Texas A&M Interim President Mark Welsh will get nod to keep permanent position

Texas A&M; University System Chancellor John Sharp is expected to recommend that the Board of Regents name Mark Welsh III, interim President at Texas A&M; University, as the sole finalist for the position, according to two people familiar with the discussions.

Sharp and Board Chair Bill Mahomes met with the executive committee of the Faculty Senate on Monday during lunch, where Sharp shared the news, according to a person familiar with the discussions. The Board of Regents is expected to call a special meeting this week to officially name him the sole finalist, kicking off a required 21-day waiting period between the time a sole finalist is selected and officially appointed.

The system did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Sharp named Welsh the acting president in late July after former president Kathy Banks, who had served as president for two years, resigned amid fallout from the bungled hiring of Kathleen McElroy, a Black journalism professor at the University of Texas at Austin, to revive A&M;’s journalism program.

Welsh, then-dean of the Bush School of Government and Public Service, was asked to serve as acting president until regents could pick an interim. Sharp later said Welsh would serve as the interim president while the university conducted a national search for a permanent replacement.

Since becoming interim president, Welsh has set a new tone on campus, hosting dozens of listening sessions with faculty, students and staff. He tapped staff to reassess Banks’ overhaul of the university, walking back some changes while staying the course on others.

In recent weeks, faculty have asked Sharp to allow them to assess Welsh before regents considered naming him permanent president.

“We also greatly respect Interim President Welsh and his work to date leading the university. However, we also believe that an open search or a vetting process led by the faculty senate for a permanent president would enhance the reputation of the Board of Regents and System officials, and it would validate the appointment of the new president,” said Tracy Hammond, faculty senate speaker in a letter to Sharp last month. “Giving the university — faculty, staff, and students — the opportunity to weigh in on the person who may be appointed to take our institution forward is critical at this juncture in time.”

Sharp agreed to let the Faculty Senate conduct an assessment of Welsh, who was one of the four finalists considered for president when Banks was hired in 2021. The Faculty Senate is expected to meet at 3 p.m. Monday to discuss its assessment process.

This story is developing.

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This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2023/11/13/mark-welsh-texas-a-m/.

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