In the push and pull of everyday life, the things that exist for the sole purpose of vying for our attention are everywhere. Our cars’ safety and notification systems blink with cautionary warnings if tires or gasoline gets low, the devices we rely upon for convenience ping with pop up alerts or texts, and even the refrigerator in the kitchen offers consultation about its contents and what needs replenishing.

Amidst these distractions there are, however, other sounds that offer a more subtle soundtrack. University campuses are no exception.

Learn more about Dr. Roberts!

Warrior Week at Texas A&M University – Central Texas returns March 27-31 with new and traditional events for students. The annual event is designed to bring students together to celebrate the Warrior spirit and the commitment of the Warrior community supporting others.

Students can prepare for Spirit Day by tie dying a shirt Thursday, March 23 at 10 a.m. in the Beck Family Heritage Hall lobby.

Find fun activities for Warrior Week.

Texas A&M University–Central Texas students are answering the call to service by volunteering with United Way of Central Texas’ Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. VITA provides free tax preparation for qualified households.

Assistant Professor of accounting Dr. Ran Li is leading the VITA initiative for the university. She emphasizes that service learning in general benefits the community.

“Our area needs competent general accountants and tax accountants. With the IRS VITA program, our students can step in and help the community, while gaining real-world experience,” she said.

Learn about their free tax preparation.

The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) announced last week that A&M-Central Texas has earned international accreditation for its College of Business Administration. Founded in 1916, AACSB is the longest-serving global accrediting body for business schools, and the largest business education network connecting learners, educators, and businesses worldwide.

Learn about the accreditation

Assistant Professor of Accounting Dr. Anthony Fulmore’s educational path is like that of many of his students. Fulmore, a military veteran, used his military benefits to pursue his education locally. He earned his associate’s degree at Central Texas College, his bachelor’s and first master’s degrees at Tarleton State University, Central Texas, which then became Texas A&M University – Central Texas in 2009. This is one of the many reasons he can connect with his students so well.

See why he's a great fit for A&M-Central Texas students

“O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done…” begins Walt Whitman’s poem about the death of Abraham Lincoln. Arguably one of Whitman’s most popular poems holds little mystery about its subject or its author. Which is not the case in all prominent art that honors America’s 16th president.

One couldn’t have predicted that over 150 years later Whitman’s interest in Lincoln would set off a chain of events leading Dr. Stefan Schöberlein to his Lincoln portrait research, discovering key facts about a mysterious painter and an overlooked portrait of the president preceded by fantastical stories.

Look into the story

Dr. Michael Daley, Regents Professor and Chair of the Department of Social Work at Texas A&M University – Central Texas in Killeen received a prestigious national award from the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) at its recent 68th Annual Program Meeting in Anaheim, California. Dr. Daley was recognized for Distinguished Recent Contributions to Social Work Education by CSWE. This is an award given to one person annually for exemplary achievements in the last 10 years in at least two areas including: research and scholarship, pedagogy and curriculum development, and organizational leadership. The Council on Social Work Education is the national association for professional social work education and accreditation of social work educational programs.

Professor Daley receives National Award

Shuyang Gu, 41, was born humbly, but securely, to parents, Fang Che and Ming Hua Gu in the Northern Chinese Province of Heibei. And, while neither parent could have known it then, their only child – a girl – would grow up to walk in the shoes of her maternal grandfather and fulfill the educational goals unavailable to her parents.

Her father, an engineer, and her mother, a kindergarten teacher, grew up during the cultural revolution, she explained, completing only a high school education, and assigned their respective careers by government officials.

The fact that they may have wanted more was irrelevant. Still, their innate talents and passions would not be extinguished. From an early age, Gu says, both parents shared their love of learning: her father introducing his daughter to physics and science as early as her fifth year, and her mother sharing her love for art and geography.

From Heibei to A&M-Central Texas.

Enrollment in the A&M-Central Texas Graduate School and its programs has grown by double digits in the Spring 2023 Semester. Associate Provost and Dean of the Graduate School, Dr. Kellie Cude, believes that it may be the result of changes to the application process.

“We made changes that made it easier for our undergraduate students to continue here for their graduate education,” Cude said. “And for those not currently enrolled as one of our students, we designed an admissions option that allows them to apply for admission on a ‘test-optional’ basis.”

See what drove enrollment growth.

February is nationally dedicated as Black History Month. The month was established to focus attention on and celebrate the contributions and accomplishments of African Americans in the United States.

Texas A&M University – Central Texas’ Black Student Union (BSU) will be hosting a talent showcase, “Shine On Us” at 6 p.m., Friday, Feb. 24, on campus. The event will celebrate Black History Month in a way the university has never experienced.

BSU hosts "Shine On Us"

Just six months ago, Laura Dooley, 40, Ft. Hood resident, military spouse, and mom, packed her family SUV and took a trip she never imagined she would have the chance to take.

On an average workday, the majority of her travel consisted of going in between the military housing at Fort Hood and A&M-Central Texas where she was both an undergraduate student and a research assistant in the Division of Research, Economic Development, and Innovation.

Meet the Magic Kingdom intern.

Staff Enrichment Award award winner Anna Kefauver.

A&M-Central Texas recognized 12 University employees at 2023 Spring Convocation.

The awards, designated for Staff Enrichment and Distinguished Supervisors, were made possible by generous donations from the Beck Family and the Yowell Family, allowing the University to recognize their achievement with a plaque and modest monetary award.

Tina Flores-Nevarez, Executive Director of Human Resources and Payroll, applauded the awardees for their recognition, noting that each had made significant professional contributions to the University and its students.

Meet the winners.

Two A&M-Central Texas online programs were ranked in the Top 100 in The 2023 U.S. News & World Report’s Best Online Programs:

• #39 for the Best Online Master’s in Criminal Justice Programs
• #98 for the Best Online Bachelor’s in Business Programs

U.S. News and World Report, one of the most respected and in-depth evaluations of U.S. based degree-granting programs, both online and traditional, uses a variety of indicators to determine program rankings including affordability, student engagement, faculty credentials, peer assessment, service and technology, and student excellence.

Read the ranking information story.

Read U.S. News & World Report's findings

Killeen resident Frantzy Mesadieu, 43, was born on a slender finger of land almost 3,000 miles from his home in Central Texas, but he still remembers its beauty and its people, and how this place – and his eventual transition to both U.S. citizenship and a Texan – framed both his past and his future.

His hometown, Jacmel, Haiti, is on the southwest coast of the Caribbean and is known for a long history of economic instability, poverty, and natural disasters.

None of these things were evident to a young Mesadieu, the second born child of an extended family of six.

Hear his story.

Texas A&M University–Central Texas’ Student Government Association (SGA) welcomed local high school organizations to campus for Carter BloodCare’s Great Leaders Initiative on Wednesday, Jan. 25.

The day-long conference focused on strengthening leadership skills, community engagement, and team building.

Drawing on future leaders...

Community and business leaders gathered at Texas A&M University–Central Texas for the third annual Forge University Research Park and Innovation District Summit Wednesday, Jan. 11.

Attendees heard from A&M–Central Texas leadership, president and CEO of the Greater Killeen Chamber of Commerce Scott Connell, principal at architect and urban design firm Perkins&WIll Stephen Coulston, and keynote Dr. Saurabh Biswas, executive director for Commercialization and Entrepreneurship at Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station.

Learn about the park.

See program details and how to apply.

Greater Texas Foundation (GTF) awarded $1.56 million to Texas A&M University—Central Texas to benefit Early College High School students who transition to the university to complete their bachelor’s degree.

The grant will fund the GTF Warrior Scholar’s Program scheduled to launch in the fall of 2023 with a goal of 40 ECHS students enrolled in the first five cohorts. Students qualifying for the program will receive scholarship assistance of at least $2,000 per year for up to three years. The grant is part of GTF’s initiative to increase the number of high school graduates who persist to a college degree or post-secondary credential. Scholars will also be included in learning communities where they benefit from relationships with other students and take part in special workshops designed specifically for them. The workshops will focus on student success initiatives such as leadership development, financial literacy, and more.

Learn how to apply.

New students were welcomed to Texas A&M University–Central Texas during New Student Orientation on Friday. Attendees received a swag bag and information about resources, university culture, and financial aid.

University staff informed students of all the services and resources available to them and gave them helpful tips to prepare them for a successful first semester.

As an upper-level university, A&&M–Central Texas understands the challenges non-traditional and transfer students face and that not everyone’s academic journey is the same.

Get oriented!

From left: John Morgan III, Senior Partner of IBM Consulting; Scott Connell, president, and CEO of the Greater Killeen Chamber of Commerce; Stephen Coulston, architect and urban designer from Perkins&Will.

In partnership with U.S. Army Operational Test Command (USAOTC) and the Greater Killeen Chamber of Commerce, Texas A&MUniversity – Central Texas is hosting the third annual Forge University Research Park and Innovation District Summit Wednesday, Jan. 11 on campus.

Supported by the Texas A&MUniversity System and the U.S. Department of Defense, the development of a research park at A&M–Central Texas aims to leverage partnerships with Fort Hood, USAOTC, defense, and technology industries, as well as facilitate a need for collaboration and the expansion of research opportunities.

Learn about the event.

Texas A&M University–Central Texas will welcome new students to campus for Spring Orientation on Friday, Jan. 6, from 8:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., in Bill Yowell Conference Center in Warrior Hall.

Students can expect to learn about student success resources, work study and student organization opportunities, and campus culture. They will also have the opportunity to connect with other students, faculty, and staff.

Let's get started!

Killeen resident Joeliqua Williams is only 23 years old, and she is already well on her way in a career that she loves as a Police Officer I with the A&M-Central Texas University Police Department.

She is slightly built, standing at 5’5, but there is nothing slight about her countenance. A former athlete, Williams is justifiably proud of her capacity for meeting both the physical and intellectual aspects of her current profession – and even she admits it has been a whirlwind of goal setting, next steps, and, finally, achievement.

Follow her journey...

Andrew Cadran, 23, Copperas Cove resident, son, and brother, became an alumnus of A&M-Central Texas less than 10 days ago when he crossed the stage at commencement. Even before that momentous occasion, he already knew that another long-awaited goal would add another title: full-time Trideum employee and junior software developer.

It wasn’t that long ago, he says, when he had a very different kind of job. He wasn’t coding software, analyzing database files, or managing complex IT systems. But he was earning $16 per hour, and that, he says, was paying for his tuition and giving him the chance to learn some real-world life lessons – even if it meant working at the deli counter and not behind a computer.

From deli to data...

Donovan and Jerevon Torres have always had the same goal: to make their mother proud. They saw her persevere as a single mother, be the first in her family to attend college, and move her entire family from Saipan to the United States for a better life.

The Torres Twins, as many on campus kindly call them, say they are on their way to achieving that goal and so much more.

The close-knit family comprised of the twins, their younger sister, and their mother have considered Texas home for the past eight years. The twins and their sister are so close in fact, two weeks in the year the three of them are the same age. Donovan mentions that he is the eldest – by one minute over his twin.

Learn about their journey...

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