The Texas A&M Board of Regents has announced the appointment of Mark Welsh III as interim TAMU president.
Welsh, who has been the dean of TAMU’s Bush School of Government and Public Service since 2016, retired from the U.S. Air Force as a four-star general and Obama appointee to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
He also previously served as associate director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for Military Support.
Welsh currently sits on the board of directors for military contractor Northrop Grumman—a corporation mired in whistleblower lawsuits, federal charges for fraudulent costs, and accusations of environmental contamination.
His appointment follows the resignation of former A&M President Katherine Banks.
Banks oversaw the failed hiring of Kathleen McElroy, a diversity, equity, and inclusion proponent who rejected A&M’s final job offer for the position of journalism director after the university watered down her contract following public outcry.
Texas A&M changed McElroy’s proposed contract, ultimately settling on a one-year deal as a professor without tenure and a three-year appointment as the director of the journalism program, with an emphasis that she could be terminated at any time.
Although Banks claimed she wasn’t informed of the change of contract, that was later disputed by other university officials.
The TAMU Board of Regents has authorized university officials to pursue a settlement with McElroy, who has not yet filed any lawsuit against TAMU.
They have also directed the system’s general counsel to investigate what happened and pledged to publicly release the results of the investigation.
Texas A&M is overseen by a board of regents appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott and confirmed by the Texas Senate.
