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The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents on Wednesday confirmed M. Katherine Banks as the 26th President of Texas A&M University.

 

President Banks also will carry the title Vice Chancellor of National Laboratories and National Security Strategic Initiatives because of her continued involvement with Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Bush Combat Development Complex at the RELLIS Campus.

 

 

Dr. Banks, who has led engineering for the past decade, was selected after a national search led by Elaine Mendoza and Tim Leach, Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Board of Regents, and a 15-member search committee.

 

“After a robust national search, which drew top-notch, competitive candidates, our Board today unanimously confirmed Dr. Katherine Banks as the next President of Texas A&M University,” Chairman Mendoza said. “With her decade of accomplishments evident right here on campus, Dr. Banks will be ready and able to move forward from day one. Texas A&M is a great university and under her leadership, we are expecting it to be even greater; we are excited to see this next chapter unfold.”

 

“We have all worked with Dr. Banks for many years and we know what she has done to transform our engineering college, which this week the U.S. News & World Report ranked as the best in Texas,” said Chancellor John Sharp. “Dr. Banks is going to do for the university what she has already done for engineering.  She is going to be a great president.”

 

“I am truly honored that the Board of Regents has selected me to be the next president of this great university,” said Dr. Banks. “Crucial listening sessions will begin soon with key stakeholders across campus and beyond to gather perspectives concerning the issues, challenges, and opportunities that we face today. I look forward to working together as we take Texas A&M University to new levels of preeminence.”

 

The Texas A&M University System is one of the largest systems of higher education in the nation with a budget of $6.3 billion. The System is a statewide network of 11 universities; a comprehensive health science center; eight state agencies, including the Texas Division of Emergency Management; and the RELLIS Campus. The Texas A&M System educates more than 151,000 students and makes more than 22 million additional educational contacts through service and outreach programs each year. System-wide, research and development expenditures exceeded $1 billion in FY 2019 and helped drive the state’s economy.