Providing a transformational education is one way Texas A&M President M. Katherine Banks said she plans to implement her vision for the university.
New initiatives for students and programs at A&M’s main campus in College Station and at other university system campuses and locations across the state and nation will be used to accomplish this vision, she noted. Banks shared these ideas and initiatives with a crowd of several hundred people in her state of the university address Wednesday afternoon at the Bush School’s Annenberg Presidential Conference Center.
“We are truly at an inflection point,” Banks said. “We should ask ourselves: What kind of university do we want to be? Will we look outwardly on the world, or only inwardly within our university? Are we willing to take the leap toward new and challenging opportunities or continue on the well-traveled road? Do we invest in boundary-challenging ideas, or we follow status quo? Texas A&M is at a critical junction for determining our path forward.”
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To assist students with the cost of education, Banks said A&M is embarking on a scholarship campaign with a goal of providing an additional $100 million over the next four years. This month, she said the university has launched a working group to develop a plan to adopt open-access textbooks.
Making necessary investments in health care facilities is a priority, Banks said. She noted A&M is exploring partnerships with health care provides to create larger student health service complexes.
Student mental health remains a top priority among students and administrators, and Banks said A&M plans to double the amount of student mental health services over the next three years and embed clinicians across campus in key academic locations.
A&M Student Body President Case Harris spoke before Banks took the stage and said A&M’s Student Government Association and Banks’ administration are partnering to form a new commitment to help identify students’ needs and connect them with available resources, including mental health. Harris said A&M plans to commit an entire week this school year to help inform students of available mental health resources.
“Everyone at Texas A&M is a stakeholder in the mental health, student well-being, well-being in general conversation,” Harris said, “so we are excited for all the fruits that committee and process is going to produce this year.”
In an effort to be good financial stewards, Banks said the university will move toward a hybrid budget model. She noted this will allow A&M to allocate resources in a more efficient and transparent manner.
The first, and most important, investment A&M will make is in people, Banks said. She stated over the next four years, the university plans to hire over 500 faculty members with an annual investment of $50 million.
On average, Banks said the university spends about $22 million per year on building maintenance. She pledged to commit an additional $8 million per year for maintenance used specifically for older campus buildings.
In order to provide transformational education, Banks said it’s important for the university to connect with the state, nation and world.
On a local level, Banks announced several new programs and initiatives.
A missing educational piece, she said, is the arts. To address this, Banks said A&M has created the new School of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts and noted there is already a dean’s chair created for the school, which has an endowment of $5 million. In addition, Banks said conversations are underway about the construction of an arts facility that will house this new school, host public exhibitions and performances.
“Students who want to be Aggies should have these opportunities,” Banks said.
Banks announced A&M’s journalism program will be reestablished with the first students starting next fall. The program will be housed in the new College of Arts and Sciences. Banks noted A&M also will build a new small animal hospital.
Discussions are underway about launching an early childhood development degree program, she said. Conversations are also being had about building a future museum and library complex on A&M’s west campus.
“We’re working on new initiatives, new programs, we’re building new buildings, there’s so many exciting things happening at Texas A&M, but I think it’s as equally as important we make sure we never lose the spirit that makes Texas A&M, Texas A&M,” Harris said.
University initiatives reach beyond Bryan-College Station, though, Banks said.
A&M’s school of nursing will expand to the Rio Grande Valley with a new building in McAllen.
To attract international research talent and bolster the university’s biomedical research portfolio, A&M will collaborate in constructing two new research facilities in Houston’s medical center, Banks said. The first is a joint venture with the MD Anderson Cancer Center and UT Health. The second is a biomedical research building developed in partnership with the University of Houston.
Banks concluded her address by sharing her thoughts on the Aggie way, which she said makes the university unique. Banks noted university officials must continue to make the institution better, which requires ongoing commitment. She pledged to visit each university division, college and school to continue dialogue and hear ideas and concerns.
“Some may view Texas A&M’s core values and our can-do spirit of optimism and enthusiasm as obsolete, a relic of another time,” Banks said. “This world is increasingly cynical and wants us to be cynical as well, but here at Texas A&M, we do not simply use words like excellence and integrity on our website. They aren’t just slogans on posters. We actually live them. We pursue them and embed them in all that we do. To us, they’re a way of life. And I believe that by remaining true to our core values, by knowing who we are and what we stand for, Texas A&M is an island of strength and endurance in an ocean of shifting ideas.”