Office of the President

Speeches & Reports

Campus News and Updates from Interim President Loftin

November 3, 2009

Howdy from your Interim President!

• It was another glorious weekend in Aggieland! I was especially moved by the Military Appreciation events during halftime on Saturday. About 600 of our students have veteran status and I was honored to stand alongside many of them at Kyle Field during halftime. Not only was Texas A&M recently named a "Military Friendly School," but last week we also joined the cities of College Station and Bryan in signing a community covenant with the U.S. Army. The covenant symbolizes our commitment to supporting local active and reserve force military members and their families.
• Don't forget — Silver Taps will be held at 10:30 tonight, near the Sul Ross statue, to honor the memory of Robert "Bobby" Davis Briggs, a freshman environmental design major from Maple Valley, Washington, who died September 19.
• Student leaders have scheduled several events to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Bonfire collapse. While the dialogue on the future of Bonfire is important, I hope the Aggie Family will come together during this time of reflection to focus primarily on remembering and honoring the fallen.
• I think it's interesting that use of Evans Library has soared now that the MSC is being renovated and expanded. Evans Library is more than just books — it offers small and large meeting spaces; study rooms; iPods, laptops and Kindles to check out; and a coffee shop. You can even follow the library on Twitter.
• Congratulations to our women's soccer team, which shut out the Longhorns last week! Defender Emily Peterson, a senior finance major from Tulsa, Oklahoma, is in the running for Lowe's Senior Class Award. To vote, go to http://www.seniorclassaward.com/vote/womens_soccer_2009/. She also carries a 3.92 grade point average as a member of the Mays Business Honors Program. I found that Emily blogs at http://www.aggieathletics.com/sports/w-soccer/spec-rel/soccer-season-blog-2009.html.
• Athletics are important to Texas A&M, but until now, they haven't been a focus in our Vision 2020 plan to reach top ten status by the year 2020. I have appointed a task force on athletics to look at issues such as the role of the student-athlete at Texas A&M and how our athletic program compares to those at other top universities.

Until next week, Gig 'em Aggies! As always, you can also send comments or questions to president@tamu.edu.

Dr. R. Bowen Loftin '71
Interim President