Dignitaries who attended the celebration included Former President George H. W. Bush and Governor Rick Perry.
(Doha, Qatar)—Texas A&M University at Qatar (TAMUQ) showcased its new permanent facilities in Education City, Doha, with three days of celebrations March 18-20.
The celebrations included investiture of Dean and Chief Executive Officer Mark Weichold, an Aggie Ring presentation, the Engineering Building celebration, a news conference and building tour, and a Middle East Aggie reunion and barbecue.
The leadership of the State of Qatar and distinguished guests from Texas, the rest of the United States and around the world, including 41st President George H. W. Bush, Governor Rick Perry, Texas A&M University System Chancellor Mike McKinney, Texas A&M Interim President Eddie Joe Davis, Provost David Prior and Vice Chancellor and Dean of Engineering G. Kemble Bennett, attended.
Texas A&M began teaching engineering courses in Qatar in 2003 through a partnership with the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development. The program, fully funded by the Qatar Foundation, offers undergraduate degrees in chemical, electrical, mechanical and petroleum engineering. Fall 2006 enrollment in TAMUQ programs totaled 183 students.
"Educating and developing the engineers of the future is critically important, and given the global environment and energy challenges we face, perhaps even more so today than ever before," said G. Kemble Bennett, vice chancellor and dean of engineering. "Education City is a historic advance in higher education, a living demonstration of the good that comes from bringing together different cultures, people and ideas."
Texas A&M at Qatar programs have operated for the past four years in temporary quarters. The new facility—scheduled to open later this year—will be one of the largest and most technologically advanced engineering education facilities in the world. The 595,000-square-foot facility, designed by renowned Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta, will be a centerpiece for Education City, a multi-university campus complex. Texas A&M's neighbors in Education City are Virginia Commonwealth University, Weill Cornell Medical College, Carnegie Mellon University and Georgetown University.
The new engineering education building will be one of the largest and most technologically advanced facilities of its kind in the world.
Qatar Foundation officials are enthusiastic about the promise of Education City.
"Education City is unique in the world. Nowhere else have five leading universities come together to contribute those areas in which they excel to a new entity that is greater than all of them," said Abdulla Al-Thani, vice president for education, the Qatar Foundation.
Texas A&M Interim President Eddie J. Davis said the new facility and the programs conducted there will contribute to the future of Qatar and the rest of the Middle East.
"This new facility will further advance our partnership goals of educating some of Qatar's future leaders while enhancing Texas A&M's reputation by contributing to better cross-cultural understanding within the Gulf Region and throughout the world," Davis said.
The new engineering facility provides classrooms and more than 30 research laboratories that will be equipped with the finest tools and technologies available to rival the top education and industry facilities currently operating worldwide. TAMUQ will become the first university in Education City to offer graduate degree programs, in the fall of 2007, pending approval by the Qatar Foundation. Mark Weichold, dean and CEO of Texas A&M University at Qatar said: " TAMUQ is engaging the best faculty members from around the world to direct the learning process and to conduct scholarly activity in fields important to Qatar and the world."
TAMUQ also helps enhance globalization efforts at Texas A&M's main campus as students from the Qatar program take coursework in College Station in the summer sessions of their sophomore and junior year. This provides opportunities for both cultures to interact and learn from one another. A group of students from TAMUQ visited College Station in March as part of the Doha/College Station Leadership Exchange Program.
Texas A&M University at Qatar is funded entirely by Qatar Foundation. No university or system funds are used to support this branch campus. 