Texas A&M University-Commerce

Texas A&M University-Commerce interim president Dr. Ray Keck, III, is working alongside City of Commerce mayor Wyman Williams in order to create an environment that encourages University employees to not only work in Commerce but to choose to live there, too.

The idea of a "University village" is explored by Williams and Keck alongside Jerrod Knight during the September airing of The President's Perspective, a monthly half-hour radio conversation with Keck.

Hear the full program here. A transcript follows.

A close associate of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. will speak at Texas A&M University-Commerce at 7 p.m. Thursday evening (September 8).  Dr. Robert Green is a retired faculty member at Michigan State University, and headed up the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's educational foundation under King.  Dr. LaVelle Hendricks, associate professor of counseling at A&M-Commerce, says Green still advocates King's non-violent approach for bringing about change.

Every summer since 2013, Texas A&M University-Commerce students have had the opportunity to tour, on a university-sponsored trip, sites in Alabama relevant to the Civil Rights Movement. Perhaps more importantly, the tours have also included presentations by and conversations with activists and others who experienced that era. 

Dr. LaVelle Hendricks, associate professor of counseling at Texas A&M University-Commerce, discusses the the Dr. Max Plata-Remundo Santibanez Hispanic Education Consortium that meets at 11 a.m. today (Thursday, April 28).  The conference is named for A&M-Commerce professor Plata and custodian Santabenz,  three of whose children have graduated from A&M-Commerce.  The program honors 125 Hispanic educators from Northeast Texas.

Perhaps more than any figure, Sam Houston personifies the spirit of Texas: Brave, ambitious, generous, unpredictable, prone to excess, humorous and sometimes violent. Texas State Historian Bill O'Neal, an East Texas State University alumnus, has written "Sam Houston: A Study in Leadership," a new work which will be premiered during a free public event on March 2 at Universities Center Dallas.

Don't be fooled by the fact that the Lions aren't at the top of the Lone Star Conference. The Texas A&M University-Commerce men's basketball team, which won the LSC tournament last season, are among the six teams considered to be legitimate contenders for this year's conference crown. 

With last Saturday's victory over Eastern New Mexico, the Texas A&M University-Commerce women's basketball team assured itself of its first winning season since 2009. KETR's play-by-play announcer Charlie Chitwood discusses this year's Lions in advance of next week's Lone Star Conference tournament.

For years, documents vital to the history of African-Americans in Northeast Texas gathered dust in storage or were known only to a few people. The African-American History Collection, part of the Northeast Texas Digital Collections at Texas A&M University-Commerce, provides an online archive that allows people around the world to see historic photographs, peruse school yearbooks, read church publications and hear oral histories.

The fourth annual Dan and Jalinna Jones Educational Awards will be presented to about 150 children from area schools at 2 p.m. Sunday in the Sam Rayburn Student Center at Texas A&M University-Commerce.  The awards are named in honor of A&M-Commerce president Dr. Dan Jones and his wife Jalinna.  Dr. Jones and Dr. LaVelle Hendricks, associate professor of counseling, are the guests on this edition of the Blacklands Cafe.

Wyman Williams, Texas A&M University-Commerce College of Business development officer, says new high-tech developments in cars for this year include Ford refining the ability of self-driving cars to drive on the ice, and the all-electric Chevrolet Bolt reportedly being able to go 200 miles between charges.

Longtime Delta County Precinct 1 Commissioner Rip Templeton recently announced his run for office.

“I would like to take this means to announce my intention to run for re-election for commissioner, Precinct 1,” said Commissioner Rip Templeton to the citizens of Delta County.

"When I arrived at Texas A&M University-Commerce in 2008... Hispanic student enrollment was around 7%. And today we're around 18%," said A&M-Commerce president Dr. Dan Jones during the November recording for his monthly radio program, The President's Perspective.

The enduring power of the “Love and Rockets” comics by Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez lies in the storytelling.

Critics have focused on particular aspects – the influence of Mexican-American culture, the influence of punk rock, the drawing styles, and of course, the now-venerable reaction of “Boy, those are some mighty grown-up themes for a comic book!” But the readers keep coming back because, 34 years after “Love and Rockets” started, they still love the stories.

An official Texas State Historical Marker - the first of its kind in Chinese - was unveiled at the birthplace of Lt. Gen. Claire Lee Chennault at 1509 Monroe St. in Commerce on Oct. 14. About 300 people attended the dedication ceremony, which was broadcast live on KETR.

Wyman Williams, Texas A&M University-Commerce College of Business development officer, discusses plans for the dedication of a new historical marker at the birthplace of Gen. Claire Lee Chennault, at 10 a.m.

After opening the season with 200th victory at Memorial Stadium, the 18th-ranked Texas A&M University-Commerce football team hopes to grab another home win in its Sept. 12 game against No. 10 Delta State University.

Texas A&M University-Commerce Alumni Relations director Derryle Peace says the deadline to buy a personalized brick for the University Brick Garden is Monday, August 31.  The bricks can be personalized in your own name or in honor of someone else, and are on sale for $125.  The Brick Garden, outside the Alumni Relations building, will be dedicated at Homecoming on Saturday, October 24.

 The City of Commerce along with assistance from Texas A&M University-Commerce has been testing mosquitoes for various diseases by trapping them and sending them to the Department of State Health Services.  On August 12, 2015, emergency management officials released information notifying citizens that a positive test was received for the West Nile virus. Although the areas that tested positive on August 12 are now testing negative, the City has received two additional tests that have come back with a positive reading for West Nile virus. 

"Over the River and Through the Woods," a comedy by Joe DiPietro, opens Tuesday night in the University Playhouse, located in the Performing Arts Center at Texas A&M University-Commerce, and continues through Sunday.  The play is about a young man who has a hard time breaking away from his two sets of grandparents.  Cast member and Theatre faculty member Jim Anderson and director Jim McCoy are our guests.

  In May of 2015, the Texas House of Representatives voted 98-47 in favor of a bill that would allow Texas' concealed-carry license holders to carry weapons onto state and private university campuses, which Texas' governor Greg Abbott quickly signed into law.