Bill Dean - the man, the myth, the legend

His office walls and shelves are full of awards.

He’s taught four generations of students.

Students and colleagues view him as a legend.

Bill Dean, the executive vice president and CEO of the Texas Tech Alumni Association, grew up in Lubbock, graduated from Tech, and is now a student-favorite professor.

“I’m pretty much red and black,” Dean said.

As a student at Lubbock High School looking into colleges, Dean said he came to Tech on a baseball scholarship.

“Believe it or not,” Dean said, “I thought about SMU.”

Southern Methodist University located in Dallas offered Dean a baseball scholarship, as well, but coming to Tech was an obvious decision, he said because he had the baseball scholarship covering tuition and books and lived at home.

With the scholarship, it was $50 a semester to attend Tech. Dean said this allowed him to get a very good education at a low price.

Aside from playing baseball for four years in college, Dean was a member and later president of Phi Delta Theta, president of the Interfraternity Council, and the Student Government Association president.

As Tech’s Student Government Association president, he was asked to participate by being the first person to flip the switch for the first official Carol of Lights.

After graduating from college in 1961 and serving in the Army, he began working at Lubbock High School.

Dean said he had a great time teaching at the high school because he was not married and did not have any major responsibilities. He said this allowed him to put in a lot of extra hours at the school, especially as the yearbook and newspaper director.

The College of Media & Communication website shows that Dean came to Tech in 1967 as the student’s publication director.

Dean said he got the job around the time he was starting his family, which now has grown to his a wife, Peggy Dean, and their two boys, Rob and Troy Dean, which both boys played his favorite sport of baseball when they were younger.

With a busy schedule like his, Dean said he balances teaching Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, to four classes totaling 900 students overall, along with working full time in the association office on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Dean said he wants to do a good job in the classroom, so he works hard, and it is not as easy as some would think. In order to do so, Dean said he goes over lessons daily before he goes to class.

Along with his position in the association, Dean is the adviser for Phi Delta Theta, the Saddle Tramps adviser, and remains active in Tech public relations classes as Associate Professor of the College of Media & Communication.

Jim Douglass, the Tech Alumni Association associate vice president, said Dean loves teaching his students, and the same is reciprocated because students seem to think he is the absolute greatest.

“He is so well associated with Texas Tech," Douglass said, "and he’ll be known as one of the real icons of the university and the history of the school.”

The College of Media & Communication website stated Dean has been voted by the students as the best professor on campus 12 times.

Dean said he feels humbled when he gets letter from members of Phi Delta Theta, Saddle Tramps, and students who thank him for helping them along the way.

“I think that’s the greatest compliment," Dean said, "it’s not just one, it’s a combination.”

As once a student at Tech, he said he has seen drastic changes physically and technologically, but the culture of Tech stayed friendly, laid back, and a pure West Texas place.

Dean said he does not see retirement anytime soon, but the fact that he has been at Tech for 49 years is a pretty good accomplishment.

“I just want to stay ahead of the curve,” Dean said. “I’m not getting any younger.”

Sidebar

Bill Dean, the executive vice president and CEO of the Texas Tech Alumni Association, has worked at Tech for 49 years, but before then, he had time to serve his country.

Dean enlisted in the Army after graduating college. He said everybody had three choices in the 1960s: join for three years and be trained in the division wanted, be drafted and serve two years, or join and serve six months active duty then five-and-a-half years of service.

Dean said he chose the last choice because it represented the least interruption in his life. He had to be gone for six months, serve on the base, which consisted of meeting once a week, about six times in the year for weekend training, then a two-week summer camp.

He said the option was great for him to get his career started at Tech by getting his master’s degree in education administration.

Dean served six years total, and he said it was a very good experience teaching him a valuable amount of discipline.

“My personal view is that every young person, male and female, both, ought to serve at least six months of active duty,” Dean said. “They would learn a lot of valuable lessons, and training would be good for them. They wouldn’t like it, but when it’s over, it would be beneficial”