Office of the President

Speeches & Reports

Message to the Aggie Family - 1/14/2008

Howdy and Happy New Year! As the new President of Texas A&M University, it is an honor and a privilege to welcome you back to Aggieland from the holiday break. The holidays are always a great opportunity to spend time with family and friends, while also providing a time to rest and recharge. The holidays are also a time to reflect on the year that ends and to begin planning and pondering what the New Year will bring.

2008 marks an important time in the life of our University. A little more than a year ago, Dr. Robert Gates left Texas A&M after four years of outstanding leadership and service. Through several bold initiatives, with Faculty Reinvestment perhaps being his most significant, Dr. Gates set the stage for Texas A&M to fulfill several key goals outlined in Vision 2020, a vision that was kept in focus by Interim President Dr. Ed Davis over the past year.

During several meetings with faculty, students, staff and Former Students over the past weeks, one common theme has emerged — Dr. Gates has indeed left us a solid foundation on which to build. But it was also clear from these discussions that now is time for us to move forward, and to begin building upon this foundation. I think we all know that focus is key to success in the classroom, in the research lab, on the athletics field and with a large organization like Texas A&M. Today, I would like to outline several key focus areas as we enter 2008:

First, we need to continue to enhance the undergraduate experience and then improve our graduate education. We will also focus on increasing the diversity of our students, faculty and staff, as well as strengthening the management of our resources. And perhaps most critical, we will begin to tackle the task of improving the quality of our campus infrastructure.

For us to address these challenges, however, we must first make sure that we have the very best leadership team in place in order to succeed. Currently, we have many key positions within the University that are being filled by interim administrators, who have done an excellent job in serving Texas A&M in such a capacity. I would like to take this opportunity to outline a future direction for a few of these positions that will be critical in charting our future path of success.

First, Dr. Mark Hussey, who has been serving as Director of Texas AgriLife Research, a state agency under the A&M System, will be serving as Interim Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Vice Chancellor of Agriculture, left vacant after my appointment as President. We will begin a national search to permanently fill this position, and I have asked Dr. Garry Adams to head the search advisory committee. Dr. Adams currently serves as Executive Associate Dean in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. He has a history of collaboration with faculty in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and also has a partial appointment with Texas AgriLife Research. Dr. Adams has a very good understanding of the agriculture agencies under the A&M System and the important role they play in partnership with the University.

Another position that needs to be addressed on a permanent basis is that of Executive Vice President and Provost. This position is responsible for making important decisions regarding academic as well as nonacademic issues for the university, and must constantly try to balance the two against the realities of fiscal constraints and other challenges. That is no easy task for any one person to do.

To continue on our path of academic excellence here at Texas A&M and to focus the Executive Vice President and Provost as the university's chief academic officer, it has become evident in my meetings to date that a second Executive Vice President position is needed, which I will request the Board of Regents to establish.

The Executive Vice President for Academics & Provost will oversee and have full budgetary authority over all academic units, such as the colleges, student affairs, research, and undergraduate and graduate studies. The newly created position of Executive Vice President for Operations will oversee and have full budgetary authority over operational and other nonacademic functions of the University. Both of these Executive Vice Presidents will report directly to me as President, ensuring that both academic and nonacademic activities are properly championed, with my office reserving final decision-making authority when needed.

As he has for the past several months, Dr. Jerry Strawser will continue to serve as Interim Executive Vice President for Academics and Provost. It is my sincere opinion that we must begin a national search to fill this position with a permanent candidate as soon as possible. To this end, I have asked Dr. Doug Palmer, Dean of the College of Education and Human Development, to lead the search advisory committee that will be charged with the goal of recommending up to three candidates from which I will select the next Executive Vice President for Academics and Provost.

Regarding the new position of Executive Vice President for Operations, once we receive approval from the Board of Regents, I will be appointing Dr. Russell Cross to this position. Dr. Cross has played an instrumental role as my Deputy Vice Chancellor and Associate Dean of Agriculture & Life Sciences over the past three years, and has a great reputation and long career as an effective administrator in Washington, DC, in the private sector and in higher education here at Texas A&M. I have full confidence in Dr. Cross fulfilling this important new position, and I know he will serve the University well.

Another important position that needs to be filled permanently is that of Vice President for Research. As you know, Dr. Jim Calvin has been serving as the Interim Vice President of Research in support of our research community across the campus. Given the importance of this role to the academic community, and in light of our need to continue our select agent research programs, I believe that we cannot wait to conduct a search for this position until a permanent Executive Vice President for Academics and Provost is identified and hired. We will immediately begin a national search for a Vice President for Research, and I have asked Dr. Joanne Lupton to serve as chair of the search advisory committee. Dr. Lupton is one of our brightest stars in the University's research community, with extensive experience at the national and international levels in the field of human nutrition and cancer prevention. I know she and the search advisory committee will do an outstanding job of finding excellent candidates to recommend to me for this important position.

Again, addressing these positions will be critical as we begin moving forward in building upon the core values, traditions, and renowned academics that combine to make Texas A&M one of the nation's top public institutions of higher education.

In the coming weeks, I will continue a series of listening sessions with faculty, staff and students across campus. These will be important opportunities for me to learn about many key issues as we make our plans to build on the solid foundation left for us by Dr. Gates. Among others, I plan to meet with the Faculty Senate, as well as many additional groups of faculty, staff and students so that we can determine the direction and develop strategies to address many important issues at hand. I know that by working together, we can do anything we set our minds to. And we can achieve our vision of becoming the premier public institution in the country. Enjoy these few days before the start of the semester, and I look forward to interacting with as many of you as possible in the coming weeks.

Again, it is a great honor to serve as President of Texas A&M University and I look forward to what our future holds. Here's to a great 2008 and Gig 'Em!