FortWorth
TCU has received a $10 million gift from the Roach Foundation of Fort Worth to go toward faculty and students working in areas of engineering, data science, human performance and applied technology, the university announced Monday.
The donation comes as TCU continues to roll out its ambitious new strategic plan called Lead On: Values in Action, which focuses on student growth, research, scholarship and creative activities and community engagement.
The gift also will help the university build on the visibility and impact of Horned Frogs athletics programs.
“We are immensley grateful to The Roach Foundation for this investment in the future of Texas Christian University and our students,” wrote TCU Chancellor Daniel W. Pullin, in a statement. “By connecting the strength of our research agenda with talented Horned Frogs, we’re creating new pathways for discovery, innovation and real-world impact. This latest gift supports the development of new opportunities for our students to lead in industries shaping the future.”
TCU continues its pursuit of achieving R1 status, which is the highest classification given to research universities. A large part of the school’s strategic plan is in place to make achieving that goal more obtainable. Last summer, TCU hired a new vice provost for research. In December, TCU announced a $10 million investment into a plan to accelerate AI use and research on campus, hoping to improve its case for eventual R1 status.
The Roach family has been connected to TCU for more than six decades. John V. Roach graduated from the university in 1961, when he met his wife, Jean Wiggin Roach. Their daughters, Bailey and Davis, are both alumni.
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John Roach, former chairman and CEO of Tandy Corp., poses with one of the original Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 4P portable micro computers in his office on June 14, 2021. Rodger Mallison TCU Magazine
John Roach joined the Fort Worth-based Tandy Corp. in 1967 and rose through the ranks to help turn it into a personal computer behemoth in the late 1970s. At 42, he was named Tandy’s president in 1981 and later CEO from 1983 to 1998.
Roach served on TCU’s Board of Trustees from 1981 to 2022 and was chair from 1990 to 2005 — leading the university through one of its most transformative periods that included student body growth and improved national attention in athletics. He died in 2022 at the age of 83.
The Roach family made other contributions to campus in recent decades, including the restoration of Frog Fountain Plaza. The family’s donations also led to naming the John V. Roach Dean of the TCU Neeley School of Business and the Jean W. Roach Chair of Laboratory Schools in the College of Education.
“Philanthropic investments like this allow us to bring together expertise from across the university to tackle complex challenges,” said TCU Provost Floyd Wormley Jr. “There are many opportunities to support interdisciplinary research and specifically connect engineering, technology and human performance research, so we can accelerate discovery and develop solutions with real-world impact.”
TCU’s campus master plan includes adding new academic facilities, innovation in medicine, top-tier athletics, improving Berry Street as “the place to be” in Fort Worth, connecting TCU to the Trinity River with new open spaces, and improving the east side of campus as a residential hub for campus life.
“TCU’s academic experience is exceptional because everything the university does, inside and outside the classroom, is focused on enriching the student experience,” said Amy Roach Bailey, a 1989 TCU alumna and chair of the board’s Academic Affairs Committee. “Our family’s giving has always been centered on creating opportunities that benefit all Horned Frogs across campus. This investment reflects our belief in TCU’s strategic vision and in the students and faculty who will shape the future through research, innovate and discovery.”
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Samuel O’Neal is a local news reporter at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram covering higher education and local news in Fort Worth. He joined the team in December 2025 after previously working as a staff writer at the Philadelphia Inquirer. He graduated from Temple University, where he served as the Editor-in-Chief of the school’s student paper, The Temple News.