Issue date: 4/24/09 Section: Opinion

Media Credit: Doug Klembara Stone pyramids stand erected outside of the Texas A&M campus in Qatar. Since 2003 Texas A&M Qatar offers chemical, mechanical, electrical and petroleum bachelor of science engineering degrees. [Click to enlarge]

Texas A&M, founded in 1876 as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, had as its mission to serve the people of Texas by providing education, research and service as the state's land-grant University. That year, Texas AMC and its six faculty members enrolled 40 agriculture and engineering students, who became the first ever class of Texas Aggies.

That legacy lives on today. Although the University has grown significantly and seen many changes since its first year, Texas A&M maintains high standards for excellence in classrooms, research labs and the lives of the Texans it serves. Texas A&M is now one of the largest research universities in the nation. It is one of the few institutions to have the triple designation of being a land-, sea- and space-grant university, and Aggieland is known far and wide as one of the friendliest, most spirited places anywhere.

Indeed, as a proud Aggie, Class of 1978, I can attest that Texas A&M is unique in many ways. But there is something else that sets Texas A&M apart - another Aggie feat we can be proud of. Texas A&M is one of a handful of elite American universities invited to establish a campus in the tiny, energy-rich emirate of Qatar.

In 2003, Texas A&M partnered with Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development to offer engineering programs in Education City, a 2,600-acre campus on the outskirts of the nation's capital of Doha. In the fall of that year, the campus opened - with 29 students and a half dozen faculty - to begin offering undergraduate degree programs in chemical, electrical, mechanical and petroleum engineering. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

Texas A&M at Qatar, just like the main campus in Texas, has enjoyed a meteoric rise to prominence. This semester concludes our sixth year in Qatar, and we have more than 350 students from 32 nations. We have more than 200 faculty and staff and next month, we will present 18 Aggie rings and award the 100th Texas A&M diploma in Qatar. The Aggies in Doha meet the same admission standards as if they were applying to College Station and they take the same engineering curricula as their counterparts in the Dwight Look College of Engineering. The Doha Aggies even have to take Political Science 207! Texas A&M at Qatar has carved out a slice of Aggieland more than 8,000 miles from College Station. There is no doubt that Aggie spirit thrives here.

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