In the latest meeting of the Board of Regents for the Texas A&M University System, administrators announced Texas legislators granted a record amount in new funding for TAMUS institutions.
The appropriations bill for the FY 2020-21 state budget allotted $157 million in capital for the advancement of the System including $2 million for the Department of Agricultural Sciences at West Texas A&M University. The funding will be used to help establish a food animal production initiative to serve the Texas Panhandle and this includes the hiring of additional professors.
“The WT Department of Agriculture has experienced tremendous growth in student numbers and moved into a new Agricultural Complex in August 2018. The funded food animal production initiative now allows for the addition of faculty, instructors and graduate students to meet the needs of teaching, research and outreach for the Texas Panhandle and beyond,” Dr. Kevin Pond, dean of the Paul Engler College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences.
Along with WT’s funding, TAMUS also received the Texas Division of Emergency Management as its eighth state agency, which will allow for better coordination between TAMUS’s disaster response operations such as Texas A&M Task Force One, the Texas A&M Forest Service and the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. Additionally, a small institution supplement was granted to support universities in Galveston, Texarkana, Central Texas, San Antonio, Laredo, Kingsville and Prairie View.
“We are grateful to the Governor, Lt. Governor, Speaker and state lawmakers for considering positively our requests,” said Chancellor John Sharp. “They have made a huge difference in resources for the Texas A&M System to carry out its critical mission of education, research and service to our great state.”
Governor Greg Abbott reviews the appropriations bill and other legislation, and the Comptroller’s office certifies there will be funds to cover state appropriations for the next two years. The Legislature added $201 million to universities statewide this year.
-West Texas A&M University
