The Texas Tech University System Board of Regents will meet Nov. 11 in Lubbock and vote on a package that creates an undergraduate artificial-intelligence business degree in Lubbock and clears a consulting contract to spread AI through the system’s health sciences center.
Both items sit on a consent agenda, which passes in one motion unless a regent pulls something out. The degree is a bachelor of business administration in applied artificial intelligence for business, housed in the Rawls College of Business and pitched at students who will use AI inside companies rather than build it; the system projects 154 new students a year by its fifth year. The health sciences center item authorizes its president to sign a consulting contract for what the agenda calls enterprise AI adoption. The notice names no vendor and no price for the consulting work.
The degree lands on a system that has spent two years buying its way into the field. Texas Tech announced a partnership with Nvidia in February to install hardware built for AI, which Chancellor Brandon Creighton has described as a $25 million investment, and in August the university asked the Legislature for $71 million more for advanced computing in the next two-year budget. A separate consent item approves naming rights inside the football stadium, which a West Texas data-center company bought the name of in July.
The rest is housekeeping with real money in it. Three more graduate programs would be approved, three Texas Tech academic units renamed, and the board would accept a guaranteed price for site work on a $128 million agriculture building, bringing approved spending on it to about $13.1 million so far. One item authorizes the health sciences center to provide medical care to adults in the Randall County jail, extending work it already does in Lubbock County and across West Texas prisons.
The board will do all of this one member short. The ninth seat has been empty since Pat Gordon left in February for the Texas Transportation Commission, and no successor has been announced. Chairman Cody Campbell’s own term expires Feb. 1, 2027, after Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa takes office.
Meeting at a glance
- When
- 8:30 AM, Wednesday, November 11, 2026, with committees following and the board reconvening about 10 a.m. for executive session. Adjournment is expected by 4:10 p.m. TRD 2026006614 was filed November 5.
- Where
- Board of Regents Conference Room 104A, System Administration Building, 1508 Knoxville Ave., Lubbock. Executive sessions will be held in Room 106.
- Governing body & chair
- Texas Tech University System Board of Regents — nine seats appointed by the governor to six-year terms, one now vacant, plus a non-voting student regent. Cody C. Campbell, chairman. Brandon Creighton is chancellor.
- Format
- In person. Routine business first, then audit, facilities, finance and academic committees in sequence, then a long closed session on litigation, real estate and personnel.
- Live video
- The system streams at texastech.edu/live-stream. The notice itself lists no stream and no call-in number.
- Full agenda
- Secretary of State Open Meeting Viewer · agenda book
Board members
- Cody C. Campbell — chairman; Fort Worth; co-CEO, Double Eagle Energy Holdings.
- Dustin R. “Dusty” Womble — vice chairman; Lubbock; founding partner, Masked Rider Capital.
- Arcilia C. Acosta — Dallas; president and CEO, CARCON Industries and Construction.
- Clay C. Cash — Lubbock; president, Cash Family Investments.
- Tim G. Culp — Midland; president, Southwest Royalties.
- Doug McReaken — Pearland; chief operating officer, Media Riders.
- Donald R. “Don” Sinclair — Houston; private investor, energy industry.
- Shelley Sweatt — Wichita Falls; president and CEO, The Priddy Foundation.
- Vacant — seat held until February by Pat Gordon of El Paso.
- Rachel McLelland — student regent; Tijeras, New Mexico.
Eight of nine voting seats are filled. The system’s board page, checked November 6, says the board has nine voting members but lists eight and does not mark the ninth vacant; the November agenda book lists the same eight. Occupations are not on that page and come from the governor’s appointment releases, so they date from each member’s appointment. The February 2026 board minutes record the chancellor recognizing Gordon on his resignation to join the Transportation Commission. The Dispatch found no release naming his successor.