classroom as the first African American to take classes at Texas Tech. She also stated that, despite two decades passing, the situation for African Americans at the university had not improved for the better, other than maybe for athletes, nor were prospects for the students following graduation much better.

Related collections within the University Archives and the Southwest Collection:
Lucille Graves oral history interview [sound recording], 1974.
Thelma Robinson and Katie Parks, “Schools” in Remember When?: A History of African Americans in Lubbock, Texas. Lubbock: PrinTech, Texas Tech University, 1999: p. 101-108.
Phil Price, Equal Opportunity Hero: T.J. Patterson's Service to West Texas. Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, 2017: p. 60-61. Lubbock: PrinTech, Texas Tech University, 1999: p. 101-108.

See also:
Lucille Sugar Barton Graves bio from the Handbook of Texas
Amanda Castro-Crist, Texas Tech African-American History: Lucille S. Graves, Texas Tech Today, February 5, 2019
Commission to recognize East Lubbock's historical Mary and Mac School from the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, July 10, 2014

After receiving a bachelor’s degree in home economics from Louisiana Tech University in 1966, Elizabeth G. “Bess” Haley attended Florida State University, from which she received a master’s degree in clothing and textiles (1968) and a doctoral degree in child development (1972). Prior to coming to Texas Tech, she served as the dean of home economics at Louisiana Tech University for sixteen years.

The selection of Haley in 1981 as incoming dean marked a new era of revitalization for the College of Home Economics. Under her leadership, the college was renamed Human Sciences, student enrollment and faculty research increased, and programs were established for Restaurant, Hotel and Institutional Management (RHIM), family financial planning, and substance abuse studies. Notable increases in student scholarships, college endowments and alumni relations during the 1980s-1990s are also attributed to Haley.

In 1988, Haley became the first woman to take over full presidential administrative duties who also had the full academic credentials for such a high-level university position. When asked about being the first woman to cross that barrier, she replied, “I feel it is important for women faculty members and women students at Texas Tech. But I feel both men and women can serve effectively in a wide variety of jobs.” (Jim Barlow and Pat Graves, “Tech Regents Name Haley to Post: Home Economics Dean Selected as Interim President,” Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, November 14, 1988)

She has served as president of both the National Council of Administrators of Home Economics and the American Home Economics Association, which selected her as one of the nation’s top ten “Home Economics to Watch” in 1985. A student scholarship at Texas Tech is named in Haley’s honor. As of 2018, Haley is the only woman at Texas Tech to serve as a professor, a dean, an interim-president, and a deputy chancellor for operations.

Related collections within the University Archives and the Southwest Collection holdings:
Elizabeth G. Haley Reference File
Elizabeth G. Haley faculty file, 1981-1990
Elizabeth G. Haley oral history interview [sound recording], 2019
Elizabeth G. Haley oral history interview [sound recording conducted for Mortar Board], 2001
Donald Haragan oral history interview [sound recording], 2011
Gail Barbara House oral history interview [sound recording], 2015

Anita Carmona Harrison was born on February 17, 1944, in the Guadalupe neighborhood of Lubbock, Texas. Following a tour of the Texas Tech campus with her second grade teacher, Mrs. Billie Everton, young Anita decided she wanted to attend and started a piggy bank fund. In the fall of 1963 she enrolled at Texas Tech, where she worked in the library, tutored geology students and made the Dean’s List. Of her college years she fondly recalls “meeting people from diverse backgrounds,” hanging out with friends in the SUB, and being taught once again by Dr. Everton, who had by now become a professor at Texas Tech.

In 1967 she graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education, went on to teach bilingual kindergarten classes and, in 1969, helped develop Lubbock ISD’s first Curriculum Guide for Bilingual Kindergarten. She continued to teach elementary school while raising two daughters and, in 1999, she retired from LISD after almost 30 years from public teaching.

Anita is recognized as the first Lubbock-born Latina to attend Lubbock schools from K-12, attend all undergraduate years at Texas Tech and successfully graduate. She grew up in a very tight knit family and has proudly shared stories of her childhood, family and community over the years with the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal and Latino Lubbock magazine. She continued to contribute to her community through volunteer work at Covenant SurgiCenter, Hope House, and serving on the city’s library board.

Related collections within the University Archives and the Southwest Collection holdings:
Anita Carmona Harrison short self-biography from “First Texas Tech Los Tertulianos Hispanic Alumni Reunion” booklet, November 13-14, 2009
Anita Carmona Harrison oral history interview [sound recording], 2009

See also:
Anita Carmona Harrison, “Anita’s barrio memories: my college graduation.” Latino Lubbock, June 2008
Ray Westbrook, “LISD teacher the first local Hispanic to attend only Lubbock schools.” Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, February 1, 2010

After receiving her B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1968, and her M.A. from the University of Kansas in 1972, both in Anthropology, Eileen Johnson came to Texas Tech to pursue her doctorate in Biological Sciences. She was soon appointed the field supervisor of the Lubbock Lake Landmark and later began teaching in the Museum Science program.

Throughout her long career at Tech, Dr. Johnson has held various positions. She was promoted to full professor in 1992 and, in 2007, was designated as a Horn Professor in recognition of her national prominence as respected scholar. Organizations such as the National Geographic Society, the National Science Foundation, and the Texas Historical Commission have noted her significant contributions to the field. In 1984, the West Texas Museum Association gave her an Action Award for her significant contributions to Southern High Plains culture. Mountain-Plains Museums Association, in 2016, bestowed upon her with the Hugo G. Rodeck Award for Excellence, its most prestigious award honoring an individual’s service to the museum profession.

Dr. Johnson currently serves as the Director of Lubbock Lake Landmark, a Smithsonian Institute honored archeological site, and as the chairwoman of the Heritage and Museum Sciences program. She was a past director of the Museum of Texas Tech University.

Related collections within the University Archives and the Southwest Collection holdings:
Eileen Johnson Reference File
Eileen Georgina Johnson Faculty File, 1972-1991
Research Services Records, 1964-1988 and undated – Eileen Johnson Project files, 1976-1980
Robert Baker Papers, 1949-2015 and undated – Eileen Johnson, 1979-1987 and undated
Tony R. Mollhagen Papers, 1835-2000 – Literary Production: Johnson, Eileen, 1983
University News and Publications Records, 1955-2004 – Eileen Johnson, 1972-1991

See also:
Amanda Castro-Crist, “A Lifetime of Service: Eileen Johnson,” Texas Tech Today, April 12, 2018
Mary Beth Holm, “Eileen Johnson Celebrates 45 Years at Texas Tech,” The Daily Toreador, April 18, 2018
William Kerns, “Johnson Brings Passion for Museums to Leadership Role at Tech,” Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, June 10, 2011
Heidi Toth, Museum of Texas Tech Students, Faculty Win Big at Conference, Texas Tech Today, November 17, 2016

Hailing from Pampa, Texas, Mary Jane Johnson graduated with a bachelor’s degree in music in 1972 from Texas Tech University, where she was recognized as a standout vocalist, and then received her master’s degree in performance from West Texas State University. Selected by famed opera star Luciano Pavarotti as one of 16 winners in the inaugural Luciano Pavarotti/Opera Company of Philadelphia International Voice Competition in 1981, Johnson soon found herself performing on the international stage in acclaimed roles that would eventually take her across five continents. In her first televised opera, she appeared as Musetta in an Emmy-winning PBS production of La Boheme, alongside Pavarotti. The two would later perform together in a live broadcast of the Pavarotti Plus Gala from Lincoln Center.

Noted for her “dramatic soprano repertoire,” Johnson has performed at some of the most prestigious music organizations in the world, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Prague Opera House and Prague Festival, Opera Bastille, Teatro Municipal de Santiago, the San Francisco Opera, the Montreal Opera, and Carnegie Hall. She has held Artist in Residence positions with the Texas Tech School of Music (1997-1998) and the Santa Fe Opera. Johnson co-founded the Taos Opera Institute and served as its artistic director for several years. Additionally, she has held vocal teaching positions with McMurray University, the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, and, beginning in 2000, was a member of the faculty of Amarillo College.

Related collections within the University Archives and the Southwest Collection holdings:
Mary Jane Johnson Reference File
Mary Jane Johnson Scrapbooks, 1966-1983 [1 microfilm reel]
Mary Jane Johnson Papers, 1998-1999
Gene Kenney oral history interview [sound recording], 2000

Ginger Kerrick was born on November 28, 1969, in El Paso, Texas, and spent her youth there dreaming of a future career in space and athletics. A knee injury early in her college years led her to focus full-time on her science education. She transferred to Texas Tech with the help of scholarships and student job opportunities procured by Dr. Walter Borst of the Physics Department. From Texas Tech Ginger earned her bachelor’s of science degree in 1991 and her master’s of science degree in 1993, both in the field of physics. An internship with the Johnson Space Center got her foot in the door. Her dogged determination to gain full-time employment with NASA proved successful, despite a hiring freeze and disqualification from the astronaut interview process due to a health issue. Employed for over two decades with NASA, Ginger has held multiple positions, most notably being selected as the first non-astronaut capsule communicator in 2001 and as a flight director in 2005, making her the first Hispanic female to hold that position. Ginger continued her association with Texas Tech through teaching in the STEM-MBA program in the Rawls College of Business and as a guest speaker in Kent Hance’s senior seminar course. She was also the TTU commencement speaker in December 2010.

The accolades continue to pour in for the former Texas Tech graduate. She received the Texas Executive Women’s 2011 Women on the Move award and in 2016 she was inducted into the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame in the area of STEM. Through her many speaking and teaching engagements Ginger serves as an inspiration to others dreaming of a career in space exploration and science.

Related collections within the University Archives and the Southwest Collection holdings:
Ginger Kerrick Reference File
Ginger Kerrick oral history interview [sound recording], 2016

See also:
Emily Gardner, NASA Flight Director Discusses Leadership at Women's Institute Luncheon. Texas Tech Today, March 27, 2015
John Davis, Alumna Considers Space Career a Mission Accomplished. Texas Tech Today, January 7, 2009

Anne Lynch grew up near Dell City on a cattle ranch in West Texas. As an Animal Science major, she participated in Texas Tech’s Block and Bridle Club and Rodeo Club. While working in the horse barn of the Texas Tech Farm Lynch became familiar with Happy V, then serving as the university’s animal mascot, and began riding him. By the end of her junior year, Lynch auditioned for the role of the 13th Masked Rider, and, in 1974, became the first female chosen for this honored position.

Although she grew up riding horses and was familiar with Happy V, her selection was met with skepticism. In the minds of some it was assumed that women did not have the strength to handle the reins. Lynch had to convince football coach Jim Carlin and Animal Science chair Dale Zinn that she could indeed ride. She proved capable, and received the mask and cape. Reaction to a female Masked Rider was mixed but, in the end, many supported Lynch. She had a successful year representing Texas Tech with dignity. Her proficiency in this role paved the way for future women to have the opportunity to try out for the Masked Rider. Anne Lynch Hanson graduated from Tech in 1975. She lives in Dell City and markets CL Ranch gypsum in Texas and New Mexico.

See also:
Melissa Griggs, “Anne Lynch feels a little nervous...” The University Daily, September 13, 1974
Leslie Cranford, “Anne Lynch Hansen didn’t allow obstacles to keep her from being the first female Masked Rider,” Texas Tech Today, October 14, 2011