Howdy, Fort Worth!

Learn all about the new campus through this roundtable Q&A:
 

Q: What is Texas A&M-Fort Worth?

Dr. Kim McCuistion ’01
Texas A&M University System Associate Vice Chancellor & Texas A&M-Fort Worth Inaugural Director

Texas A&M-Fort Worth is a game-changing partnership between the City of Fort Worth, Tarrant County and The Texas A&M University System that blends premier Tier 1 leadership with commercial entrepreneurism. The three-building, mixed-use campus will offer an integrated site for academic programs, workforce development, and corporate and academic research.

Construction on the first building, the Law and Education Building, began last summer. It will serve as the campus’s academic hub and house programs in law, engineering, and the health sciences from Texas A&M University and Tarleton State University. 

Texas A&M-Fort Worth is not envisioned to be like one of the Texas A&M System’s regional universities; instead, all 11 universities and eight state agencies of the Texas A&M System will have the opportunity to connect with the North Texas community at Texas A&M-Fort Worth. These units will shape the campus and attract industry partners and entrepreneurs interested in collaborating with them. Overall, the campus will forge unique and impactful ties between education, industry, and the entrepreneurial community in Fort Worth and Tarrant County.
 

Q: How will the campus partner with the business community?

Darryl Heath ’84
Fort Worth-Tarrant County Innovation Partnership Executive Director

I see the campus’s creation through the eyes of both Aggies and the business community. It’s an opportunity to transform education and the way Texas A&M partners with companies in North Texas and across the nation and world.

An educational environment that combines strong academics and research oriented to innovation and transformation is very attractive to industry. This campus will allow companies like Alcon, Elbit Systems of America and Lockheed Martin—who have already announced their presence—as they draw from existing research and ideas, partner to produce their own ideas, and find and develop the best talent for their organizations. Some companies will be directly involved in research, while others will simply have leased space on the campus. Commercialization opportunities will emerge from inventions and companies developed by students and professors.

This approach offers partnerships that C-suite leaders value because it creates a pipeline for people, ideas, research results and, ultimately, an improved bottom line.
 

Q: What is the School of Law’s place on the campus?

Bobby Ahdieh
Texas A&M School of Law Dean & Texas A&M University Vice President for Professional Schools and Programs

With its striking history in Fort Worth over the last decade, the Texas A&M School of Law is well-positioned to serve as anchor for the new campus. 

The law school has seen an unprecedented rise in national rankings in the past 10 years, all while becoming a pillar of the community. To be a truly world-class law school, however, we need to be among programs in engineering, health sciences and other disciplines relevant to law.  

Through the companies that engage with the campus, students will have distinct opportunities to observe business-client interactions in real time—a unique ecosystem for professional development that no other school has attempted. The campus will also help sustain the trajectory of our executive education, certificate and degree programs for non-lawyers working in health care, finance, energy and other highly regulated industries. Having expanded from 40 students to more than 1,000 over the last five years, those programs’ impact on Texas and beyond will only grow with the new campus. 

Finally, with its planned meeting and gathering spaces, the campus will offer yet more opportunities to welcome the outside world to Texas A&M’s spirit and traditions.
 

Q: What is the campus’ impact on Fort Worth?

Mattie Parker
City of Fort Worth Mayor

According to projected population growth estimates, North Texas will reach 8 million people in 2028, surpassing the Chicago Metro Area. We need a world-class workforce because we have a sizable skills gap across North Texas and the state. For example, North Texas will have a shortage of 15,000 nurses within the next five to six years. Additionally, nearly half of the 1.2 million adults in Tarrant County aged 25 and older lack a college degree.

Before this campus, we were the largest Texas city without a significant presence of a Tier 1 research university. Texas A&M’s transformative investment will strengthen our industrial and employment base and inspire us to be more visionary.

The campus is part of the south downtown area, where massive expansions to the Omni Hotel and Fort Worth Convention Center are ongoing. It is also adjacent to our intermodal transportation center, providing easy access from near and far. Together, all these elements will create exciting new economic vitality in the downtown area.
 

Q: How will the campus benefit the region?

John Goff
Crescent Real Estate Chairman of the Board & Fort Worth-Tarrant County Innovation Partnership Chair

I arrived in Fort Worth in 1981, driving a U-Haul truck loaded with all my worldly possessions. Years later, I feel blessed to call Fort Worth home and recognize that I owe it a great deal. It has been a wonderful place to raise a family and to start and grow a business.

As co-chair of Fort Worth Now during the pandemic, I realized Fort Worth was the largest city in the nation without a Tier 1 research university and that inviting Texas A&M to grow its presence here beyond the law school would be a game changer. The university’s leadership has been wonderful to work with, and the planned campus will bring us students, training, jobs, and important research and technology—for businesses presently located in and around Fort Worth and those considering relocation.

Companies will occupy space within the campus to gain access to the research and technical talent of the university, while students will be trained on-site for the specific needs of partnering companies, generating wonderful job opportunities. I have no doubt the campus will change the trajectory of the region’s future.

Want in on the ground floor of Texas A&M-Fort Worth? You can support the project’s Phase 1 fundraising goal of $40 million in capital funds for construction. In recognition of contributions, there are opportunities to name buildings and spaces across the campus. Contact Jerri Schooley, assistant vice president for development and strategic partnerships, at the bottom of this page.