Ronald L. Skaggs, chairman emeritus and CEO of the global architecture and engineering firm HKS Inc., has agreed to become the latest member of the new External Advisory Board for the Texas A&M University Institute for Advanced Study (TIAS).
An acknowledged leader in his profession, Skaggs served as president of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) in 2000 and as chancellor of the AIA College of Fellows in 2013. He was the board chairman and vice chair for the National Institute of Building Sciences from 2002 to 2010, and is a member of the National Academy of Construction. He is past president of the AIA Academy of Architecture for Health, past president of the Dallas Chapter AIA and a former treasurer of the Board of Regents of the American Architectural Foundation. He is a distinguished alumnus of Texas A&M, an outstanding alumnus of the College of Architecture and an adjunct faculty member. Skaggs is also a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Architects and emeritus fellow of the Health Facility Institute, a member of the American Hospital Association and past president of the Forum for Health Care Planning.
Skaggs joins seven other prominent executives, administrators and scholars as members of the External Advisory Board, which will annually review the Institute’s activities. The board will hold its initial meeting on Oct. 3 at the National Academy of Sciences Building in Washington, D.C.
Each year, outstanding scholars – known as TIAS Faculty Fellows – come to Texas A&M from across the world for up to 12 months to perform research with A&M’s outstanding faculty, younger rising-star professors and graduate students. The Institute is beginning its third year and currently has brought 22 Faculty Fellows, including two Nobel Prize recipients (economics and physics); a Wolf Prize recipient (agriculture/genetics); recipients of the National Medal of Science, the National Medal of Innovation and Technology; the Hubbell Medal in Literature; and winners of many international research competitions, as well as members of multiple national academies.
TIAS Founding Director John Junkins said, “Our new External Advisory Board will appraise the Institute’s progress, and will provide the essential objective feedback that will help us to reinforce Texas A&M’s position and reputation as a world leader in academic scholarship.”
Norman R. Augustine, former chair and CEO of Lockheed Martin Corp., a former under secretary of the U.S. Army, and a former president of the National Academy of Engineering, will chair the advisory board.
Former Texas A&M President Ray M. Bowen, now a
distinguished visiting professor at Rice University in Houston, will serve as vice chair. Bowen is also a former chair of the National Science Board as well as a former division director and deputy director of the National Science Foundation.
The other members of the advisory board are:
• Jon L. Hagler, former director of the global investment management firm GMO LLC, former chairman of the Texas A&M Foundation Board of Trustees, co-chair of Texas A&M’s Vision 2020 planning initiative, winner of the Sterling C. Evans Medal from The Texas A&M Foundation and holder of an honorary doctoral degree from Texas.
• Anita K. Jones, professor emerita at University of Virginia, former director of defense research and engineering at the U.S. Department of Defense, former vice chair of the National Science Board and a member of the
National Academy of Engineering.
• Linda P. B. Katehi,
chancellor and professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of California, Davis, as well as a winner of the Humboldt Research Award, and a member of National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
• V. Lane Rawlins, president emeritus of the University of North Texas, and former president of Washington State University and the University of Memphis, a former member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Board of Directors, and a former professor of economics at Washington State University, the University of Alabama and the University of Memphis.
• Herbert H. Richardson, chancellor emeritus of The Texas A&M University System, director emeritus of the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, distinguished professor emeritus of mechanical engineering at Texas A&M, a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a winner of the
Rufus Oldenburger Medal.
About the Texas A&M University Institute for Advanced Study: The Texas A&M University Institute for Advanced Study provides a catalyst to enrich the intellectual climate and educational experiences at Texas A&M. The Institute was established in December 2010 by The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents to build on the growing academic reputation of Texas A&M and to provide a framework to attract top scholars from throughout the nation and abroad for appointments of up to a year. The Institute is an outgrowth of the University’s Academic Master Plan and is a permanent structural mechanism for attracting world-class talent to the University. The selection of Fellows initiates with faculty nominations of National Academy- and Nobel Prize-caliber scholars who align with existing strengths and ambitions of the University. The wide-ranging areas of advanced studies in the Institute include, but are not limited to: architecture; arts, humanities, and social sciences; business; education; engineering; physical, geophysical, agricultural, and life sciences; public and foreign policy; health sciences; law; and multiple disciplines. To learn more, visit here.
About Research at Texas A&M University: As one of the world’s leading research institutions, Texas A&M is at the forefront in making significant contributions to scholarship and discovery, including that of science and technology. Research conducted at Texas A&M represented annual expenditures of more than $820 million in fiscal year 2013, ranking Texas A&M in the top 20 of the National Science Foundation’s Higher Education Research and Development survey (2013). Recently reported fiscal year 2014 research expenditures exceed $854 million. Texas A&M’s research creates new knowledge that provides basic, fundamental and applied contributions resulting, in many cases, in economic benefits to the state, nation and world. To learn more, visit here.
Media Contact: Rusty Cawley, (979) 458-1475, rcawley@tamu.edu