The Texas A&M University System is one of the largest systems of higher education in the United States, with a budget of $6.3 billion. Through a statewide network of 11 universities, 8 state agencies, and the RELLIS Campus, the Texas A&M System educates more than 153,000 students and makes more than 22 million additional educational contacts through service and outreach programs each year. System-wide, research and development expenditures exceeded $996 million in FY 2017 and helped drive the state's economy.[5]
The system's flagship institution is Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. The letters "A&M" (originally A.M.C. for "agricultural and mechanical college") are retained to honor the university's former designation.[citation needed]
The founding member of the A&M System is Texas A&M University, established in 1876. Prairie View A&M, also established in 1876, is an HBCU. The A&M System, like all schools in Texas was racially segregated by state law, from its founding until the 1960s.[6] Many of the member universities and agencies joined the A&M System decades after being established. The institution now named The University of Texas at Arlington was a member from 1917 to 1965.[7]
With a direct presence in all 254 Texas counties, A&M System agencies offer research and service to the state's citizens. The agencies focus on addressing and improving the social, economic, educational, health and environmental conditions of Texans.
TDEM is the only state agency under the Texas A&M System not to bear the "Texas A&M" name as it is the most recent to be added to the system,[19] transferred from the Texas Department of Public Safety to TAMUS in 2019.[20]
Texas A&M University Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy in Kingsville
Established in 1999, as the Texas A&M Health Science Center, Texas A&M Health is the medical education component of Texas A&M University and reaches across all parts of Texas through its institutions: Texas A&M University College of Dentistry at Dallas; the College of Medicine at College Station, Temple, Dallas, Round Rock, and Houston; the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Dallas, College Station and Houston; the School of Engineering Medicine and Institute of Biosciences and Technology in Houston; the School of Public Health at College Station and McAllen; and the Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy in College Station and Kingsville. Southern regions of the state also are further served by the Coastal Bend Health Education Center, which covers the 19-county region surrounding Corpus Christi and Kingsville, and the South Texas Center at McAllen.
Texas A&M Health received full accreditation in December 2002 from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award baccalaureate, master's, doctoral and professional degrees. Its components are accredited by accrediting organizations specific to their areas.
The Health Science Center in 2013 was merged into Texas A&M University proper and is no longer an independent institution. It was renamed Texas A&M Health.
The System is governed by a nine-member Board of Regents. Each member is appointed by the Governor of Texas for a six-year term and the terms overlap (all terms end on February 1 in odd-numbered years and in those years 1/3 of the regents' terms expire, though a regent can be nominated for another subsequent term).
In addition, a tenth "student regent" (non-voting member) is appointed by the Governor for a one-year term.
The responsibilities of the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents are to:
Oversee the administration and set policy direction for the System's 11 universities, seven state agencies and health science center;
Ensure a quality undergraduate and graduate education experience for all students;
Promote academic research and technology to benefit the state of Texas and the nation;
Disseminate programs of the A&M System across the state through outreach and public service efforts; and
Support the state legislative and higher education leadership to position Texas at the forefront of higher education nationally.
Additionally, the Texas A&M University System is a member of the Alliance for Biosecurity,[21] a public-private coalition that "advocates for public policies and funding to support the rapid development, production, stockpiling, and distribution of critically needed medical countermeasures".[22]
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