{"id":26765,"date":"2019-10-31T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-31T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.tarleton.edu\/news\/am-system-regents-approve-new-initiatives-at-tarleton-state\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T09:48:36","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T14:48:36","slug":"am-system-regents-approve-new-initiatives-at-tarleton-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/am-system-regents-approve-new-initiatives-at-tarleton-state\/","title":{"rendered":"A&amp;M System regents approve new initiatives at Tarleton State"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<br \/>Thursday, October 31, 2019<\/p>\n<p>STEPHENVILLE, Texas &mdash; The Texas A&amp;M University System Board of Regents today approved an increase to Tarleton State University&rsquo;s intercollegiate athletic fee, making the school ready to join the Western Athletic Conference as an NCAA Division I institution.<\/p>\n<p>A&amp;M System approval follows a student referendum earlier this month to raise the athletic fee from $22 to $35 per semester hour, capped at 13 hours. In one of the largest turnouts in Tarleton history, almost 70 percent of student voters approved the increase.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Support from the A&amp;M System and our students moves us one step closer to joining NCAA Division I ranks,&rdquo; said Tarleton President James Hurley. &ldquo;A transition to D-I will benefit more than our athletic programs. It will raise our institutional profile and enhance national visibility at our university.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Regents also gave the green light to add four degree programs to Tarleton&rsquo;s portfolio of majors. They will be available in fall 2020 pending approval by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.<\/p>\n<p>The programs: Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences in Kinesiology; Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Communications; Master of Science in Child Development and Family Studies; and Master of Science in Computer Science.<\/p>\n<p>Hurley said each program brings Tarleton closer to being the leading comprehensive university in the nation. &ldquo;Each strengthens our commitment to preparing students for 22<sup>nd<\/sup> century careers.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Tarleton, founding member of The Texas A&amp;M University System, provides a student-focused, value-driven education marked by academic innovation and a dedication to transform today&rsquo;s scholars into tomorrow&rsquo;s leaders. It offers degree programs to more than 13,000 students at Stephenville, Fort Worth, Waco, Midlothian, RELLIS Academic Alliance in Bryan, and online, emphasizing real-world learning experiences that address societal needs while maintaining its core values of tradition, integrity, civility, excellence, leadership and service.<\/p>\n<p>Contact: Cecilia Jacobs, Assistant Vice President of Marketing and Communications<br \/>254-968-1620<br \/><a href=\"mailto:priddle@tarleton.edu\">cjacobs@tarleton.edu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>he Texas A&amp;M University System Board of Regents today approved an increase to Tarleton State University&rsquo;s intercollegiate athletic fee, making the school ready to join the Western Athletic Conference as an NCAA Division I institution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":26766,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[423,425],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics-research","category-campus-community"],"acf":{"image":null},"author_meta":{"display_name":"keegan","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/author\/keegan-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2021\/11\/image-584-300x200.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/category\/academics-research\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Academics &amp; Research<\/a>","<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/category\/campus-community\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Campus &amp; Community<\/a>"],"unlinked":["<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Academics &amp; Research<\/span>","<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Campus &amp; Community<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 6 years ago","modified":"Updated 6 months ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on October 31, 2019","modified":"Updated on October 7, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on October 31, 2019 12:00 am","modified":"Updated on October 7, 2025 9:48 am"},"featured_img_caption":"Tarleton State University entrance with flags and purple flowers.","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26765"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54264,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26765\/revisions\/54264"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}