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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.

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.

History

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.

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'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.

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.

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, 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.

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. 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. 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.

Rankings

Texas A&M University is currently ranked 60th overall in the United States and tied for 21st among public universities 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.

Among individual college, departments, and programs:

Campus

Texas A&M University is one of the largest universities by area (with 5,200 acres (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.

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.

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Texas A&M University".

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