CAMPUS: TAMIU unveils Master Plan
By Priscilla Martinez
Bridge contributing writer
Published Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023
Following an initial weather delay, TAMIU revealed its Master Plan across two sessions for the campus. The Master Plan covers the campus’s future in five years, 15 years and beyond.
According to the tamiu.edu website, “The Master Plan will guide future building, land use and infrastructure changes needed to reach goals, adapt to change and align with Strategic Plan objectives.”
Perkins & Will Principal Urban Designer Stephen Coulston, left, speaks with TAMIU Academic Technology Director Patricia Abrego during the Master Plan unveiling on March 9, 2023, in the Student Center Ballroom.
Under a Feb. 27 Texas A&M International University Trailblazer weekly bulletin, TAMIU Public Relations Director Steve Harmon announced the March 9 Master Plan unveiling to students, faculty and staff. The Master Plan occurred in two sessions at the Student Center Ballroom. The first information session happened from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., and the other was from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.
Originally, the Master Plan was scheduled for Feb. 1. Due to weather conditions, it caused team members to change travel dates.
Perkins & Will, an interdisciplinary, research-based architecture and design firm, was contracted by TAMIU to provide planning services for the Master Plan. According to the Perkins & Will website, the firm’s “goal is to design places that make a positive difference in the world.”
The proposed campus plan is displayed, along with an inset of the current campus, during a Master Plan unveiling on March 9 at the Student Center Ballroom.
The Academic Innovation Center and the University Police Department are the completed establishments included in the Master Plan. TAMIU’s current projects include the tennis courts, the Health Science Education and Research Center and the Western Hemispheric Trade Center Expansion.
The Master Plan’s process includes: initiating, discovering, ideating, developing, formulating and an ongoing partnership. In November 2022, the formulation process commenced and then ended Feb. 23. The ongoing collaboration is the continued process of the Master Plan.
The Master Plan offers improvement recommendations involving current students who study at TAMIU. TAMIU oversaw surveys to influence the Master Plan.
Criminal Justice major Samantha Saucedo said TAMIU’s campus is larger than Laredo College, which is why she enrolled here. Saucedo mentioned hearing about the Master Plan during an information session, which inspired her.
“Wildlife roams the TAMIU campus without interruption,” Saucedo said. “With the current projects of the Master Plan, the green areas and the wilderness will most likely be preserved from being damaged while creating more. The architecture and interior design will embrace what TAMIU is known for—wildlife.”
Perkins & Will Associate Urban Designer Paul Ward shows off part of the TAMIU Master Plan on March 9 in the Student Center Ballroom.
Biology major Gisel Cardenas said she was concerned about what would happen to the wildlife when changes happen to their habitat.
“I would like it to have more food options,” biology major Leslie Gamboa said.
Gamboa also said she would like to see more study rooms added, recalling her time at TAMIU. She said the Sue & Radcliffe Killam Library is where she spends most of her time. She would like a daycare center to be included in the Master Plan’s future updates.
Cardenas believes future students of TAMIU will benefit the most from the Master Plan.
“I might not see the current projects of the Master Plan finalized,” Cardenas said, “but I know that the future generation will be able to use them well.
“We’ve had a great turnout, especially here in the afternoon. At least 100 people, if not more. This evening, we’re going to be meeting with community members, donors and alumni as well, and we’ve had a great rollout so far.”
