Announcement From President Young

September 2, 2020

Dear Aggies,

As we continue to navigate the start of the academic year toward what I am hopeful will be a great semester followed by a beautiful springtime in Aggieland, I wanted to let you know that I have notified Chancellor Sharp that I plan to retire as president, effective May 31, 2021. Marti and I have been discussing this for more than a year. We concluded that, after almost a quarter century of serving in senior academic leadership roles and an increasing desire to turn back to topics that occupied much of my previous career, this would be our last year.

In the meantime, I will continue to focus on the priorities at hand, preserving our core educational missions and ensuring that we are well situated to continue our extraordinary progress as a world-class educational institution.

In this academic year we face unusual challenges.  Yet we will continue to provide transformational learning opportunities for all our students, as well as produce remarkable discoveries that improve the lives of the people of Texas and our country.

My charge upon arrival in 2015 was to help create a trajectory that would give Texas A&M an international reputation while remembering our core mission as a land grant institution. I am pleased with the significant rise in rankings, the noteworthy expansion of research, our remarkable success in the ambitious $4 billion Lead by Example fundraising campaign, and most of all, the privilege of working every day with our exceptional students and our dauntless faculty and staff.

I remember meeting students on my first visit to Texas A&M before accepting the position. While the students were not aware of the nature of my visit, their core values of respect, leadership, excellence, loyalty, integrity and selfless service shined through. I knew what a wonderful opportunity it would be to serve them. I look forward to joining the faculty of the Bush School of Government and Public Service and the Texas A&M School of Law for that same reason.

Sincerely,

Michael K. Young