Kathy Banks | |
---|---|
26th President of Texas A&M University | |
In office June 1, 2021 –July 20, 2023 [1] | |
Preceded by | John L. Junkins (Interim) |
Succeeded by | Mark A. Welsh III |
Dean of the College of Engineering | |
In office January 10,2012 –June 1,2021 | |
Preceded by | N. K. Anand (Interim) |
Succeeded by | John E. Hurtado (Interim) |
Personal details | |
Born | Margaret Katherine Banks January 1960 (age 64) Whitesburg,Kentucky,U.S. |
Spouse | Paul Schwab |
Children | 6 |
Education | University of Florida (BS) University of North Carolina,Chapel Hill (MS) Duke University (PhD) |
Academic background | |
Thesis | Fate of deposited cells in an aerobic binary bacterial biofilm (1989) |
Doctoral advisor | James D. Bryers |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Environmental engineering |
Sub-discipline | Bioremediation |
Institutions | |
Margaret Katherine "Kathy" Banks [2] [3] [4] is an American academic, engineer, and was the 26th president of Texas A&M University from 2021 to 2023, only the second woman to hold that position out of 41 total presidents at the time, including her interim successor.
Banks is an elected fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers, was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2014, [5] and was formerly the dean of the College of Engineering, [2] and the Jack and Kay Hockema Professor at Purdue University. Her research interests include applied microbial systems, biofilm processes, wastewater treatment and reuse, and phytoremediation bioremediation. [6]
Banks grew up in Whitesburg, Kentucky, a small coal mining town. She earned her Bachelor of Science in environmental engineering from the University of Florida in 1982, Master of Science in environmental engineering from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1985, and Doctorate of Philosophy in civil and environmental engineering from Duke University in 1989. [7]
Banks was an associate professor at Kansas State University from 1989 to 1997. From 1997 to 2012, she was a professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at Purdue University. She was the Jack and Kay Hockema Professor at Purdue [8] and later the Bowen Engineering Head of the School of Civil Engineering. [9]
Since 2012, Banks has been at Texas A&M University, where she served as the 26th president and the Vice Chancellor of National Laboratories and National Security Strategic Initiatives. Prior to assuming the presidency in June 2021, Banks held the roles of Vice Chancellor of Engineering and National Laboratories for the Texas A&M University System, Dean of the College of Engineering, Director of the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station, University Distinguished Professor, and Harold J. Haynes Dean's Chair Professor. [10] [11]
On February 13, 2019, Banks was named to the Board of Directors of Halliburton. [12]
Banks served for nine years as vice chancellor of engineering and dean of Texas A&M’s College of Engineering. Banks was nominated to the presidency of Texas A&M University on March 3, 2021, and was confirmed by the Board of Regents on March 31, 2021. She began her tenure on June 1, 2021. [13]
In June 2023, Texas A&M University recruited Kathleen McElroy, a 1981 graduate of the university and tenured professor at the University of Texas at Austin, to lead the university's journalism program. [14] A month later, negotiations broke down due to changes in the offer given to McElroy, which initially was a tenured full-professor position, with press, faculty, and McElroy reporting that "outside influences" had rejected the nomination. [15] McElroy ultimately rejected the offer, and decided to remain at the University of Texas at Austin. Banks rejected the claims made by the media in a meeting with the faculty, claiming that she was unaware of any changes to the initial job offer. [16] However, subsequent investigation by the university's Office of General Counsel revealed that Banks was significantly involved in the process and aware of these changes. [17]
Following the media backlash, the interim dean of the Texas A&M College of Arts and Sciences, José Luis Bermúdez, stepped down. [18]
On Wednesday, July 19, 2023, the Texas A&M Faculty Senate passed a resolution to create a fact-finding committee into the mishandling of the hiring of McElroy. During that meeting, Banks told faculty members that she did not approve changes to an offer letter that led a prospective journalism professor to walk away from negotiations amid conservative backlash to her hiring; [19] this claim was subsequently disputed by the university's lawyers. [17] Hart Blanton, the head of the university's Department of Communication and Journalism also released a statement through his lawyer on July 21st that challenged Banks' statements from a July 19th faculty meeting in which she suggested that she didn't know why changes were made in the offers to McElroy. [20] Blanton claimed that Banks had actually "injected herself into the process atypically and early on". He also claimed that a diminished offer given to McElroy had his signature forged on it by the university. [21]
Late in the evening of July 20, 2023, [1] Banks formally resigned from her position as President. In her resignation letter to Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp, she wrote
“The recent challenges regarding Dr. McElroy have made it clear to me that I must retire immediately. The negative press is a distraction from the wonderful work being done here.” [19]
Mark A. Welsh III was appointed as acting president by Chancellor Sharp following Banks' resignation. [1]
Banks is married to Arthur Paul Schwab, whom she met while they were both professors at Kansas State University. [22] They have released several research studies together. [6] Schwab moved with Banks from Kansas State to Purdue University in 1998, joining the faculty as a professor. He now works as a soil and crop science professor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M University, [23] where he has worked since July 2012. They have six children. [22]
Texas A&M University is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. Since 2021, Texas A&M has enrolled the largest student body in the United States, and is the only university in Texas to hold simultaneous designations as a land-, sea-, and space-grant institution. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and a member of the Association of American Universities.
The University of Moratuwa is a public university in Sri Lanka. It is located on the bank of the Bolgoda Lake in Katubedda, Moratuwa, a suburb of Sri Lanka's capital Colombo
Ruth Simmons is an American professor and academic administrator. Simmons served as the eighth president of Prairie View A&M University, a HBCU, from 2017 until 2023. From 2001 to 2012, she served as the 18th president of Brown University, where she was the first African American president of an Ivy League institution. While there, Simmons was named, best college president by Time magazine. Before Brown University, she headed Smith College, one of the Seven Sisters and the largest women's college in the United States, beginning in 1995. There, during her presidency, the first accredited program in engineering was started at an all-women's college.
Henry Tzu-Yow Yang is a Taiwanese-American mechanical engineer, university administrator, and the fifth and current chancellor of the University of California, Santa Barbara, a post he has held since 1994.
The president of Texas A&M University is the chief officer of the academic administration of Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. Forty-one people—thirty-nine men and two women—have held this office, including those who were in the position when it was named Chairman of the Faculty between 1883-1890, and those who held the position in an acting or interim capacity.
Arthur Gene "Art" Hansen was a philanthropist and former chancellor of several American universities.
Jack Royce Woolf was an American academic who arrived at Arlington State College in 1957 as dean of the college. After one year as dean, the Texas A&M Board appointed him acting president in 1958 and president in 1959. In 1967, upon the university leaving the Texas A&M System for the University of Texas System and with the accompanying name change, Woolf became president of The University of Texas at Arlington. Woolf resigned the presidency in 1968, but continued service to the university until 1989.
Elsa Alina Murano has been the Director of the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture & Development at Texas A&M University's Agriculture & Life Sciences program since 2012. She was the 23rd President of Texas A&M University from January 3, 2008, until her effective resignation on June 15, 2009.
Renu Khator is the eighth chancellor of the University of Houston System and the thirteenth president of the University of Houston. In 2008, she became the first female chancellor in the state of Texas and the first Indian immigrant to lead a comprehensive research university in the U.S.
Richard Bowen Loftin, better known as R. Bowen Loftin, is an American academic and physicist who was the 22nd Chancellor of the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. Prior to his appointment as chancellor, he served as the 24th president of Texas A&M University.
Mark Anthony Welsh III is the 27th president of Texas A&M University, former Dean of the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University and a retired United States Air Force four-star general. Prior to his current role, he served as Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force and a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He was appointed by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the United States Senate. Prior to that, General Welsh served as Commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe, as the Associate Director for Military Affairs of the Central Intelligence Agency, and as the Vice Commander of Air Education and Training Command. In earlier portions of his career, he served as a fighter pilot and was a commander at the squadron, group and wing level, in addition to assignments in training, operations, intelligence and acquisitions. He also served as the Commandant of cadets of the United States Air Force Academy.
Purdue University Northwest (PNW) is a public university with two campuses in Northwest Indiana; its main campus is in Hammond with a branch campus in Westville. It is part of the Purdue University system and offers more than 70 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to approximately 6,200 students with more than 64,000 alumni.
Nagamangala Krishnamurthy Anand is a Texas A&M Regents Professor and the holder of James J. Cain '51 Professor III in the College of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, at Texas A&M University. He served as the interim dean of the College of Engineering after his appointment on September 1, 2011. His term as interim Dean ended on January 10, 2012, upon the succession of M. Katherine Banks. He was the Executive Associate Dean for the College of Engineering at Texas A&M, from 2009 to 2022, and the Associate Director of Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station, from 2007 to 2022. In February 2022, Professor Anand was appointed as the Vice President for Faculty Affairs at Texas A&M University.
Carrie L. Byington is a Mexican–American clinician and pediatric infectious disease specialist. In 2016, she became the first Hispanic woman to serve as Dean of a United States medical school upon her appointment at the Texas A&M University.
Marcia G. Ory is an American gerontologist with a background in Social Sciences, Public Health and Aging. She is a Regents and Distinguished Professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the Texas A&M School of Public Health. Ory also serves as the director of the Texas A&M Board of Regents Center for Population Health and Aging.
Lesia L. Crumpton-Young is an American engineer and academic administrator. Served as the 13th president of Texas Southern University from 2021 to 2023. She was previously the provost and chief academic officer of Morgan State University.
Kathleen O. McElroy is an American journalist and professor, the holder of the Frank A. Bennack Jr. Chair in journalism, and the former director of the School of Journalism and Media at the University of Texas at Austin from 2018 to 2022.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link){{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)