A steady, controlled growth is the goal for officials at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi this year.
The university increased its faculty from 140 to 239 in the past three years. Its student enrollment rose from 3,814 in 1990 to 5,545 this year.
"We're pacing things to handle the new students without overloading the system," A&M-Corpus Christi President Robert Furgason said. "We do not want to grow faster than our ability to handle students."
Although the university no longer has a legislative cap on the number of freshmen it can admit, officials are planning on holding the freshman class to 600 in the fall to keep the university's enrollment from surging to a level that would create problems for the students, such as difficulty in finding courses.
Officials hope to expand more into the arts and humanities, which will go along with the university's new partnership with the Art Museum of South Texas.
Under a plan that went into effect earlier this year, A&M-Corpus Christi is using $263,636 annually, funded by the Legislature, to cover the museum's support staff salaries and office operations.
The city of Corpus Christi, which owns the building, will continue to contribute funds for maintenance and utilities while the Corpus Christi Art Foundation Inc. will handle most of the fund-raising for the programs, acquisitions and exhibits.
Of all the areas of growth, science is being given the most emphasis university officials say.
Environmental emphasis
Later in the spring, the $10 million Center for Environmental Studies and Services -- a three-story, 100,000-square-foot building -- will open with 18 different state agencies and research organizations.
The new building is a continuation of work that began about a decade ago, said Wes Tunnell, director of the Center for Coastal Studies and professor of biology.
"Our two main focuses and themes in the past have been to work with state and federal agencies in coastal environment," Tunnell said. "Also we work with graduate students by providing them work in state and federal agencies. Those (programs) will be greatly enhanced in the new center."
Officials particularly are looking forward to the extra space in the center, which will include three large, 1,000-square-foot laboratories and four 500-square-foot labs.
"We'll be able to spread out the operations that we now have housed in one laboratory and portions of other laboratories," Tunnell said.
Most of the research projects that the scientists undertake deal with the South Texas coastal areas. One, for instance, studied the environmental effects of an oil spill near Copano Bay and the resulting clean up efforts.
Other projects include a study on the invasion of brown mussels along the Texas Coast and marshes.
Athletics
Another big change planned for the university is the resurrection of the school's athletic program. Furgason said he hopes to have the program in full swing by fall 1997.
The new mascot has yet to be determined. In polls last year, students and faculty selected "Islanders" while the school's alumni association chose the tarpon. The tarpon, a native Gulf fish, was the mascot from 1947 to 1973, when the university was a four-year private Baptist school.
This fall, officials held a contest to draw ideas for the mascot, which would be a combination of a tarpon and an islander. The top three winners will be announced in February and may be considered for the final mascot design.
School officials say a strong financial commitment from the community is still necessary before they can start the athletic program. So far, people have been enthusiastic.
An athletic director will most likely be hired within the next year or so, officials said.
Possible sports include basketball, baseball, tennis, golf, sailing, soccer or volleyball.
Community impact
As the university grows, it continues to be a major contributor to the local economy, both directly and indirectly, said John Richards, dean emeritus of the College of Business Administration.
Students and new faculty, for example, send money flowing into the community.
But there are also some indirect effects associated with having a better educated community. "We're improving the quality of life for some people, making them more productive," Richards said.
The addition of freshmen and sophomores will bring more students into the community, Richards said. "In the past, we've been primarily a commuter school," he said. "The majority of the students lived in town and went to school."
But that trend is changing with the emergence of the freshman and sophomore classes. "Their homes are outside the community, and they're coming here and bringing money into the community," Richards said.
"We're just like an oil refinery," Richards said. "Cities grow or shrink because you are doing something there that causes money from outside the community to flow into the community."
Amando Soto, business recruitment and retention executive for the Greater Corpus Christi Business Alliance, says having a four-year university makes the city more marketable to industries.
"It's education," he said. "The more educated the workforce, the more competitive it is worldwide. A&M-Corpus Christi and Del Mar (College) both help meet that demand."
As part of the expansion, university officials are working to increase the number of programs in fields such as engineering technology, physical therapy and upper-level degrees in nursing. Other areas of emphasis for the future include the allied health industry and programs that deal with the management of facilities for the elderly.
When the school went four-year in 1994, state guidelines limited the number of new freshmen to about 400. The limit was raised to 500 students this past fall.
Officials are increasing programs in areas where job growth is expected.
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