Texas A&M University

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Texas A&M University, often Texas A&M, A&M or TAMU for short, is the flagship institution of The Texas A&M University System. Texas A&M's triple designation as a Land-, Sea-, and Space-Grant institution reflects a broad range of research, with ongoing projects funded by agencies such as NASA, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research. Working in partnership with state agencies such as the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station and Texas Cooperative Extension, Texas A&M has a direct presence in every county in the state.¹⁸

Texas A&M offers degrees in over 150 courses of study through ten colleges and is home to 18 research institutes. Through its more than 125 years as an institute of higher education, Texas A&M has awarded more than 320,000 degrees, including 70,000 graduate and professional degrees.

Contents

1 History
2 Academics

2.1 Endowment
2.2 Research
2.3 Worldwide
2.4 Rankings

3 Campus

3.1 Aggieland
3.2 Notable buildings

4 Student Life

4.1 Student organizations

5 Traditions
6 Athletics

6.1 Titles
6.2 Athletic Venues

7 Student publications and media
8 Notable people
9 External links
10 Notes

History

Picture of the Texas A&M campus in 1920.

The basis for funding for the college was established by the Morrill Act, passed by the US Congress in 1862, which provided for donation of public land (land grants) to the states. The land could then be sold at public auction to establish a permanent fund to support a college where the "leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and mechanical arts...in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life." In 1871, the Texas legislature passed legislation to establish the college and provide appropriations for building the campus. The college opened for classes in 1876 as the "Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas". In 1963, the legislature changed the name to "Texas A&M University" to reflect the expanded roles and academic offerings of the university. Officially the letters "A&M" no longer have any explicit meaning, but they are retained as a link to the university's past.²²

In addition to being designated as a "land grant college", Texas A&M earned the designation of "sea grant college" in 1971 in recognition of its oceanographic and marine research contributions. In 1989, it was also granted the title of "space grant college" by NASA, in recognition of its commitment to space research and participation in the "Texas Space Grant Consortium".

Academics

Texas A&M University has an enrollment of 44,647 students² pursuing degrees in 10 academic colleges, which currently makes it the 8th largest university in the United States. Under the leadership of university president Dr. Robert M. Gates, former director of the CIA, the university has continued progress under the "Vision 2020" plan. Vision 2020 serves as an aggressive financial focus on four areas of improvement, namely 1) student diversity, 2) faculty reinvestment, 3) space allocation, and 4) improving the undergraduate and graduate education experience.¹⁴ Vision 2020's overall goal is to make Texas A&M one of the top 10 public universities in the United States by the year 2020.

Academic Building with Lawrence Sullivan Ross statue.

Texas A&M's ten colleges are:

Endowment

The Texas A&M University System endowment totals approximately $4.96 billion; 9th largest in the nation and third among public university systems. The University is a minority stakeholder in an endowment known as the Permanent University Fund. The PUF principal in the fall 2000 was approximately $10 billion, second only to Harvard's endowment. The PUF primarily serves the University of Texas System with 2/3rds of its proceeds. The PUF also funds The Texas A&M University System with the remaining third. Other Texas public universities outside these two systems, notably University of Houston and Texas Tech University, are prohibited by law from sharing in the income from this endowment. At one time, the PUF was the chief source of income for Texas A&M, today its revenues account for less than 10 percent of the university's annual budget. This has challenged the university to increase sponsored research and private donations.

Research

Texas A&M University's [Research Park] consists of 11,400 acres with 2.58 million square feet of dedicated research space. More than 1,100 faculty members were involved in more than 3,300 sponsored research projects in 2004. Research funding during the 2004 year totaled more than $520 million, ranking Texas A&M among the top 20 research institutes in the United States, with funding increasing more than $100 million from 1994 to 2004. The University has research and exchange agreements with approximately 100 institutions in about 40 nations including two international centers -- the Mexico City Center and the Santa Chiara Study Abroad Center in Italy, and an engineering branch campus in Doha, Qatar.²⁰

Texas A&M University is the leading university in animal cloning. It was the first university in the world to clone a domestic animal (a cat), thanks in part to funding from John Sperling. The new pet cloning company, Genetic Savings & Clone Inc., has been created with a partnership from Texas A&M's [Missyplicity] team.

In 2004, Texas A&M and its research agencies received nearly $400 million in new awards, an increase of more than $125 million over a 10-year period. The A&M System faculty and research submitted 121 new inventions and established 78 new royalty-bearing licensing agreements during the year, receiving $8 million in income from the innovations. The Texas A&M Technology Licensing Office filed for 88 patents for protection of intellectual property in 2004.²¹

Notable research entities include the Texas Institute for Genomic Medicine, the Texas Transportation Institute, the [Cyclotron Institute], the [Institute of Biosciences and Technology], and the [Institute for Plant Genomics and Biotechnology].

Worldwide

Texas A&M conducts ongoing reasearch and educational projects on all seven continents,¹¹ including a multi-purpose center in Mexico City and a study center in Castiglion Fiorentino, Italy. Additionally, the A&M System includes a branch campus located in Education City in Doha, Qatar devoted to engineering disciplines. Through research and educational partnerships with 100 institutions in 40 nations, more than 1,200 students participated in study abroad or foreign exchange programs in 2003 -- 25% of A&M students have international education experience, such as study abroad participation, before graduation.⁹

Texas A&M's Center for International Business Research and Education is one of 28 in the United States supported by the U.S. Department of Education.¹² The University is also one of only two American universities in partnership with CONACYT, Mexico's equivalent of the National Science Foundation, to support research in areas including biotechnology, telecommunications, energy, and urban development.¹⁰ The University is also the home of "Las Americas Digital Research Network," an online architecture network for 26 universities in 12 nations, primarily in Central and South America.⁸

Rankings

Texas A&M University is currently ranked 60th overall in the United States and tied for 21st among public universities¹ by the magazine U.S. News and World Report. It is ranked as the 25th "Best Value for a Public School" in the nation (in the "In-State" category), and the best value in the state of Texas.¹⁹

Among individual college, departments, and programs:

A&M's agricultural engineering program is ranked 1st in the nation.¹
The Dwight Look College of Engineering is tied for 14th nationally. The undergraduate petroleum engineering program is ranked 1st.¹
The Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine is consistently ranked in the top 5 vet schools in the country.¹
Mays Business School has numerous top 10 rankings from a variety of sources ^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}.

Campus

Part of Texas A&M University's main campus, looking north from the football stadium, Kyle Field. At the center is the Academic Building with its copper dome.

Texas A&M University is one of the largest universities by area (with 5,200 acres⁴ (21 km²) in all) in the nation (behind the United States Air Force Academy and Stanford University, among others and the largest at Berry College) with approximately 200 buildings and a value of over $1 billion. The Texas A&M campus is home to the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum.

The campus is bisected by a set of railroad tracks. The main campus is east of the railroad tracks, while the portion of the campus west of the railroad tracks is known as West Campus. Also, the area west of White Creek is known as Research Park.

See Also:
*Texas A&M Facilities - a listing of buildings on the Texas A&M University Campus
*[Official Texas A&M University Map]

Aggieland

Texas A&M University's main campus is located in College Station, Texas, also known as Aggieland. The metropolitan area of College Station-Bryan, Texas is located in Brazos County, Texas, population 152,415 (Census 2000), in East Texas. The city is centrally located, approximately equidistant from three of the 10 largest cities in the United States. It is 95 miles north of Houston, 166 miles northeast of San Antonio and 169 miles south of Dallas. It is 104 miles east of Austin, the state capital of Texas. Seventy five percent of the Texas and Louisiana populations (13.1 million people) live within 3.5 driving hours of College Station.

Notable buildings

Of the over 200 buildings on Texas A&M University Campus some of the most recognized include the Academic Building, the Albritton Bell Tower, the Administration Building, Kyle Field, the Memorial Student Center (MSC) and recently the George Bush Presidential Library.

[Academic Building]
*One of the most recognized images of Texas A&M University, the Academic Building stands at the heart of the campus. Completed in 1914, it stands on the site of Old Main, the first campus building that burned in 1912. Of note is its copper dome, which was once polished, but since the polished dome's glare caused too great of danger for pilots landing at nearby Easterwood Airport, the university stopped polishing it. Now the dome has become green, much like the Statue of Liberty is presently. Academic Plaza, which is in front of the Academic Building, is the site of a wide range of campus events, including Silver Taps.

Albritton Bell Tower on the Texas A&M campus.

[Albritton Bell Tower]
*Donated to Texas A&M University and dedicated on October 6, 1984 by Martha and Ford D. Albritton, the Albritton Tower is 138 feet tall and contains Westminster chimes which ring every quarter hour. There are 49 carillon bells, the largest of which weighs more than six thousand pounds, that can be programmed to play music such as the "Spirit of Aggieland". The bells also play hymns during Silver Taps, a memorial service for Aggies who have died during the past month. The clock faces of Albritton Tower bear the Roman numeral IIII rather than IV because Mr. Albritton believed that IV bore too much resemblance to "t.u.", Texas A&M's rival, although as four o'clock has been represented this way by clockmakers for centuries it is not impossible that Mr. Albritton was speaking tongue-in-cheek.#redirect
[Easterwood Airport]
*Texas A&M University owns Easterwood Airport on the western portion of its campus. Easterwood provides multiple scheduled flights daily to Dallas, Texas and Houston, Texas.
*See also:
**[Easterwood Airport Website]
George Bush Presidential Library
*Operated by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum is the tenth Presidential Library in the United States. Former President George Bush remains actively involved with both the Bush Library and the nearby George Bush School of Government and Public Service, frequently visiting the campus and participating in special events.

Williams Administration Building.

[Jack K. Williams Administration Building]
*The Administration Building is the centerpiece of the main entrance to Texas A&M University. For many years home to all of Texas A&M's administrative offices, the Jack K. Williams Administration Building opened its doors in 1932 and continues to house several Texas A&M University and Texas A&M University System offices and agencies. Designed by Professor C.S.P. Vosper and built by Campus Architect F.E. Giesecke, the monumental classical structure's features include intricate Ionic columns, polished brass handrails along its marble staircases and stained-glass windows. The building was officially named after former Texas A&M University president Jack Williams in 1997 to honor his work in increasing enrollment dramatically while preserving the traditional aura of the campus.
[Laboratories]
*Laboratories on the Texas A&M University campus include the Energy Systems Laboratory, Fiber Optic Lab, Hypermedia Research Lab, Materials and Structures Testing Lab, Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Lab, Turbomachinery Laboratory and the Wave Propagation and Damping Laboratory. Texas A&M is the first academic institution to clone six different species: cattle, a boer goat, pigs, a cat, a deer and a horse¹⁵.
[Memorial Student Center (MSC)]
*For more than 50 years, the Memorial Student Center has been a living memorial, a living room, and a living tradition at Texas A&M University. Because the building and grounds are a memorial, those entering the MSC are asked to remove their hats, and walking on the grass outside is prohibited.
[Texas A&M Libraries]
*Libraries on campus include the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum, the Cushing Memorial Library, the Medical Sciences Library, the Policy Sciences & Economics Library, Sterling C. Evans Library, West Campus Library and the Biological Collections Library.

Student Life

Sbisa Dining Hall with the greeting "Welcome to Aggieland" on the water tower.

Students are encouraged to become involved on campus from the moment they attend New Student Conferences, Fish Camp, and Gig'Em Week, Aggieland's official week of welcome. Events such as MSC Open House are also held at the beginning of the year for students to find organizations that interest them.

Intramural sports are offered through the Student Rec Center, a 373,000 square foot facility. The recreation center features multiple floors of equipment and courts, as well as an indoor running track, rock-climbing tower, and a natatorium containing one of the top competitive pools in the country.

Student organizations

Texas A&M has over 800 student organizations, the most of any college or university in the United States. Texas A&M is host to the largest ROTC affiliated programs in the United States with the Texas A&M University Corps of Cadets³, which boasts 1,800 members. The term "The Other Education" is often used to describe the importance of student involvement in extra-curricular activities on campus.¹⁶

Traditions

The oldest public college in the state, Texas A&M University has many time-honored traditions, many of which are discussed in full detail at traditions of Texas A&M University.

Athletics

Logo of Texas A&M athletics

A charter member of the Southwest Conference until its dissolution in 1996, Texas A&M now competes in the Big 12 Conference (South Division) of the NCAA's Division I-A. The sports teams are known as the Aggies and the colors are maroon and white.

The University's major rival is the University of Texas, known to Aggies as "texas university" or simply "t.u." In 2004, sporting events between Texas A&M and the University of Texas became known as the Lone Star Showdown. The most-watched part of this rivalry is the annual football game held on the day after Thanksgiving.

The football team is currently coached by Dennis Franchione. Lately, however, the football program has struggled, with losses to Baylor in '04 and Iowa St. at Kyle Field in '05. The 2004 football team earned a spot in the SBC Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas but suffered a 38-7 defeat against the University of Tennessee. Due to the Volunteers colors resembling the Longhorns (only brighter), some Aggie fans stated that "It felt like losing to t.u."

The mens basketball team is currently coached by Billy Gillispie and the women's by Gary Blair. Both took their respective programs to an NCAA postseason in 2006, a first for Texas A&M since Big 12 play began in 1996.

Titles

Texas A&M University has earned 92 Southwest Conference regular-season and tournament titles, 21 Big 12 regular-season and tournament titles, and five national championships. For a complete listing of both conference and national titles won by Texas A&M athletic programs, see Texas Aggie Athletics.

Athletic Venues

Kyle Field's North Exterior

Football: Kyle Field
*Home to the Fightin' Texas Aggies since 1927, Kyle Field recently ranked as the fourth best college football stadium by The Sporting News¹³.
Basketball: Reed Arena
Baseball: Olsen Field
Volleyball: G. Rollie White Coliseum
Soccer: [Aggie Soccer Complex]
Track and Field: [Anderson Track and Field Complex]
Tennis: [George P. Mitchell Tennis Center]
Softball: [Aggie Softball Complex]
Equestrian: [Freeman Arena]
Natatorium: [Student Rec Center Natatorium]
Golf: [Traditions Club Championship Golf Course], [University Golf Course]
See also:
*[Texas A&M Athletic Facilities]

Student publications and media

Notable people

The university has a base of more than 273,000 living former students, one of the largest and most active alumni groups in the nation. With strong academic and successful athletics programs, the school has seen many of its students earn local and national prominence.¹⁸

External links

[Texas A&M University Website]
[The Texas A&M University System Website]
[Official Aggie Athletics Website]
[Texas Aggie Traditions Website]
[Texas A&M Historical Images Collection - Cushing Library]
[Official Fish Camp Website]
[CARPOOL] Official CARPOOL Website

*[Texas A&M University Map]

Notes

Note 1: Source: U.S. News and World Report. []
Note 2: Source: A&M Systemwide Campus News. [link]
Note 3: Source: Texas A&M Facts & Stats. [link]
Note 4: Source: US News & World Report: America's Best Colleges 2006. [link]
Note 5: Source: 2005 NACUBO Endowment Study. [link]
Note 6: Source: Texas A&M University Undergraduate Catalog 2004-2005 Edition. [link]
Note 7: Source: Texas A&M University Statistical Factbook. [link]
Note 8: Source: Las Americas. [link]
Note 9: Source: International Programs. [link]
Note 10: Source: CONACYT and Texas A&M. [link]
Note 11: Source: Long-Term Environmental Monitoring at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, Supported With GIS. [link]
Note 12: Source: ED.gov Funded Centers for International Business Education. [link]
Note 13: Source: Sporting News Ranking of College Football Stadiums. [link]
Note 14: Source: President Gates Academic Convocation 2005. [link]
Note 15: Source: Texas A&M Leads World in Cloning Animals. [link]
Note 16: Source: Texas A&M Assoc. of Former Students Newsletter; December 4, 2003. [link]
Note 17: Source: Aggie Daily; October 25, 2000. [link]
Note 18: Source: Texas A&M University Facts -- World Impact. [link]
Note 19: Source: Kiplinger's 100 Best Values in Public Colleges. [link]
Note 20: Source: ''Texas A&M University Facts -- Research"". [link]
Note 21: Source: Office of the Vice President for Research, Texas A&M University. [link]
Note 22: Source: Texas A&M Communications Advisory Board -- Grammar and Usage. [link]
Note 23: Source: Aggie Code of Honor1 (Revised: 2003) [link]
Note 24: Source: Texas A&M University System Faculty Handbook (2006/2007) p. 4 [link]

Colleges of Texas A&M University

The Texas A&M University System

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