{"id":2184,"date":"2026-02-05T18:13:04","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T00:13:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/president\/?p=2184"},"modified":"2026-02-05T18:14:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T00:14:19","slug":"regents-approve-new-academic-program-faculty-distinctions-and-peace-officer-appointments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/president\/2026\/02\/05\/regents-approve-new-academic-program-faculty-distinctions-and-peace-officer-appointments\/","title":{"rendered":"Regents Approve New Academic Program, Faculty Distinctions and Peace Officer Appointments"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Tarleton<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dear Colleagues, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the spring semester underway, we continue to build on our strong momentum following today\u2019s Texas A&M System Board of Regents meeting, reflecting the shared commitment to academic excellence and the success of our students, faculty and staff.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To continue addressing the region’s growing health care needs, the regents authorized Tarleton State to seek approval from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to establish a new academic program, the Master of Science in Nutrition and Dietetics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In faculty news, Dr. John Calahan received the designation of Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences. He retired in 2024 following an extraordinary 50 years of dedicated service to Tarleton State.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0regents\u00a0also\u00a0granted tenure to Dr. David Leitman,\u00a0Professor in the Department of Neuroscience\u00a0and approved Dr. Sotirios\u00a0Diamantas\u00a0for development leave for fiscal year 2027 in support of continued excellence in teaching and research.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, we are excited to announce the appointment of Gregory Neal and James Wilsey as peace officers. Our University Police Department plays a vital role in keeping Tarleton State one of the safest college campuses in the nation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am grateful for the opportunity to serve as your president and for the continued support and confidence the Texas A&M System and the Board of Regents place in Tarleton State and our mission. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As always, may you forever Bleed Purple! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. James Hurley<\/em><\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

President<\/em><\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Colleagues,  With the spring semester underway, we continue to build on our strong momentum following today\u2019s Texas A&M System Board of Regents meeting, reflecting the shared commitment to academic excellence and the success of our students, faculty and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":595,"featured_media":2185,"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":26,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,19,15,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty","category-in-the-news","category-students","category-thank-you"],"acf":[],"author_meta":{"display_name":"jpartin","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/president\/author\/jpartin\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/president\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2026\/02\/Campus-Snow_1.15.2026_TR_7761-300x200.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Faculty<\/a>","In the News<\/a>","Students<\/a>","Thank You!<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Faculty<\/span>","In the News<\/span>","Students<\/span>","Thank You!<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 2 months ago","modified":"Updated 2 months ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on February 5, 2026","modified":"Updated on February 5, 2026"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on February 5, 2026 6:13 pm","modified":"Updated on February 5, 2026 6:14 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/595"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2184"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2192,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2184\/revisions\/2192"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}