page_title: History of Texas A&M University
section_title: 21st century
hierarchical_section_title: History of Texas A&M University / Recent years / 21st century
caption_attribution_description: Administration Building at Texas A&amp;M. 2 pictures overlayed with a Canon 300D.
context_page_description: The history of Texas A&M University, the first public institution of higher education in Texas, began in 1871, when the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas was established as a land-grant college by the Texas Legislature. Classes began on October 4, 1876. Although Texas A&M was originally scheduled to be established under the Texas Constitution as a branch of the yet-to-be-created University of Texas, subsequent acts of the Texas Legislature never gave the university any authority over Texas A&M. In 1875, the Legislature separated the administrations of A&M and the University of Texas, which still existed only on paper.
  For much of its first century, enrollment at Texas A&M was restricted to men who were willing to participate in the Corps of Cadets and receive military training. During this time, a limited number of women were allowed to attend classes but forbidden from gaining a degree. During World War I, 49% of A&M graduates were in military service, and in 1918, the senior class was mustered into military service to fight in France.
context_section_description: With strong support from Rice University and the University of Texas at Austin, the Association of American Universities inducted Texas A&M in May 2001, based on the depth of the university's research and academic programs. Furthermore, in 2004, the honors organization Phi Beta Kappa opened its 265th chapter at Texas A&M.
  On December 18, 2006, former Texas A&M University president Robert M. Gates was sworn in as the 22nd U.S. Secretary of Defense. Gates's successor, Elsa Murano, on January 3, 2008, became both the university's first female and first Hispanic president.
  As of 2012, the university has an enrollment of more than 50,000, making the school the largest university in Texas. By the end of 2016, this number would swell even further to over 66,000 students making it the second largest public university in the nation. As of 2007, the percentage of women and men at the school are roughly equal. However, for a number of years females of the freshman class have outnumbered males. The university has awarded more than 320,000 degrees, of which 70,000 have been graduate and professional degrees. 
  Texas A&M has several branch campuses, one in Galveston, Texas, and one in the West Asian country of Qatar.  The latter branch campus had the distinction in 2011 of being the first school outside the U.S recognizing engineers as members of Tau Beta Pi, the Engineering Honor Society.  In 2013, Texas A&M Health Science Center was formally merged into the university. The university also purchased the Texas Wesleyan University School of Law and renamed it the Texas A&M School of Law. On October 23, 2013, plans to build a new branch campus, Texas A&M University at Nazareth – Peace Campus, in Israel, were announced.
caption: The Texas A&M Administration Building
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