Miles SmithRetired Gen. Mark Welsh will officially take the reins as president of Texas A&M University, gaining approval from the Texas A&M Board of Regents earlier this week.
Welsh, who has been interim president since July, was named the board’s sole finalist for president on Nov. 17 at the recommendation of John Sharp, chancellor of The Texas A&M University system. The board of regents voted to name him president Tuesday after completing the mandatory 21-day waiting period.
The board authorized Sharp to negotiate a final employment agreement with Welsh, a retired Air Force general who previously served as the dean of the university’s Bush School of Government and Public Service,. He has been interim president since the resignation of previous president Dr. Katherine Banks in July.
Banks, who had held the position since 2021, resigned after events surrounding the failed hiring of professor and Texas A&M alumnus Kathleen McElroy.
Welsh is the university’s 27th president.
Prior to his career at Texas A&M, Welsh served in the U.S. Air Force for four decades as a fighter pilot, a four-star general and the 20th chief of staff of the Air Force.
Photo courtesy of Texas A&M University
