Texas A&M University formally inaugurated General (Ret.) Mark A. Welsh III Friday as its 27th president during a presidential investiture ceremony, officially conferring the title and responsibilities of the office as he guides the university into the future.
“I’m excited about the journey ahead,” Welsh said during the ceremony attended by hundreds of faculty members, staff, students, elected officials and community leaders at Rudder Auditorium. “I believe this is already the greatest university on Earth, and we are going to make it even greater.”
The retired United States Air Force four-star general and former dean of the Bush School of Government and Public Service was named president of Texas A&M on Dec. 12, 2023. An investiture, typically held during a new president’s first year in office, is an academic tradition dating back to the Middle Ages that formally confers the authority and symbols of leadership upon the new president.
Texas A&M University Chancellor John Sharp presented Welsh with the symbols of the office, the University Mace and Presidential Medallion, on behalf of the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents.
“It signifies our trust in you, General Welsh,” Sharp said. “The medallion is infused with tradition and honor, and it is a symbol of the responsibility to inspire, mentor and serve the students of this institution.”
Vision For Texas A&M
During Friday’s ceremony, Welsh articulated his vision for the university’s future while recognizing the importance of the students, faculty, staff and traditions that make Texas A&M special. Texas A&M is a place where everyone feels valued and has a voice, he said, and where the Core Values of excellence, integrity, leadership, loyalty, respect and selfless service are heard and seen everywhere on campus.
“I see Texas A&M as a place where everything, literally everything, is possible,” Welsh said. “A place where no one is intimidated by tough problems, tough people, big price tags, or competition. A place where we come together comfortably and routinely to clear those hurdles.”
Welsh reiterated the importance of preparing students to leave Texas A&M and make a positive difference in the world. At the foundation of the university’s success in that mission is its faculty, which he described as a “force of nature” when it comes to preparing Aggies to chase their dreams.
“Texas A&M is a great university. And, great universities are built on and by great faculty. It’s just a fact,” he said.
Importantly, he envisions “an A&M that doubles down on graduating great citizens, not just great Aggies,” with a structured citizenship and service program where academic classes combine with student organizations, leadership opportunities and public service activity to create an experience that prepares students to lead and serve when they step off the graduation stage and into the world.
“I see A&M as a place that attacks the biggest challenges facing our state and our nation,” he said. “A place that is constantly in the national conversation because of the success we have in staring down those challenges, for discovering new knowledge, for developing solutions and for leading the charge, not chasing the bus.”
He outlined his goal for Texas A&M to become a leader in a number of sectors by:
- Bringing together security expertise, policy experience and scientific, technological, economic and social research to examine difficult questions facing the nation in the national security arena;
- Balancing the university’s rich history of contributions in agriculture and engineering with emerging social sciences, fine arts and visualization programs that will shape the future of the state’s society, entertainment and governance;
- Staying true to its original land-grant mission by growing rural health programs, affordable housing programs and other efforts that improve the lives of Texans; and
- Embracing its sea- and space-grant designations by accelerating research in technologies that enable space travel, habitation, architecture, agriculture and health, along with research focused on issues including deep sea mineral resources and the economic impact of the “blue economy.”
Planning For The Future
In the time since Welsh was named president, several efforts have been underway to assess how to make these goals reality.
Those decisions will be guided by a Capacity Study to review current infrastructure, teaching capacities and staffing levels and identify current and future capacity of enrollment on the main campus. A corresponding Student Experience study captures the student perspective. Welsh said the studies will help the university “right-size” its operations, faculty and staff, and student services for an 80,000-person student body.
An Academic Roadmap will also lay out the type and level of resources needed to help Texas A&M become “the type of educational institution we want to be in the future,” and a university Research Identity project will also determine how best to tell the story of the depth and breadth of impact of faculty’s scholarly work.
Welsh is reviewing the final versions of the Capacity and Student Experience studies, as well as the Academic Roadmap, and will soon decide which recommendations to adopt.
“The things that made us great for the past 148 years may not all be part of what makes us great for the next 25,” Welsh said. “We should constantly look to assess performance, identify program gaps, remove sub-optimal programs and create new ones that better meet the dynamic demand signal of our students, our state and our changing society.”
‘The Perfect Person For The Job’
In his remarks at Friday’s ceremony, William “Bill” Mahomes Jr., chairman of the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents, said Welsh became president of the university “at a time when great leadership was needed.” To “no surprise,” given Welsh’s reputation as a thoughtful, service-oriented and collaborative leader, Mahomes said, “he turned out to be the perfect person for the job.”
From day one, Mahomes said, Welsh moved decisively, earned the trust and respect of students, faculty, staff and former students alike, and began the work of advancing the university’s mission and stature.
“Under President Welsh’s strong leadership, I have every confidence that Texas A&M will continue to grow in stature and impact,” Mahomes said. “His contributions will be transformative and will enhance excellence at Texas A&M for generations to come.”
Welsh’s daughter, Liz Beechinor ’10, described her father as “one of very few leaders” who models how he wants people to treat each other.
“Most leaders treat people like a tool or a product of the mission. For my dad, people are the mission,” she said. “He sets the example for how we should respect, engage and honor those around us.”
Several of Welsh’s family members attended his investiture, and he reflected on the support he received from his parents, saying he thinks they would be proud of him today. His father, Class of 1946, left Texas A&M the day after he turned 18 to enlist and serve in World War II. He returned to A&M after the war, graduated, and went on to serve in both Korea and Vietnam.
Welsh’s father grew up on a farm in the Rio Grande Valley raising and selling cabbage for $2 a ton, and saw Texas A&M as a “shining city on a hill.” Because he saw it that way, so did the rest of the family, Welsh said — “and I still do.”
“Serving as president of this university is an incredible privilege, and a sobering challenge,” he said. “I accept both.”
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