advancement

The $10 million transformation of historic Francis Hall, the new headquarters for the Department of Construction Science, will be celebrated with a dedication at 12:30 p.m. April 9 in the College Station Hilton followed by an open house at Francis Hall.

This time of year, the College of Architecture is tremendously grateful for the support received from those who truly want to make a difference in the future of the College and the lives of our students.

The Master of Architecture program at Texas A&M University is making strong, unique contributions to architectural education, according to experts from the National Architectural Accrediting Board team who reviewed the program last fall.

With the renovation of historic Francis Hall under way, the Department of Construction Science at Texas A&M University is well on its way to acquiring a state-of-the-art academic facility dedicated to construction teaching, research and industry service.

Construction science students at Texas A&M will soon be using a state-of-the-art building information modeling lab built with the help of a $250,000 gift from the Fluor Foundation.

The season of giving is also one of the busiest times of year for donations to the College of Architecture, as many former students include the college and their own departments for end-of-year donations.

A “bid room,” outfitted with state-of-the-art video conferencing equipment for simulating the preparation and negotiation of construction project cost proposals, will be built in Francis Hall, future campus headquarters of the Department of Construction Science, with help from a donation from Clark Construction Group LLC.

Nancy Jeanne Volkman, an associate professor and member of the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning faculty at Texas A&M University since 1981, passed away Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2013 after a long illness. A dynamic teacher and prolific scholar, she was researching three books just prior to her death.

When construction science students begin taking classes in the renovated Francis Hall in spring 2015 they’ll be able to see exposed mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems at work in a $100,000 specialty lab funded by Dynamic Systems, Inc.

The signature classroom in the renovated Francis Hall, which will house Texas A&M’s Department of Construction Science this spring, will be named for Bob Segner, a professor who has been teaching students, many of whom are now leaders in the building industry, since 1970.

Recognizing the profound and positive influence longtime architecture professor Rodney Hill had on his life and those of countless other Texas A&M students, Bill Peel ‘74 has contributed $25,000 to the Rodney Hill Professorship in Creativity and Design, and he is challenging Hill's former students to make contributions of their own.

When Texas A&M construction science students move into their new Francis Hall headquarters next year, they're lessons will be enhanced by a new state-of-the-art audiovisual classroom made possible by a $150,000 combined gift from Balfour Beatty Construction and Robert Van Cleave ‘81, the company’s chairman and CEO.

Preston M. Geren, Jr., an avid supporter of the Texas A&M College of Architecture whose family history is deeply tied to the Texas A&M architecture program, passed away peacefully Wednesday, June 12, 2013. He was 89.

Competition teams and students tackling group projects in the Department of Construction Science at Texas A&M will soon be collaborating in a state-of-the-art workspace made possible by a $150,000 gift from Vaughn Construction to the department's Francis Hall building campaign.

A safety education lab for Francis Hall, future home of Texas A&M’s Department of Construction Science, will be built with a $150,000 contribution from Marek Brothers Systems, Inc., a Houston-based builder. An $8 million renovation of the historic building is scheduled for completion in fall 2014.