HomeMy WebLinkAboutLane Coulter's Silver workA ceremonial march
Left: Texas A &M
Dean of
Faculties and
Associate
Provost Antonio
Cepeda•Benito
leads a
procession
of faculty
members to the
school's
Academic
Convocation
ceremony
Friday.
Below:
Texas A &M
President R.
Bowen Loftin
(left) is
officially
installed as the
university's 24th
president by
Chancellor Mike
McKinney at the
ceremony. For
more photos, go
to www.the
eagle.com
Eagle photos by
Stuart Villanueva
A &M takes part in convocation as Loftin is installed
By VIMAL PATEL
vimal.patel(�v,theeaglexom
President R. Bowen Loftin
struck an optimistic but
reserved tone
as he marked In side
the "official" _ -- -
beginning of Regents OK
the school $4M to pave
year Friday at and extend
the universi- Ross Street /A7
ty's annual
academic convocation. It
came amid what he described
as the greatest economic
challenges the university has
faced since the Great
Depression.
"We have made some very
difficult choices," said Loftin,
two months after A &M
released a plan that included
the elimination of 485 posi-
tions to deal with a potential
10 percent state funding cut.
"But because of this, we have
become even better stewards
of the resources that our fel-
low citizens have entrusted to
of funding by the Legislature.
"By citing these rather dra-
matic elements in our history,
I intend only to remind both
you and me that we too often
focus only on the moment and
do not always use the long
lens of history to give perspec-
tive to our current circum-
stances," Loftin told the
roughly 400 people in Rudder
Theatre.
The pomp -filled ceremony,
in which scholars don their
academic regalia, was attend-
ed by University of Texas at
Austin President William
Powers. He hit a similar note
in his "State of the
University" speech last week,
saying higher education faces
"long -term, tidal forces" and
must reinvent itself.
Also in attendance were
Loftin's family, several mem-
bers of the A &M System
Board of Regents, and Re-
publican legislators Rep.
See A &M, Page A6
us. Today, Texas A &M is lean- history, serious threats
er and more efficient than included fire, mud and wild
ever before." animals, and that political dis-
He noted that in the early putes led to the firing of the
days of Texas A &M's 134 -year entire faculty and elimination
Saturday, September 2S, 2010
A &M: Loftin urges
Aggles to look at positives
Continued from Al
Charles "Doc" Anderson of
Waco and Sen. Jeff Wentworth
of San Antonio, who flirted a
few months ago with taking a
top -level position in the A &M
System.
This year, the event doubled
as Loftin's investiture — a cere-
monial installing as the univer-
sity's 24th president.
Chancellor Mike McKinney
placed a presidential medallion
around Loftin's neck and his
hands on the president's shoul-
ders. "Thank you for agreeing
to serve," McKinney said.
Loftin singled out exam-
ples of life- changing re-
search conducted by A &M
scholars, including the late
Norman Borlaug's world-
renowned efforts to combat
hunger and Kim Vee- Tran's
leading of an international
team that discovered one of
the universe's most distant
cluster of galaxies.
"Spurred by our land -grant,
sea -grant and space -grant mis-
sions, Texas A &M is now one
of the most successful research
universities in the world,
Loftin said.
Loftin, who had been head of
Texas A &M's Galveston
branch campus, was named
interim president of the flag-
ship College Station campus in
June 2009 following the forced
resignation of Elsa Murano
amid a management dispute.
Following a national search,
he officially became president
in February.