Page 4

An exciting year awaits A&M-Commerce

On behalf of the faculty, staff and administrative officers at A&M- Commerce, I extend New Year’s greetings to our entire University family. I sincerely hope that this issue of The Pride finds each of you in good health and spirits.
This season of celebration and renewal provides a unique opportunity to reflect upon the accomplishments of the preceding year and to anticipate the challenges of the year ahead. As president and CEO, I am thankful for your continued support as we work together to serve the institution that we love so well.

Dr. Keith McFarland President, Texas A&M University-Commerce

Efforts begun during the past year are now taking shape and transforming both the physical and programmatic complexion of the A&M-Commerce campus. Construction of the new $12 million dollar state-of-the-art Student Recreation Center is well under way. This indoor-outdoor facility, scheduled to open this summer, will have a heated leisure pool, include a 45-foot climbing wall and three-lane jogging track, and will serve as a focal point for campus and student life.
On the west campus, thanks to a generous grant provided by the Wofford and Effie Cain Foundation, the new Sports Complex is also nearing completion. Meanwhile, in perhaps our most ambitious endeavor in some time, University faculty and administrators, along with Texas A&M System Facilities Planning personnel and the architectural firm of Jennings*Hackler & Partners, Inc. are working toward the final design of the Science & Technology Building, with construction scheduled to begin in the fall. These new facilities will enhance the educational and recreational opportunities for A&M-Commerce students and the Commerce community.
In addition to these new facilities, A&M-Commerce continues to develop and implement new academic programs – 13 in the past four years – that will prepare our students for immediate and future career opportunities in our rapidly changing global economy. In response to the goals of increased participation and success set forth by the Texas Higher Education Coordination Board in the Closing the Gaps by 2015 initiative, the University has proposed a new Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences (BAAS) degree. The BAAS degree is designed to offer students who have vocational-technical training and/or professional experience in occupational fields the opportunity to obtain a broad-based general education and professional development through focused internship opportunities. A&M-Commerce is also proposing a bachelor of science degree with a major in Wildlife and Conservation Science, the first in the northeast Texas area. The program emphasizes a broad knowledge of organismal sciences and exceeds internationally recognized standards, such that graduates of the program can apply to the Wildlife Society for automatic certification as Associate Wildlife Biologists. With employment opportunities in this field projected to increase by 12% annually, graduates of the proposed program would qualify for the more than 21,000 positions offered by the state and federal government.
It all adds up to an exciting and promising 2003. Happy New Year from all of us to all of you!

1 Higher enrollment
Fall enrollment at your University has climbed to 8,488, the highest in 23 years. Enrollment is up in all student classifications from freshmen through doctoral students compared to last fall. Overall, this fall’s enrollment is up 6.98 percent with juniors leading the way with a 13.7 percent increase and international student numbers jumping 14.21 percent.
“Texas A&M University-Commerce has been experiencing steady growth in the last two years with enrollment up each term. This fall’s figure of 8,488, the highest since 1979 when enrollment reached 8,752, is due to the campuswide effort that has been under way to recruit and retain students,” President Keith McFarland said. “I want to recognize the freshmen and transfer admissions staffs for their excellent work. However, the growth we have been experiencing — 13.4 percent in the last two years — takes the effort of the entire campus.”
Associate Vice President Bud Smith, whose responsibilities include enrollment management, noted that transfer students at the junior level are the fastest growing segment of the undergraduate student population. This fall more than 120 students in Phi Theta Kappa, community college honor society, are attending A&M-Commerce.
“A little more than half of these honor students are from Texas, and the remainder come from 20 states — from Pennsylvania and Montana to Florida,” Smith said.

2 A fuller house
The number of students living in on-campus residence halls at A&M-Commerce has increased by 56 percent over the past two years. Slightly more than 1,550 students are calling the campus home this year, compared to 1,360 last fall and 1,000 in the fall of 2000. Housing Director E. Thayne King says the growth can be attributed to several factors, including excellent work by A&M-Commerce recruiters, additional financial aid packages, and several hundred thousand dollars of renovation work in the residence halls.

3 Bigger engineering program
With 73 students enrolled in industrial engineering, the new undergraduate program is getting off to an even bigger start than University officials had anticipated. Earlier estimates had projected fewer than 40 students to enroll. Dr. Jerry Parish, who heads the department of Industrial Engineering and Technology, said the strong student numbers can be attributed to the good job done by A&M-Commerce recruiters in getting the word out about the new program and the need in the region for an engineering degree.

4 More satisfied students
When it comes to how satisfied students are with their University, A&M-Commerce beats the national average, according to a recent survey. Compared to other four-year institutions, A&M-Commerce rated higher in instructional effectiveness, safety and security, campus climate, support services, concern for the individual, student centeredness, recruitment and financial aid, service excellence and responsiveness to diverse populations.

The size of this year’s “Freshman Walk,” a tradition at which faculty and staff greet new freshmen as they parade in front of the Ferguson Social Science Building, showed the increase in enrollment.
A mushrooming student population is following in your footsteps at your Alma Mater, and according to Beloit College’s annual “Mindset List,” the most current batch of traditional students, who were born about 1984 share the fact that they…

— have no recollection of George Foreman as anything but a barbecue grill salesman
— have always had Fox as a television network choice
— don’t remember when men religiously carried handkerchiefs in their back pockets

But those 18-year-old freshmen are not so much the norm as they once were. In fact, the average freshmen might be closer to your age than you think. Research on campus shows that A&M-Commerce is following the national trend in attracting more nontraditional students.
Nationwide, only 27 percent of students are “traditional” in that their highest diploma is the one they got from high school, that they enrolled full-time right after high school and that they depend on their parents for financial support.
The University’s Children’s Learning Center and financial aid office are feeling the impact of the influx in nontraditional students, while the University continues to respond by making many student services available online and available virtually 24 hours a day.
Older students at A&M-Commerce made the biggest leap starting in 2000, when every category from age 21 to 50 showed a jump in their numbers. Also increasing was the proportion of female students on campus.