Southland Conference Extends Membership Invitation to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Sept. 7, 2005
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas -
The Southland Conference Board of Directors has extended an invitation of full membership to Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, effective July 1, 2006.
Board chairman Dr. Randy Moffett, president of Southeastern Louisiana University, made the announcement Wednesday. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi president, Dr. Flavius Killebrew accepted the invitation on behalf of the university.
"On behalf of the Board of Directors, we are extremely pleased and happy to invite Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi to join the Southland Conference," Moffett said. "This is an outstanding university with great leadership, and we welcome them as a competitive addition to the Southland Conference."
"We are elated at the news that we have been accepted into the Southland Conference," Killebrew added. "Over the years, this university has made great strides in academic achievement, and our athletic program has also made great strides since its inception. Our athletics department staff has worked hard to help us achieve this conference affiliation, and we are proud of their work. Membership in this well-regarded conference will elevate the athletic program and the university to the next level of accomplishment and success."
The addition of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi marks the first expansion of the Southland Conference since 1998 when Lamar University rejoined the league after an 11-year absence.
"We are certainly very excited to announce the addition of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to the Southland Conference," league commissioner Tom Burnett said. "The addition of the institution and its athletic programs serves to enhance the league and its member institutions. The master planning and direction from the university's administration has been phenomenal, and the growth and success of its athletic programs in a very short time has proved outstanding. The university enjoys terrific support among civic, business and community leaders, and we look forward to a long and prosperous relationship with everyone involved with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi."
A comprehensive four-year university with over 8,500 students, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi is known as "The Island University" for its geographic location on the 240-acre Ward Island alongside Corpus Christi Bay. Once a private, liberal arts institution known as the University of Corpus Christi, the school joined the Texas A&M System in 1989, and is one of the fastest growing campuses in Texas.
Five colleges comprise the university - the College of Arts and Humanities, the College of Business, the College of Education, the College of Science and Technology and the College of Nursing and Health Sciences. This year, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi was ranked 82nd among schools in the third tier that grant master's degrees in
the country's western region in U.S. News and World Report annual ranking for colleges. In 2004 the magazine named Texas A&M-Corpus Christi one of the top 60 schools in the Master's Comprehensive Public Universities ranking in the Western United States.
A&M-Corpus Christi offers 36 undergraduate programs, plus 29 graduate degree programs and certifications including four doctoral programs. In 2004, 1,514 degrees were conferred. More than 80 percent of the 526 faculty members hold a doctorate level degree, while 86 percent of campus faculty have been published in journals.
The University received a total of $10 million in awards for the 2004 fiscal year to be used in research and education and service awards. There are nine research centers on campus: Center for Bioacoustics; Center for Coastal Studies; Center for Statistical and Quality Improvement Services; Center for Water Supply Studies; Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying and Science; Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies; Institutional Research; National Spill Control School; and the Texas A&M Research Foundation Corpus Christi.
The Harte Institute is bringing top research professors to A&M-Corpus Christi, enabling the University to link together premier research and technologies from military sources, private industry, resource managers and academic research scientists. Its mission is to help preserve the Gulf of Mexico as a sustainable resource in the future through cooperative tri-national research in conjunction with Mexico and Cuba. A new Ph.D. program in Coastal and Marine System Science accepted its first students in Fall 2005.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi sponsors 12 varsity sports as a Division I independent program, including men's and women's basketball, volleyball, softball, baseball, men's and women's tennis, women's golf, men's and women's cross country, and men's and women indoor/outdoor track and field.
The Islanders athletic program, in just its seventh year of existence, began an ambitious effort to start an NCAA Division I operation from scratch in 1997-98, fielding its first teams in 1999-2000. The NCAA rewarded the university for its work by designating TAMUCC as a full-fledged member of Division I in July, 2002.
"It's been a long time coming; as an athletics department and as a university we are certainly excited to be accepted into the Southland Conference," Dan Viola, TAMUCC's first and only athletic director said. "The future is very bright for Islander athletics."
All sports sponsored by the institution are offered by the Southland Conference, and TAMUCC's men's tennis program has won the last two Southland championships while competing as an affiliate member. The Islander softball program has won three straight Big South Conference titles, also as an affiliate member.
The TAMUCC men's basketball program has a number of accomplishments in its first few years of existence, with wins over programs like Texas Tech, Florida State, Texas A&M, TCU, Baylor and UTEP. Last season, the team hosted Oklahoma State in front of a school-record crowd of 8,431, and posted its first-ever 20-win season.
The Islander women's basketball team has enjoyed nothing but success since the program's inception with six straight winning seasons, including a best-ever 23-7 mark in 2004-05, punctuated with a trip to the Women's National Invitational Tournament, and advancing to the event's second round.
Both Islander basketball teams play in the new, state-of-the-art American Bank Center, which seats approximately 8,000, and includes 11 suites and 300 club seats.
The men's tennis program has gained national acclaim in recent years, earning national rankings and advancing to the second round of the 2005 NCAA Tournament. The women's program was the 2004 national independent champion. Both TAMUCC tennis programs play home matches at the acclaimed H-E-B Tennis Center, which annually hosts one of the nation's top intercollegiate tournaments.
The softball team, in addition to three straight Big South titles, was ranked among the nation's top 25 programs for a period in 2005, and the program has recorded wins against nationally-prominent teams such as Texas, Louisiana-Lafayette and Texas State. The baseball program has recorded a pair of 30-win seasons, and opened the 2003 season by shutting out top-ranked Texas.
Located on the Gulf of Mexico, Corpus Christi is the eighth largest city (pop. 277,454; metro 385,700) and second most popular vacation destination in the state of Texas. Nestled behind the barrier islands of Mustang and Padre, Corpus Christi is the gateway to Padre Island National Seashore, a short 15-minute drive from downtown. With an average temperature of 71.2 degrees, Corpus Christi is a year-round outdoor recreation haven. In addition to fishing (bay and offshore), outdoor tennis, sailing, golf, and windsurfing are popular pastimes. Winter-time temperatures in the 70s and 80s are common in the area, which contributes to the growing number of "Winter Texans" who flock to Corpus Christi during the winter months.
Corpus Christi is home to several singular attractions including the USS Lexington, Texas State Aquarium, the South Texas Institute for the Arts, the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History, and Whataburger Field, the new home of the Texas League Corpus Christi Hooks.
Corpus Christi is located approximately 130 miles from San Antonio and 200 miles from Austin on I-37 and I-35. Houston is about a 3.5 hour drive on US-77 and US-59. The Corpus Christi International Airport is served by numerous commercial airlines, including American, Continental, Delta and Southwest.
The Corpus Christi television market is the 128th largest in the nation, reaching over 194,000 television households.
The Southland Conference consists of 11 member institutions in Texas and Louisiana. Texas institutions in the conference include Lamar University in Beaumont, Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas State University at San Marcos, the University of Texas at Arlington and the University of Texas at San Antonio. Louisiana institutions include McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, and the University of Louisiana at Monroe, which will conclude its membership June 30, 2006.
Now in its fifth decade of service, the Southland Conference sponsors 17 championship sports at the NCAA Division I level. The conference earns automatic qualification to NCAA championships in football, men's and women's basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball, men's golf, men's and women's track and field, men's and women's tennis, and women's soccer.
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