Texas A&M University-Texarkana celebrates its history and $1 million in new donations
TEXARKANA, Texas — Texas A&M University Texarkana celebrated its 50-25-10 anniversary last year by securing millions of dollars for scholarships, a new building and new programs.
That’s 50 years as an institution, 25 years as a member of the Texas A&M University System and 10 years since breaking new ground at its location near Bringle Lake.
The TAMU-T Foundation set out to raise $500,000 for a scholarship fund through the 50-25-10 campaign. A $100,000 contribution by Farmers Bank & Trust in December got the university officially over $1 million, more than doubling their original goal.
University President Dr. Emily Cutrer said the donation will be in the top category of the donors’ wall of honor, The Founders Circle. Part of the money will go toward naming the conference room and vista in the TAMU-T University Center after the bank.
“Big checks make a big impact on our students. Eighty percent of our students have some sort of financial aid to go to school,” Cutrer said. “It’s pretty expensive these days, even at an institution where we work very hard to keep the price low. But without scholarships, some of our students wouldn’t do it.
“This goes into an endowment, it will be there forever, and it will continue to provide support for students long past the time that we’re no longer here.”
While TAMU-T is celebrating the past with this initiative, the system is also looking to the future and attempting to grow as a university through the funding available to them.
TAMU-T received $45 million earlier in the year from the Texas State Legislature to build a new academic building, as well as $4.9 million over two years for a new physical therapy program and financial literacy program.
An institution that started with 315 students and 12 faculty members now has an enrollment of 2,198 students and 241 faculty members.
“I set out really early to emphasize three values and three goals for the institution. And those are academic excellence, student success and community leadership,” Cutrer said.
“There’s a lot more work to be done. We will keep on striving for all of those goals. And we’ve got a great team of people all across the university. And that team has done amazing work on each of these goals.”