Texas A&M University – Central Texas has appointed Alba Cook as the director of recruitment. She brings with her more than 12 years of experience in higher education, holding positions with the Texas Association of College Registrars and Admissions Officers, Texas Association for College and University Student Personnel Administrators, and the Texas Association of College Admission Counselors.

Cook joins TAMUCT from Vanderbilt University, where she served as the program coordinator for the Bass Military Scholars Program. Prior to joining Vanderbilt, she served as the director of Admissions and Special Programs in the School of Health Professions at UT Health San Antonio.

Meet Alba...

Killeen resident Joshua Missouri, 40, is a recently-appointed director of The Ted & Diane Connell Center for Military and Veterans Services at A&M-Central Texas. And, given his considerable record of service in both the armed forces and higher education, it is easy to see how well he fits into his new position.

It has been sixteen years since his service in the U.S. Navy concluded, and still, both his demeanor and physical appearance suggests that the discipline and the athleticism once required of him in service is more than what may have been developed while there.

Meet Joshua...

For more than two decades, Angie Griffin, 61, lived another life — a full and accomplished life — as an experiential counselor, a corporate team builder, a charter school guidance counselor, and a university administrator before her career took an unexpected and dramatic turn.

Today, she is known as “Grangie” by her three grandchildren, but this woman is hardly the typical grandmother, if indeed such a thing even exists. A member of the Female Helicopter Pilots Association, known as The Whirly Girls, Griffin is the newest member of the faculty in the Texas A&M University-Central Texas Aviation Program.

Together with Carson Pearce, associate lecturer, and coordinator, the two of them are shepherding more than 100 undergraduate students through to completion as the program grows by leaps and bounds.

Meet the newest faculty member...

Locals with any military affiliation are encouraged to attend the Veterans Appreciation and Benefits Expo Wednesday, November 9, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Bill Yowell Conference Center, Warrior Hall, on Texas A&M University-Central Texas’ campus.

Attendees can expect to learn about educational benefits and services, connect with veteran service organizations to help with disability claims, veterans' healthcare, and network with others over lunch. The expo is hosted by the Ted and Diane Connell Veteran Affairs Center and VetSuccess on Campus.

Discover the expo resources...

To those around her, Killeen resident Stephanie Legree-Roberts, 53, is a vibrant, intelligent, composed woman. Well educated and professional, Roberts recently became the executive director of the Warrior Center for Student Success, Equity, and Inclusion at Texas A&M University-Central Texas.

Before coming to the university, Roberts had made a career at Central Texas College, spending almost two decades as a counselor, an international student coordinator, a grant manager, a director of student success and persistence, and a dean of institutional accountability.

Her story, however, is much, much more than what she has done professionally or even what she has personally endured. The greatness of her story lies in the indefatigable spirit of a girl child, unwilling to give up on herself and embrace her own belief that she was more than the circumstances she was born into.

“It is 100% true that education saved my life,” she began, outlining the way she came to be where she is now.

Learn about her story...

The Texas A&M University–Central Texas chapter of the Texas Association of Future Educators (TAFE) is easing the transition from high school to college by inviting Copperas Cove High School and Killeen ISD TAFE chapters to campus.

“TAFE is a cocurricular student organization that we integrate to our training and education program. TAFE is the Texas Association of Future Educators and is the largest future teacher organization in the country,” said Theresa Morgan, Education and Training Pathway Teachers at Copperas Cove High School.

See what they learned...

Allyssa Michelle Avila, 32, is composed, articulate, and insightful, speaking deliberately about what motivated her most recent creative endeavor.

Her project, she says, did not happen the way some inspired events do; it was not a ‘big idea’ or even an academic assignment. It was, she says, something more routine than that. And it is a good feeling, she says, to think that inspired things can spring forth out of her everyday life as a student.

“I received an email from Sandra Desjardins, an A&M-Central Texas Hispanic Heritage Month Lecture Series Coordinator and also a librarian specialist,” Avila explained. “They were reaching out to everyone to ask if anyone had an idea that they could share during the University’s Hispanic Heritage Month.

Lee más (Read more!)...

Chancellor John Sharp of The Texas A&M University System is coming to living rooms all around the state.

Around Texas with Chancellor John Sharp will appear in 18 media markets across Texas (and one in Louisiana) when Season Three of the show premieres in the first full week in October. Last year, the show aired in eight Texas markets.

See how you can tune in...

From left: Assistant Director of Counseling and Psychology LaToscha Sherman, Admissions counselor Christina Acevedo, and Associate Director of Instructional Technology Service Sara Dierk.
 

Texas A&M University–Central Texas prides itself in being the only upper-level university in the state, offering high quality, affordable, and innovative higher education programs. Staff members play in integral role facilitating the university mission.

Learn about the winner and nominees.

Killeen, Texas – The summer weather has not yet yielded to the long-awaited cooler temperatures of the fall, but that hasn’t stopped A&M-Central Texas Student Government and the Office of Student Affairs from getting ready for a ‘spook-tacular’ event coming up next month.

Event organizers are hoping for a “fang-tastic” turnout for the 2022 Trunk or Treat, Friday, Oct. 28, from 6-8 p.m.

“Trunk or Treat is an event for the whole community,” said Paul York, associate dean of student affairs. “Last year, there were more than 300 people walking through the event and 40 cars all decorated in ‘eerie-sistable’ Halloween themes and quite a few of the cars’ owners got in the “spirit,” dressing up in their “boo-tique inspired costumes.”

Learn more about this "Spook-tacular" Halloween Event

Jared Foster, 40, former Killeen city councilman at-large, and one-time Greater Killeen Young Professionals board member is now the Director of Development at A&M-Central Texas.

Foster’s many ties to the Central Texas community and his years of experience in leadership positions make him an ideal addition to the University following the retirement of former Development Director, Lana Carey, says A&M-Central Texas President, Dr. Marc Nigliazzo.

Learn more about his plans.

The streets of downtown Pelham, Georgia, are lined with statuesque pecan trees, manicured neighborhood lawns, historic buildings, a chamber of commerce, a Piggly Wiggly, a half dozen or so restaurants, a pharmacy, and, because no town is complete without at least one, a honkytonk named Sylvia’s Bar, and a café aptly called Southern Sass.

Further out of town, the countryside resembles an endless agricultural quilt laid out on top the earth, as acres and acres of rows of crops crisscross the countryside like seams plowed into the earth.

Lauren West, 23, grew up in this place, one of five children in a blended family, raised on the family farm with as many animal friends as human ones.

Learn more about her.

Henry “Hank” Mayes, 59, Temple resident, first experienced the compassionate affection of a teacher more than five decades ago. His memories of their many acts of kindness remain with him, all these years later, undiminished by the passage of time.

Follow Hank's journey.

The University Writing Center (UWC) at Texas A&M University-Central Texas is a resource available to all students who need help with their writing. There, they can receive one-on-one or group tutoring at any stage of the writing process and at any level, undergraduate or graduate.

Skilled peer-tutors can act as a test audience, go over instructors’ feedback on papers, brainstorm topics, and much more. Phyllis Wheeler, a UWC tutor and faculty member at A&M-Central Texas, spoke about some of the things they offer.

Read more about better writing!

Texas A&M University-Central Texas hosted Bell County superintendents’ first in-person, collaborative meeting of the school year.

The meeting allows local Independent School Districts, ranging in size from hundreds of students to thousands, to discuss trends, brainstorm solutions and talk shop.

The exchange of invaluable information has proven useful, especially in the wake of current issues like school safety and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Learn more about their meeting.

Samantha Roberts, 31, is a military spouse, a mother of two children under seven, a full-time employee with a financial institution, a recent graduate from A&M-Central Texas, and a brand-new graduate student at the University of Texas at Arlington. But she is still very much a part of the University’s social work program.

Just two months have passed since she received her bachelor’s degree in social work at the University’s 2022 Summer Commencement, yet she routinely returns to campus. It is not because she has an errand in the business office, an overdue assignment, a parking ticket to pay, or a book to return to the library. Learn more about the award.

At an awards breakfast sponsored by the A&M-Central Texas Foundation, six A&M-Central Texas faculty were honored for their excellence in teaching, service, and scholarship.

Originally funded in 2019 by endowed gifts made by two prominent local families, the Beck Family and the Yowell Family, respectively, the awards honor faculty who have demonstrated a record of excellence in teaching, service, and scholarship.

The 2022 Beck Family Senior Faculty Award recipients are Hao-Min Chen, associate professor, College of Education and Human Development; Lucas Loafman, associate professor, College of Business Administration; and Mienie Roberts, associate professor, College of Arts and Sciences. Read more about the award winners