A two day meeting of the A&M System Board of Regents is underway in College Station.
Click HERE to read the 598 page agenda book.
Most of Wednesday was spent reviewing next year’s budgets for all system schools and agencies. Final action is scheduled Thursday.
A two-hour working lunch on Thursday will be held in executive session. Several items recently in the news will be discussed behind closed doors.
Regents will consider the separation agreement with A&M President Bowen Loftin as he returns to the classroom in January and the process of selecting his successor.
Click HERE to read the proclamation to be presented to Dr. Loftin during the Regents meeting.
Regents will visit privately about the Kyle Field redevelopment project and the system’s oversight of foundations and related organizations regarding gifts and donations. That follows recent lawsuits against the 12th Man Foundation over future seating at the new Kyle Field.
A discussion is scheduled about seeking bids to hand over management of Easterwood Airport to a for-profit company.
The board will also hear the latest about this summer’s collapse of the new A&M equine center being built that injured four construction workers.
And there will be what could be a final review of the system buying the Texas Wesleyan law school in Fort Worth. Final action is scheduled Thursday.
The agenda also includes a review of what happened in the legislature, which wasn’t as much as hoped because lawmakers did not pass tuition revenue bond financing which could have meant more than $600 million dollars in new construction.
Regents will consider moving forward with a $137 million dollar building on the flagship campus as part of the initiative to generate 25,000 engineering students by the year 2025.
There’s also an $8 million dollar renovation of Francis Hall to consolidate the construction sciences department in one location.
Another project is a $12 million dollar update to A&M’s three utility plants.
And the system’s headquarters is changing its name to the Moore-Connally building, recognizing the “Bull of the Brazos”, former state senator Bill Moore. Among other things, he is credited as being the driving force behind the acceptance of women at A and M in 1963. Moore graduated from A&M in 1940 and taught at the university until he joined the U.S. Army Air Corps to serve in World War II. He was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1946, where he remained until his election to the Senate in 1949, where he served the people of Brazos County until 1981.