A&M Faculty Senate Hears from McKinney

Dedication Of Texas A&M Mays Business School Education Complex Gateway Building

Texas A&M’s Mays business school dedicates the gateway building to its new education complex. The description of the four story Roberts Building includes innovative learning studios, collaboration rooms, and huddle spaces that extends A&M’s commitment to interactive learning beyond traditional classrooms. More than $14 million dollars in gifts was part of the $84 million dollar project. Click HERE to read and download the dedication program of the Roberts Building. Click below to hear comments from the building dedication, courtesy of the Mays business school: Listen to “Dedication of Texas A&M Mays business school education complex gateway building” on Spreaker. News release courtesy of the Mays business school: Marking a significant step on Mays Business School’s path to preeminence among the top public business schools in the nation, Texas A&M University leaders dedicated the state-of-the-art Wayne Roberts ’85 Building on Thursday, Jan. 9. The 81,400-square-foot building will welcome students, faculty, former students, corporate partners and visitors starting in the spring 2025 semester. The Roberts Building serves as the business school’s “front porch” and significantly expands the footprint of the Mays Business Education Complex, which also includes the new ConocoPhillips Collaboration Plaza that connects the Roberts Building and the business school’s longtime home, the E.L. Wehner Building. Another new building that will serve the school’s graduate programs has received a $25 million funding commitment from the Mays Family Foundation and is in the design phase. The Roberts Building’s innovative design promotes dynamic learning through connection, collaboration and creativity. “At Mays Business School, our vision is building a better future through business. We are focused on a mission of developing leaders of character who make a positive difference in the communities where they live, work and serve,” Mays Business School Dean Nate Y. Sharp said. “Even at a time when the business world is changing rapidly, the ability to build relationships, collaborate with diverse groups of stakeholders and creatively innovate to solve problems remain pillars of success. We designed the Roberts Building to facilitate the learning of the future, and to provide our students, faculty, former students, and corporate partners meaningful ways to connect with and learn from each other, while staying grounded in the Aggie Spirit and the Aggie Core Values.” The opening of the Roberts Building underscores Mays’ commitment to educational excellence. In 2024, U.S. News & World Report ranked Mays Business School’s undergraduate program No. 17 among all U.S. public business schools. In addition, three of the five undergraduate majors at Mays — management, accounting and marketing — ranked in the top 10 nationally in the same ranking. Many of the school’s graduate programs, including MS Analytics, Executive MBA, and Full-Time MBA, are regularly ranked in the top 10 nationally. “I was inspired to give back to the Mays Business School by the vision to become the preeminent public business school in the nation,” said Wayne Roberts ’85, the retired president and CEO of Abrigo who is the building’s lead donor. “This new building is yet another step in that journey, and we are well on our way to achieving this bold vision.” The new facility creates an environment where Mays students, faculty, staff and visitors can learn and connect in ways that will transform the future of business education. “The Wayne Roberts ’85 Building reflects how modern business, learning and classroom instruction are evolving,” said Kirksey Architecture Partner and Managing Director of Design Gary Machicek. “By changing the way students and faculty inhabit and engage with the campus itself, Texas A&M is creating environments that more closely resemble modern offices, changing the traditional business school model by bringing education and commerce into closer alignment, and providing spaces where alumni and current students can learn from each other, truly embodying the concept of lifelong learning.” The agile design of the Roberts Building’s learning studios provides flexibility for individual educators to implement innovative teaching strategies. With glass walls that will showcase “learning on display,” the studios are also equipped with high levels of advanced audio and video technology and high-touch instructional tools. “The opportunities for innovation are only limited by the imagination of the educator,” said Mays Executive Director of Learning Environments William Peel. These state-of-the-art instructional features are being enthusiastically embraced by Mays faculty members. “The Roberts Building represents a big step forward in educational space design,” said Tara Blasor, assistant department head in the James Benjamin Department of Accounting at Mays and a senior lecturer who served on the faculty task force for the new building. “I’m particularly excited to teach my team-based internal auditing course in these new spaces. The configuration of the learning studios will allow students to work effectively in their teams on projects and daily activities, while I can easily move around to provide guidance and support. This setup will create a more dynamic and engaging learning environment, while also better reflecting how the students will work with internal audit colleagues in the real world.” Features of the building include: The Kay ’02 & Jerry Cox ’72 Atrium, a multipurpose area that can be used for large events and meetings as well as smaller gatherings and study groups, anchored by The Valero Connection, a three-story media wall, which will serve as a showcase for Mays’ work and commitment to the Aggie Core Values. The full-service Reynolds and Reynolds Café, which will serve hot and cold beverages with seating inside on the ground floor of the building, as well as on an outdoor patio. Eight learning studios, where up to 48 students per class will gather for courses beginning this spring semester. 18 collaboration rooms designed for small group projects, meetings, and study sessions. A multifunctional conference room that can seat up to 160. More than 220 seats in open huddle spaces. The building also will be home to Mays’ preeminent Center for Executive Development, which provides leading-edge training to organizational leaders around the globe. The center will be housed on the building’s fourth floor and includes two learning studios, one online studio, 10 breakout […]

Repairs Completed From Flooding At Pebble Creek Elementary School

Students and staff returned to Pebble Creek elementary school from the holidays seeing little evidence of last month’s flooding that cancelled two days of classes. College Station ISD assistant superintendent Josh Symank says “you can’t tell anything happened.” With the exception of Christmas Day and New Years Day, Symank says CSISD’s outside contractor worked 12 hour shifts to replace drywall and conduct other repairs. Symank also says photos were taken before repairs began, which assisted in returning furniture, library stacks, and other equipment that was moved to do repair work. Symank says there was enough damage that CSISD met its insurance deductible, and administrators continue to work with adjusters on the financial loss from the flooding. Click below to hear comments from Josh Symank, visiting with WTAW’s Bill Oliver. Listen to “Repairs completed from flooding at Pebble Creek elementary school” on Spreaker.

Arrests Of A Dump Truck Driver And A Wrong Way Driver

A Brazos County sheriff’s deputy reports being passed by a dump truck where its load of dirt and sand was not properly secured. The deputy then found out the dump truck’s registration expired last April. That led to a traffic stop and the driver being arrested for not having a driver’s license. The deputy’s arrest report says 43 year old Luis Bello-Carmona never had a commercial driver’s license and his class “C” license had been expired for over ten years. Additionally, Carmona has been convicted five times of driving with an invalid license. Carmona is out of jail after posting a $2,000 dollar bond. After the bars in the Northgate district closed early Sunday morning (January 12), College Station police responded to a hit and run crash involving a wrong way driver whose pickup truck left behind one of its tires at Wellborn and University. The truck was found about a half mile away in a parking lot. The driver, 23 year old Anabel Vargas of Bryan, was arrested for DWI after failing field sobriety tests. That was followed by breath alcohol tests which were twice the legal limit at .161 and .164. Vargas is out of jail after posting bonds totaling $6,000 dollars.