It is the northernmost campus of the Texas A&M University System and accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).

In its first school year, West Texas State Normal College had 152 all-white students and 16 faculty members.

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.

In 1948, a nonconformist leftist sociology professor, Joseph L. Duflot, created a sensation on campus when he told a meeting of the American Federation of Labor in Amarillo that "modern capitalism" is the "No.

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.

[4] 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 Duncum, Tito Santana, Barry Windham, Bruiser Brody, Dory Funk Jr., and Stan Hansen, among others.

Conditions were so overcrowded for a time that the former soldiers slept in the gymnasium, and beds were brought from a former prisoner of war camp in Hereford.

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, historian J. Evetts Haley ran for governor of Texas on a staunchly conservative platform, but the office went to Marion Price Daniel Sr.[4] At its founding the school admitted only white students.

In 1963, Governor John B. Connally signed a bill to change the school's name to West Texas State University.

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.

During Long's tenure, the school renovated buildings, maintained its student enrollment growth, and added its first PhD in agriculture.

During the tenure of President O'Brien, WTAMU saw a surge of construction projects completed, including the Sybil B. Harrington Fine Arts Complex, the Hayward Spirit Tower, the Charles K. and Barbara Kerr Vaughan Pedestrian Mall, the Buffalo Sports Park (including Wilder Park and Schaeffer Field), a new entrance/climbing wall and renovations in the Virgil Hensen Activity Center, Buff Hall, Centennial Hall, Founders Hall, two new parking lots, Victory Circle, the JBK Student Center Expansion, Classroom Center/WTBookstore renovation, Engineering and Computer Science Building renovation and the implementation of the WT Amarillo Center in Center City, Amarillo.

In January 2009, the university began its first comprehensive campaign to raise $35 million for scholarships, faculty/program support, and capital projects.

Shortly thereafter, the university's faculty senate voted "no confidence" in president Wendler, harshly criticizing his leadership beyond just that one decision.

[18] In 2021, U.S. News & World Report ranked WTAMU #15 in U.S. and #1 in Texas for Best Online Graduate Information Technology program.

[2] The Jack B. Kelley Student Center is home to The Legends Club, Starbucks, a Chick-fil-a Express, a Which Wich, a Sharky's Burrito Company, and a convenience store.

A permanent campus is being built at 8th Avenue and South Tyler Street, starting with the Commerce Building, which is planned to open in the fall of 2018.

The Lady Buffs softball team won the 2014 NCAA Division II national championship in Salem, Virginia.

The team was coached by Kevin Blaskowski and led on the field by Alyssa Lemos, Renee Erwin, and Rita Hokianga.