Dear Colleagues,
Continued COVID-19 challenges led today’s conversation at the first A&M System Board of Regents meeting for 2021. As always, we received high praise for our efforts to ensure that every student who wants a university education has the opportunity.
My sincerest appreciation for your extraordinary work. Today’s accolades belong to you.
While we all wanted a virus-free 2021, we’re not there yet. This year is different than last, yet the same. Our students still depend on us to make Tarleton a very special place.
To that end, A&M System Regents gave us the go-ahead to seek final approval from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for lighting, infrastructure and water upgrades throughout 35 buildings on the main campus. These vital improvements will conserve energy and save more than $826,000 annually in operational costs while increasing our capacity for growth.
Construction on the $13 million project — part of the 2021-25 Texas A&M University System Capital Plan — is expected to start this summer, with substantial completion by September 2022. Initial funding is made available through the TAMUS revenue financing system.
The RELLIS Campus in Bryan and Texas A&M University in College Station also may move forward with capital improvement projects. A detonation research test facility at RELLIS will be the world’s largest on a university campus, benefiting the aerospace and oil and chemical industries. Renovation of the Heep Laboratory Building at A&M will provide flex space for biology research and similar disciplines.
I remain hopeful that construction of our second building in Fort Worth will begin in 2022, adding 102,000 square feet of classroom, laboratory, office and activity space and elevating Tarleton’s nationally recognized education and healthcare programs. This portends better days to come.
I wish you the best as we embark on the spring 2021 semester. It is impossible to pinpoint precisely what lies ahead, but we have proven we can prevail. And we will again.
Forever Bleed Purple and Roll, Texans!
Dr. James Hurley
President
Tarleton State University
Box T-0001
Stephenville, Texas 76402
Office: 254-968-9100
University Homepage: www.tarleton.edu