West Texas A & M University West Texas A & M University ( also known as WTAMU , WT , and formerly West Texas State ) , part of the Texas A & M University System , is a public university located in Canyon , Texas , a small city south of Amarillo . West Texas A & M opened on September 20 , 1910 . West Texas A & M University was originally called West Texas State Normal College and started out as one of the seven state - funded teacher college s . History . In the first school year , West Texas State Normal College had 152 students and 16 faculty members . Its first president was Robert B . Cousins . A year after the Texas State House of Representatives approved the bill to establish West Texas State Normal College , construction began on the school ' s Administration Building . It consisted of the school ' s only classrooms , laboratory , library , and offices . On March 25 , 1914 , the school burned down ; however , classes continued in local churches , courthouses , and vacant buildings . Later , in 1916 , a new Administration Building opened . The first four - year college degrees were granted in 1919 . In the following years the college was admitted to : American Association of Teachers Colleges in 1922 , Association of Texas Colleges in 1923 , and Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools in 1925 . The school changed its name to West Texas State Teachers College in 1923 . In the early 1930s , the Panhandle - Plains Historical Society built its Panhandle - Plains Historical Museum on the campus . In 1948 , a nonconformist leftist sociology professor , Joseph L . Duflot ( 1881 – 1957 ) , created a sensation on campus when he told a meeting of the American Federation of Labor in Amarillo that " modern capitalism " is the " No . 1 enemy of the United States economy . " A powerful legislator at the time , Sam Hanna of Dallas County , warned that state funding could be jeopardized for any college with " a communist " on the faculty . Though the West Texas regents first dismissed Duflot , he survived a second vote , and regent H . L . Mills praised him for " the courage of his convictions " . During the days of West Texas State University the football team was an enormously successful feeder program for notable professional wrestlers including Tully Blanchard , Dusty Rhodes , Terry Funk , Ted Dibiase , Bobby Duncam , Tito Santana , Barry Windam , Bruiser Brody , Dory Funk Jr and Stan Hansen among others . Many returning veterans from World War II enrolled at the institution in the latter 1940s , taking advantage of new G . I . Bill of Rights assistance . Conditions were so overcrowded for a time that the former soldiers slept in the gym nasium , and beds were brought from a former Prisoner of War camp in Hereford . In 1949 , the school again changed its name , this time to West Texas State College . During the Cold War , attention at West Texas was focused on anti - communism . One history professor , John Cook , claimed that many of the films shown on campus , such as " Communism on the Map " , were " propaganda " . During this time too , the historian J . Evetts Haley ran for governor of Texas on a staunchly conservative platform , but the office went to Marion Price Daniel , Sr . . During the 1960s , the school changed from a regional teacher ' s college to a state university . In 1963 , the Texas Governor John B . Connally signed a bill to change the school ' s name to West Texas State University . The newly named school would gain a College of Arts and Sciences , a graduate school , and professional schools of business . Near the end of the 1960s , West Texas State obtained its own board of regents , established a School of Agriculture , a School of Fine Art s , and created a Department of Nursing . By 1970 , the student enrollment neared 8 , 000 , but was decreasing . The primary reasons were the changes in the selective service system and increases in tuition . The university ' s funding was largely enrollment - driven , and this caused serious financial problems for the school . The college radio station KWTS began broadcasting in 1972 . The West Texas State athletics were in the National Collegiate Athletic Association ( NCAA ) Division I Missouri Valley Conference , but the school decided to change its status to Division II and the Lone Star Conference in 1984 . In 1986 , WT President Ed Roach was the subject of protests and calls for his resignation over the amount of money spent on the campus ' Presidential House . The house cost $ 991 , 000 , which was more than the $ 494 , 900 authorized by the State College Coordinating Board . In 1991 , Roach was indicted for diverting scholarship money to meet other budget deficits . The university joined the Texas A & M University System on September 1 , 1990 , and started to use the name West Texas A & M University in 1993 . The school ' s first president under the new system was Barry B . Thompson . Early in Thompson ' s tenure , he dropped the school ' s football program , but the program returned a year later without athletic scholarships . President Thompson was appointed Chancellor of the Texas A & M University System in 1994 and Russell C . Long became the new president . During Long ' s tenure , the school renovated buildings , maintained its student enrollment growth , and added its first Ph . D . in agriculture . The school had a long - term connection with T . Boone Pickens who was appointed to its Board of Regents in 1969 . On March 21 , 1973 , Pickens resigned from the Board of Regents in protest , but was reappointed in 1981 and became its chair in 1982 . He continued to chair its Board until its merger with the Texas A & M system in 1990 . In 1987 , he pledged a $ 1 . 5 million matching gift to endow its business school , which was named in his honor . On November 24 , 2004 , the school issued a press release stating that it planned to remove Pickens ' name from the T . Boone Pickens College of Business after university officials came to believe he had not completed pledges he made to the university . In fact , Pickens had satisfied his pledge , but asked to have his name removed . On December 1 , 2004 , the then President Russell C . Long acknowledged the error and agreed to remove Pickens ' name . Subsequently , Pickens donated $ 165 million to Oklahoma State University - Stillwater . In 2007 , Pickens endowed the " Pickens Professorship of Business " and in 2010 he endowed the " Pickens Professorship of Management . " The business school as a whole remains unnamed . In late 2005 , Long retired from his position as the school ' s president , and J . Patrick O ’ Brien took that office . As of 2006 , West Texas A & M University has approximately 7 , 000 students . The university contains over 60 undergraduate - degree programs , 40 graduate - degree programs , and one doctoral program Distance education . The school is a leader in distance education . It offers individual classes online as well as three undergraduate and two master ' s degree programs that can be completed totally online . GetEducated . com ranked West Texas A & M University ' s online MBA degree # 3 ( technically fourth ) nationally in its list of affordable , quality Best Buys in online education . Campus . The Administration Building is now called " Old Main . " It went through a $ 5 million renovation beginning in February 1987 . The Old Main building consist of four levels , and houses the administrative and enrollment management offices , as well as classrooms and laboratories . The Division of Education , the Department of History and Political Science , and the Division of Nursing are based in this building . The Classroom Center was built in 1968 . The four - story building contains classrooms , computer and writing labs , and faculty offices . The College of Business and the Department of English and Modern Languages are located in the Classroom Center . The Classroom Center had its grand reopening on August 24 , 2009 for the start of the fall semester . Mary Moody Northen Hall accommodates music studios , dance studios , a public art gallery , recital hall , art studios , computer labs , and classrooms . The Sybil B . Harrington Fine Arts Complex , completed in September 2006 , is the home of the Department of Communication and Department of Art , Theatre , and Dance . The facility houses classrooms , music studios , music halls , a proscenium theatre , an experimental theatre , the school newspaper newsroom , a television studio , broadcast editing suites , and the student - run radio studios . The Agriculture and Sciences Building was constructed in 1974 . The three - story building houses the Division of Agriculture and the Department of Life , Earth and Environmental Sciences . The building contains classrooms , laboratories , and faculty offices . The Texas history museum , Panhandle - Plains Historical Museum has been located on the campus of West Texas A & M University since the early 1930s . Athletics . West Texas A & M University ' s sport s teams participate in the NCAA Division II Lone Star Conference . Their athletic teams are nicknamed the Buffalo es or simply called the " Buffs . " As of 2005 , West Texas A & M University students compete in baseball , basketball , cross country , equestrian , football , golf , soccer , softball , track and field , and volleyball . The equestrian , softball , and volleyball teams are composed only of women . The football team plays its home games in Kimbrough Memorial Stadium , and they have won Lone Star Conference championships in 1986 , 2005 , 2006 , and 2007 . The school ' s football rival is Eastern New Mexico University which WTAMU plays for the coveted Wagon Wheel Trophy . West Texas A & M was a member of the Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association , from 1941 - 1961 . The football team won a conference championship in 1950 . They were members of the Missouri Valley Conference from 1972 - 1985 .