See story number: 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1
Beloved people, exciting scholars, and community events were all part of our most-read news stories of 2024, focusing on A&M-Central Texas' past, its present, and its exciting transition to the future.
On Thursday, April 11th, more than 200 invited guests, dignitaries, donors, staff, and faculty, and students gathered to celebrate the initiation of construction on the university’s fourth building: the Centralized Operational Reliability and Efficiency (CORE) Building.
Sitting in his room in Washington D.C. Matthew Coble takes stock of his new temporary home. For the past month, the Army Captain has been stationed in a classroom at The George Washington University (GW), focusing on the inner workings of congress and working toward a Master of Professional Studies degree in legislative affairs.
It’s all part of his new assignment. As a 15-year Army veteran, CPT. Coble was recently named an Army Congressional Fellow — a post he finds both exhilarating and challenging.
“This is crazy. You take the hard jobs, you run, and run, and run, and then, suddenly you’re a student again,” he said. “Like a lot of things in the Army, the hardest part is the process to get there and get selected. It’s really having the drive to stick with it. Taking the hard jobs and being competitive, and once you get there, you’re rewarded.”
Dariusz Puchala, Ph.D. (left) and Kamil Stokfiszewski, Ph.D., from Lodz, Poland, talk about their research involving data compression and artificial intelligence during a presentation at Texas A&M University–Central Texas recently.
With the proliferation of artificial intelligence shaping the modern marketplace, finding models and uses for the technology has become an increasingly important endeavor for computer scientists. Students, faculty and staff at Texas A&M University–Central Texas were treated to a glimpse into research surrounding the field recently by a pair of visiting professors from Poland.
Dariusz Puchala, Ph.D., and Kamil Stokfiszewski, Ph.D., of Lodz University of Technology in Poland specialize in the field of data compression and are working with A&M–Central Texas Assistant Professor Khaldoon Dhou, Ph.D., to develop advanced models of data compression and determine a means by which artificial intelligence platforms can be compressed for use in smaller devices with less computational power.
Texas A&M University–Central Texas will host its Summer 2024 Cybersecurity Camp, specifically tailored for high school and middle school students interested in the field of cybersecurity. The camp will be held at the university campus, 1001 Leadership Place in Killeen, and is hosted by the Subhani Department of Computer Information Systems.
The Texas A&M University–Central Texas Summer 2024 Commencement will be held at 10 a.m., Friday, Aug. 9 on campus at the Bill Yowell Conference Center in Warrior Hall. University officials said that summer commencement is a “walk through” ceremony offering friends, and family the opportunity to be much closer to their graduates as they cross the stage.
A&M-Central Texas President Richard M. Rhodes, Ph.D., will also award each graduate a presidential challenge coin, initiating a new tradition that commemorates the significance of their academic achievement. Many graduates, he added, have earned honors and recognition, many are veterans, and many more are the first in their families to earn a university degree.
“Every graduate who puts on their cap and gown and walks across the stage is an inspiration to all of us,” Rhodes said. “When they take that degree into their hands, they are walking into a future of prosperity and accomplishment, and every faculty and staff member who contributed to their educational journey celebrates with them.”
A&M-Central Texas is seeing significant increases in enrollment this spring.
The number of students currently enrolled boasts a near 6% increase over last spring, according to data from the Institutional Research office. The current number of students enrolled is 2,239, and the total number of credit hours students are taking has increased by more than 12% to a current total of 21,172 – indicating that more students are taking more classes compared to Spring 2023. University funding is generated by credit hours.
For Sara Melendez, dropping out of school was heartbreaking.
She always enjoyed the day-to-day challenge of education. For Sara, school was fun. As she grew, she knew reaching her goals depended on earning a degree. A deep-seeded love for dance – established at an early age – along with an interest in science and physical fitness gave rise to a personal goal to become a physical therapist..
Charles “Chuck” Simmons, 79, has always wanted to finish the undergraduate degree he began more than 50 years ago, but, he says, his life got in the way.
It was the 1970s, he recalls, and he and a couple of colleagues also working on their degree at Sam Houston State University would make the three-hour drive from Houston to Hunstville and back – and not just once, he said – they did that three times a week – and it was every bit the inconvenient haul that it sounds like.
In his mid-twenties then, he was a Houston police officer, a husband, and the father of three, and it all became too much. And back then, he says, there were no better options, no such thing as online degree programs, and no easily accessible or more affordable options. So, he just gave up on it.
A&M-Central Texas graduating student Chuck Simmons, 79, with his grandchildren.
One conversation with A&M–Central Texas employee, Shawn Kelley, 58, might just be enough to make any reasonable person wonder if – in addition to the title he has earned by virtue of his job – he might just deserve to be considered for another: The Most Interesting Man in the World – if only Central Texas had such a thing to give.
Kelley, a retired veteran of the U.S. Army and National Guard, Copperas Cove resident, and married father of three, has an easy way about him, and a self-effacing laugh, absent any trace of pretention. He doesn’t think of himself as a particularly interesting person – just someone doing a job he enjoys – but after just a few minutes of conversation, there is plenty of evidence to suggest he is quite, in fact, extraordinary...
Dr. Richard Rhodes has been named president of Texas A&M University-Central Texas, following a formal vote of the Texas A&M University Board of Regents at the regularly scheduled meeting in College Station.
Rhodes has been serving as interim president since October 2023, following his retirement as chancellor of the Austin Community College District in September. As interim of A&M–Central Texas, Rhodes embraced the university’s unique purpose, often praising its undergraduate transfer mission and graduate programs while looking toward the future.