1-1                                     1                                  
 1-2                          SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 991
 1-3           WHEREAS, The Senate of the State of Texas takes pride
 1-4     in congratulating Texas A&M University-Kingsville, formerly
 1-5     Texas A&I University, Texas College of Arts and Industries,
 1-6     South Texas State Teachers College, and South Texas State Normal
 1-7     College, on the celebration of its 75th anniversary in the Year
 1-8     2000 and on the excellent educational opportunities it provides
 1-9     the young people of our state, nation, and beyond; and
1-10           WHEREAS, Jose Tomas (J.T.) Canales, lawyer and member of
1-11     the House of Representatives representing the 77th District,
1-12     was among the delegates lobbying in 1917 for the placement of
1-13     South Texas State Normal College in Kingsville and was the only
1-14     South Texas delegate who had a Spanish surname, and today, 84
1-15     years later, his grandnephew Marc Cisneros is president of the
1-16     university that evolved from that normal school; and
1-17           WHEREAS, Located in the heart of Kingsville and at the gate
1-18     of the legendary King Ranch, Texas A&M University-Kingsville opened
1-19     its doors in 1925 as "South Texas State Normal College" with an
1-20     emphasis on education and the teaching profession and has continued
1-21     to grow and expand its mission to meet the educational needs of the
1-22     region, today offering 56 bachelor's degrees in 52 fields of study
 2-1     and 60 graduate degrees in 38 areas, enabling more than 50,000
 2-2     students to achieve degrees over the past 75 years; and
 2-3           WHEREAS, The Javelina was first adopted as mascot in
 2-4     August, 1926, and the spirit and tradition of the Javelina has
 2-5     been a continuing presence at the university; and
 2-6           WHEREAS, With teaching at the very heart of the institution
 2-7     since its founding, the university established a bilingual
 2-8     education program to work with students whose native language was
 2-9     Spanish, leading the university in 1975 to become the first in the
2-10     nation to offer a doctoral degree program in bilingual education,
2-11     and later introduced a joint doctoral degree program in educational
2-12     leadership with Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi; and
2-13           WHEREAS, In 75 years, about one-third of the degrees awarded
2-14     by now A&M University-Kingsville have been in the field of
2-15     education and many graduates remain in south Texas as teachers and
2-16     administrators, further serving the South Texas-Border area; and
2-17           WHEREAS, The School of Agriculture was created in 1930,
2-18     which established a citrus research center in the Rio Grande
2-19     Valley following World War II that developed the Texas Ruby Red
2-20     Grapefruit and today is conducting pioneering research in
2-21     biotechnology involving gene transfer; the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife
2-22     Research Institute was established in 1992, and merged with the
2-23     human sciences program in 1994; and
 3-1           WHEREAS, Today, the College of Agriculture and Human
 3-2     Sciences encompasses these prestigious research institutes in
 3-3     addition to the departments of agronomy and resource sciences,
 3-4     animal and wildlife sciences, and human sciences as well as the
 3-5     Jack R. and Loris J. Welhausen Water Resources Center and the
 3-6     Kika de la Garza Plant Materials Center; and
 3-7           WHEREAS, The School of Liberal Arts was created in 1930,
 3-8     growing to become the Division of Arts and Sciences in 1948 and
 3-9     now as the College of Arts and Sciences houses programs in women's
3-10     studies, religion, and southwest borderland studies as well as art,
3-11     biology, chemistry, communications and theater arts, geosciences,
3-12     history, language and literature, mathematics, military science,
3-13     music, physics, political science, pre-professional programs,
3-14     psychology, and sociology, and, as the university's most inclusive
3-15     college, contributes the largest dimension of academic coursework
3-16     and offers the most classes; and
3-17           WHEREAS, The American Chemical Society Student Affiliates
3-18     chapter at A&M-Kingsville has been selected five years in a row
3-19     by the national ACS for recognition for its diverse activities,
3-20     placing it in a national ranking among the top 10 percent of the
3-21     900 chapters at colleges and universities in the United States and
3-22     Puerto Rico; and
3-23           WHEREAS, Texas A&M University-Kingsville's ROTC program
3-24     evolved from the special classes for the military offered by
 4-1     the university in 1942, to the formation of the University ROTC
 4-2     Cadet Corps in 1951 and presently the Reserve Officers Training
 4-3     Corps; and
 4-4           WHEREAS, Courses in business administration started in 1925,
 4-5     and courses were added until the fall of 1930, when the curriculum
 4-6     began to diversify and expand in 1948 as the School of Business
 4-7     Administration added courses to prepare students for examinations
 4-8     leading to professional certifications and in 1965 brought data
 4-9     processing to its curriculum and in 1994 as the College of Business
4-10     Administration introduced computer information systems, offering
4-11     17 courses in computer programming and data base operations; and
4-12           WHEREAS, In 1930 an engineering program began to develop and
4-13     later through the efforts of the late Dr. Frank H. Dotterweich,
4-14     then "Texas A&I University" became the only institution in the
4-15     United States to offer a degree in petroleum and natural gas
4-16     engineering, and developed the odor that made natural gas a safe
4-17     fuel for home use; a new state-of-the-art $15 million Javelina
4-18     Engineering Complex will be open for classes in Fall, 2001, housing
4-19     most of the current engineering faculty, labs, and departments; and
4-20           WHEREAS, A new horticulture doctoral program began in Spring,
4-21     2001, and the university is currently awaiting approval of a new
4-22     doctorate in environmental engineering and a recent memorandum of
4-23     understanding with Texas A&M University strengthened the civil and
4-24     industrial engineering graduate degree offerings; and
 5-1           WHEREAS, The university has become the premier research
 5-2     institute of higher education in South Texas among only a
 5-3     few in the state to be reclassified in the 2000 Carnegie
 5-4     Classification of Institutions of Higher Education as
 5-5     Doctoral/Research University-Intensive, the second highest
 5-6     category possible; and
 5-7           WHEREAS, A&M-Kingsville's athletic program can boast of a
 5-8     number of firsts that are not related to winning games and meets,
 5-9     as the first integrated college in the State of Texas with a black
5-10     football player and among the first four-year institutions in the
5-11     state to have women's athletics; and
5-12           WHEREAS, A&M-Kingsville's outstanding intercollegiate
5-13     athletic teams have brought national prominence with a football
5-14     program that has earned seven national championships, six of which
5-15     were achieved under the coaching of the late legendary Gil Steinke,
5-16     and repeated trips to post-season playoffs, with numerous Javelinas
5-17     drafted for the National Football League and inducted into the
5-18     College Football Hall of Fame, the NCAA Division II Hall of Fame
5-19     and the Lone Star Conference Hall of Honor, as well as a women's
5-20     basketball team that competed this year in the prestigious Elite 8,
5-21     Lone Star Conference Championships and play-off invitations in
5-22     women's and men's basketball and baseball, national champions from
5-23     track and field and cross-country, and  conference-competitive
5-24     volleyball and softball teams; and
 6-1           WHEREAS, Texas A&M University-Kingsville currently
 6-2     boasts seven alumni in the Texas Legislature, including
 6-3     Senator Carlos F. Truan, Dean of the Texas Senate;
 6-4     Senator J. E. "Buster" Brown; Senator Eddie Lucio, Jr.;
 6-5     State Representative Irma Rangel; State Representative Tom Uher;
 6-6     State Representative Dora Olivo; and State Representative
 6-7     Ignacio Salinas, Jr.; and
 6-8           WHEREAS, In 1989, SB122 was filed in the Texas Senate
 6-9     by Senator Truan, and sponsored by Representative Rangel in the
6-10     Texas House of Representatives, to unite Texas A&I University
6-11     with The Texas A&M University System; the bill was approved on
6-12     May 17, 1989, and was effective September 1, 1989, and on that
6-13     same day four years later, September 1, 1993, the institution
6-14     officially became "Texas A&M University-Kingsville"; now,
6-15     therefore, be it
6-16           RESOLVED, That the Senate of the State of Texas,
6-17     77th Legislature, hereby congratulates Texas A&M
6-18     University-Kingsville for providing an outstanding educational
6-19     environment since 1925, and for its innumerable contributions
6-20     to the State of Texas; and, be it further
6-21           RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be prepared for
6-22     Marc Cisneros, President, Texas A&M University-Kingsville,
6-23     D. V. Guerra, President, Javelina Alumni Association, and
6-24     The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents for their
6-25     contributions to Texas A&M University-Kingsville and as an
 7-1     expression of high regard from the Texas Legislature.
 7-2                                                    Truan
 7-3           Armbrister           Gallegos            Ogden
 7-4           Barrientos           Harris              Shapiro
 7-5           Bernsen              Haywood             Shapleigh
 7-6           Bivins               Jackson             Sibley
 7-7           Brown                Lindsay             Staples
 7-8           Cain                 Lucio               Van de Putte
 7-9           Carona               Madla               Wentworth
7-10           Duncan               Moncrief            West
7-11           Ellis                Nelson              Whitmire
7-12           Fraser                                   Zaffirini
7-13                      Ratliff, President of the Senate
7-14                                  ______________________________________
7-15                                          President of the Senate
7-16                                       I hereby certify that the above
7-17                                  Resolution was adopted by the Senate
7-18                                  on May 9, 2001.
7-19                                  ______________________________________
7-20                                          Secretary of the Senate
7-21                                  ______________________________________
7-22                                            Dean of the Senate