Guadalupe Rangel Papers

Guadalupe L. Rangel holds a master’s degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, a bachelor’s degree in English and French from the University of Houston and studied at the Universite de Tours on a Schlumberger scholarship during her junior year. She was a graduate of the Leadership Texas class of ’86. She has taught English at every level, including ten years at the college level. After leaving the TAMUS Board, she continued her policy work for years, assisting Del Mar College in Corpus Christi and all branches of the Houston Community College System through her business, Rangel Consulting. Regent Rangel served as Chair of the first ever Texas A&M University System Policies Committee, Chair of Academic and Student Affairs Committee, and Vice Chair of the System Facilities, Planning and Building Committee. During those years, the System incorporated Texas A & M University Corpus Christi, Texas A&M University Kingsville and the Baylor College of Dentistry. It also acquired land to design and develop a brand-new System university, Texas A & M International of Laredo, growing the System to ten universities and eight state agencies. Other major System growth accomplishments for the Board during Regent Rangel’s tenure were the affiliation of the Art Museum of South Texas with Texas A & M Corpus Christi, the development of the new statewide Texas A&M University System Health Science Center, the approval of the first doctoral degree in pharmacy for South Texas at the yet to be built Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy at Texas A & M Kingsville, as well as oversight of architectural plans and construction of the new George H. W. Bush Library at College Station. Regent Rangel was instrumental in having a rotunda with columns added to the original design of the Bush Library. As Vice Chair of the Facilities and Planning Committee of the Board, Regent Rangel was involved in planning and building of all new facilities. The Texas A&M University System, with offices in all 254 Texas counties, is the only Land, Sea and Air University System of Texas, therefore the agencies controlled by the Board include the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, The Texas Agricultural Extension Service, the Texas Engineering Experiment Station, the Texas Engineering Extension Service, the Texas Forest Service, the Texas Transportation Institute, the Texas Animal Damage Control Service and the Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory. Fiscal responsibility of the Board during those years involved oversight of a budget of approximately $3 billion. In 1994, Governor Richards requested that Regent Rangel be appointed to the Chairmanship of the first ever Texas A & M System Policies Committee, with the specific task of rewriting all System policies for the entire State. Until that time, each of ten system universities and eight system agencies operated with an individual policy manual for management and operations. Her task was to combine all manuals into one concise System manual before Governor Richards was to leave office, four months later. Due to time constraints, all meetings of the Texas A & M System Policy Committee were held on the campus of Texas A & M Corpus Christi. Regent Rangel insisted on the presence of the president of Texas State Faculties at all meetings. Her committee met at this campus for over 1,000 Regent hours. Through her leadership and direction as the first Chairman of a Special System Policies Committee, she and her committee revised, updated, and created more than 100 new policies for The Texas A&M University System in all areas of System management and operations for over 20,000 system employees and 80,000 system students at the time. In order to promote implementation of all new System policies, Regent Rangel insisted on including a new comprehensive ethics policy with a required training program for all employees. The new 210-page Texas A & M University System Policy Manual was adopted by the Board in January 1995. It is still in use today. Texas A&M System enrollment increased to more than 88,000 students, research expenditures grew to more than $400 million, and the System reached out to 3.5 million Texans each year during her service on the Board. She was a strong advocate for the students of The Texas A&M University System and promoted academic issues as chairman of the Committee on Academic and Student Affairs for two years and, previously, as Chair of the Committee on Academic and Student Affairs. Mrs. Rangel reviewed and recommended the addition of more than 70 new degree programs at A&M System universities. She worked to increase access and opportunity for women and minorities at all Texas A&M University System institutions. Throughout her six years on the Board, for every new top administrative position filled, she routinely requested, orally, before all statewide media representatives at each Board meeting, a list of women and minorities being considered for that position. When she discovered that the central campus at Texas A & M College Station did not give employees the day off on Martin Luther King Day, she objected until the president at the time changed the policy and began giving employees the day off. (Upon his request, she gave the Board Chairman permission to give an African American member of the Board credit for her accomplishment in the Board minutes.) She was instrumental in establishing the first university women’s centers throughout the System, beginning with the Texas A & M Corpus Christi Women’s Center. Regent Rangel was instrumental in ensuring the recruitment and retention of high-quality faculty through the implementation of the A&M System’s first-ever post-tenure review process. As Chair of Academic and Student Affairs, Regent Rangel worked with all System university presidents to facilitate coursework transfers from state junior colleges to the System senior colleges without repetition of coursework and cost. With policy changes, Del Mar College, Blinn College and other area junior colleges began sharing faculty and facilitated course transfers. Another issue of great importance to her was that of minority admissions to the central campus at Texas A & M College Station. In pursuit of a clear understanding of the process and statistics regarding minority admissions, she held the only admissions hearings on admissions at that campus for eight straight hours, only to find that 2,000 qualified minority students had been denied admission. She also worked to increase university partnerships with public schools, expand library and distance learning resources, and promoted a greater emphasis on the arts. Regent Rangel attended graduations at all System campuses, at times three in one day, often delivering the graduation speech. As Chair of Academic and Student Affairs, she began the tradition of shaking the hand of each graduate and asking all graduates to stand and turn to thank their parents and families. Beyond her service to the Texas A&M University System Guadalupe Rangel served on the Nueces County Hospital District Board, the Junior League of Corpus Christi, various boards for the Corpus Christi Independent School District, Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History, Creative Arts Center, South Texas Art Museum, South Texas Public Broadcasting Service, and founder and member of the Corpus Christi Literacy Council. She was a guest columnist for the Corpus Christi Caller Times. Rangel state service included four years of service on the Texans Care for Children Board in Austin and the Spohn System Regional Grant Distribution Board for two years. She was involved in national service for MALDEF, Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund in Los Angeles for four years. She served as a member of the Committee on Audit and Campus Art and Aesthetic Improvement Committee and on the Ad Hoc Committee to Develop Criteria for Future System Expansion. Rangel was Vice Chairman of the former Facilities Planning and Building Committee and a member of the Committee for Service Units and the Legislative Committee and the Board liaison to Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. The Texas A&M University System and the State of Texas acknowledged M. Guadalupe L. Rangel’s contributions by bestowing the title of Regent Emerita of the Board of Regents of the Texas A&M University System, with all the rights and privileges pertaining thereto.