TAMU Board of Regents appoints interim president of university after former president’s resignation

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KTRK) — The Texas A&M System Board of Regents appointed a new interim president following M. Katherine Banks’ resignation over a week ago.

Mark A. Welsh III, dean of the Bush School of Government and Public Service, was appointed by the TAMU Board of Regents following an hours-long session on Sunday.

The decision comes after the university’s faculty senate passed a resolution to create a fact-finding committee into the mishandling of the hiring of professor for the university’s journalism department.

VIEW PREVIOUS REPORT: Texas A&M president resigns immediately amid fallout from failed hiring of journalism professor

During that meeting, Banks told faculty members that she did not approve changes to an offer letter that led a prospective journalism professor to walk away from negotiations amid conservative backlash to her hiring, as first reported by ABC13 partners at The Texas Tribune.

The university sent out a release following Welsh’s appointment that read in part:

The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents unanimously approved Mark A. Welsh III as the interim president of Texas A&M University in a special-called meeting Sunday. Chancellor John Sharp previously named Welsh on July 21 as the acting president of the university. The board’s action was needed to place Welsh into a longer-term role to lead the university. Welsh replaces M. Katherine Banks, who stepped down earlier this month. “I cannot think of a better person than Mark Welsh to lead Texas A&M right now,” Sharp said. “He has experience running a large organization, but he also is widely respected and universally well-liked in the Aggie community. General Welsh has earned a reputation as a smart, thoughtful and collaborative leader. We are lucky to have him in the president’s office.”