West Texas A&M University

West Texas A&M University

Former names	West Texas State Normal College, West Texas State Teachers College, West Texas State College, West Texas State University
Motto	Visio Veritas Valor
Motto in English	Vision. Truth. Valor.
Type	State University
Established	1910 (1910)
Endowment	$71,798,985 (2014)
Budget	$130,303,252 (2015-2016)
President	Walter Wendler
Academic staff	282
Administrative staff	447
Students	9,489
Undergraduates	7,405
Postgraduates	2,084
Location	Canyon, Texas, United States 34°59′04″N 101°54′48″W / 34.984419°N 101.913367°W / 34.984419; -101.913367Coordinates: 34°59′04″N 101°54′48″W / 34.984419°N 101.913367°W / 34.984419; -101.913367
Campus	Suburban, 176 acres (71 ha)
Colors	Maroon and White
Athletics	NCAA Division II – Lone Star
Nickname	Buffaloes or Buffs
Mascot	Buffalo
Affiliations	Texas A&M University System AACSB
Website	www.wtamu.edu

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 city of 13,303 approximately 13 miles south of Amarillo, a city of 190,695. The university is part of the Amarillo metropolitan area with a population of 268,893. West Texas A&M University was established on September 20, 1910, and was originally known as West Texas State Normal College. The university started out as one of the seven state-funded teacher colleges in Texas.

In its 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. West Texas State Normal College hired famed American artist Georgia O'Keeffe to be the head of the Art Department from the fall of 1916 to February 1918. O'Keeffe has been recognized as the "Mother of American modernism".

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.