The Texas Wesleyan University Board of Trustees has approved a letter of intent for Texas Wesleyan University and Texas A&M University to enter into a strategic partnership that would provide premier legal education in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex for decades to come. Under the proposed multi-million dollar agreement, the school would be known as the Texas A&M School of Law at Texas Wesleyan University.

"Last October, Texas A&M System Chancellor John Sharp approached me about a unique strategic partnership," said Dr. Frederick G. Slabach, president at Texas Wesleyan. "After months of careful consideration, we both consider this to be a mutually beneficial collaboration with limitless possibilities."

Among the future offerings would be a joint law school JD/Texas Wesleyan MBA program and also a Texas Wesleyan undergraduate/law school 3+3 program. These new programs exemplify how the partnership would allow for the development of collaborative academic programming that will have a lasting impact on students. The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents is expected to meet later this week to take up pending business, including whether to provide approval for the Texas A&M-TWU partnership.

"In creating the Texas A&M University School of Law at Texas Wesleyan, we are finally expanding the Texas A&M brand into the field of law with a focus on emerging fields that require a growing legal expertise," said John Sharp, chancellor of The Texas A&M University System. "In the last week we have received one of the largest federal grants since NASA was brought to Texas to develop life-saving vaccines and medical therapies, we announced a concession agreement for facilities and food services valued at more than a quarter billion dollars, and today we are forging a new partnership to create a long-sought Texas A&M School of Law, which will have a profound an impact on the future of Texas."

The president of Texas A&M, R. Bowen Loftin, praised the new arrangement, saying, "Expanding Texas A&M's graduate professional programs is one of the key tenets of Vision 2020, our long-range plan to become one of the country's top 10 public institutions by the year 2020. If you look at the top universities - our peer institutions - most of them have a law school. We see today's announcement as the next step in Texas A&M's dramatic evolution from its beginnings as a regional, military-focused institution into one of the nation's largest and most prestigious comprehensive universities in a short period of four decades."

Under the agreement, Texas A&M would acquire ownership and operational control of the law school. All faculty and staff of the law school would be employees of Texas A&M. Texas Wesleyan University would retain ownership and control of the law school building and four city blocks of land at the downtown Fort Worth campus and would lease the facilities to Texas A&M.

"The synergy of this strategic partnership is extraordinary," said Kenneth H. Jones, Jr., chairman of Texas Wesleyan's Board of Trustees.

"Texas A&M stands to benefit from an already established, ABA-accredited law school. Fort Worth and the Metroplex would lay claim to an institution poised for first-tier status. And Texas Wesleyan would gain new academic programs that drive our vision of preparing motivated students for graduate school."

Among the future offerings would be a joint law school JD/Texas Wesleyan MBA program and also a Texas Wesleyan undergraduate/law school 3+3 program. These new programs exemplify how the partnership would allow for the development of collaborative academic programming that will have a lasting impact on students.

The presidents of the two universities would appoint a Strategic Partnership Academic Coordinating Council to advise them on additional collaborative academic initiatives that would serve the students of each campus.

The agreement will be executed on or before June 1, 2013.

“The addition of a Law School to The Texas A&M University System is long overdue, “said Dr. Larry F. Lemanski, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs. “We have a significant number of students at Texas A&M University-Commerce, who would like to go on with their education and get a law degree.”

This has been virtually impossible for those who need to stay in Northern Texas for various reasons. This Law School in Fort Worth will now offer an opportunity to attend an affordable Law School at a major big name University in the Dallas Fort Worth area.

“Having two members of my immediate family, a son and a son-in-law in the practice of law in the State of Texas, I am very familiar with the outstanding professional training to the JD degree that a law curriculum offers, “ Lemanski said. “It certainly will prepare outstanding professionals for legal practice, judgeships, state and federal government opportunities as well as business and corporate positions.”

Lemanski hopes that with the paralegal and internationally accredited and highly-ranked MBA and executive MBA programs at A&M-Commerce, the university will have opportunities to form partnerships to expand further offerings of the Texas A&M, Texas Wesleyan Law School in the very near future.

“I vigorously applaud Chancellor John Sharp and his leadership team at The A&M System, “Lemanski said. “This is a major step forward for the entire state of Texas as well as The Texas A&M University System. Chancellor Sharp, congratulations and well done.”

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About Texas A&M University-Commerce: Founded in 1889, Texas A&M University-Commerce is a member of The Texas A&M University System.  Located in Northeast Texas, A&M-Commerce is home to more than 11,000 students, four academic colleges, a thriving graduate school, and more than 100 degree programs.  As the region’s focal point of higher education, A&M-Commerce offers students facilities ranging from a world-class science building and new student center, to a fully equipped recreational facility and recently completed music hall.  The university also has convenient facilities in Corsicana, Midlothian, Mesquite, and downtown Dallas.

About The Texas A&M University System: The A&M System is one of the largest systems of higher education in the nation, with a budget of $3.3 billion. Through a statewide network of 11 universities, seven state agencies and a comprehensive health science center, the A&M System educates more than 120,000 students and makes more than 22 million additional educational contacts through service and outreach programs each year. Externally funded research expenditures exceed $730 million and help drive the state’s economy.