The Haynes Ring Plaza, with its enormous bronze replica of an

The Haynes Ring Plaza,
with its enormous bronze
replica of an Aggie Ring,
is certain to become a
campus landmark.
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Texas Aggie | March/April 2008
aggienetwork.com
An enhancement project for the Clayton W.
Williams, Jr. Alumni Center will bring The
Association of Former Students one step
closer to achieving its vision of being the
premier alumni organization in the country.
Watch Texas Aggie magazine, as well as The Association’s monthly E-Newsletter,
for continuing updates about enhancements to the Clayton W. Williams, Jr., Alumni
Center, or visit AggieNetwork.com/Building.
aggienetwork.com
March/April 2008 | Texas Aggie
51
When the Clayton W. Williams, Jr. Alumni Center
was first conceived in the 1980s, The Association of Former Students’ staff numbered 29,
typewriters were the norm, and there were only about 100,000 living former students.
Today, The Association’s staff size has doubled to serve a former student population that
has nearly tripled. Typewriters have been replaced by computers and e-mail, and the
number of students on campus has grown from 35,000 to more than 45,000.
The 20-year-old building remains a
great facility, but to continue to serve a
former student and current student base
that is much larger than when the building was first conceived, the overall functionality needs an update. A construction
project to improve that functionality and
provide numerous enhancements to the
building began in early March.
The enhanced Clayton W. Williams,
Jr. Alumni Center will provide a welcoming and engaging environment for
prospective students, current students,
former students, friends of A&M and
their families. The Association’s home
will tell the stories of the university’s
proud past and reflect The Association’s
commitment to Texas A&M’s future.
“We want this facility to represent
the premier alumni association in the
country,” said Association Executive
Director Porter S. Garner III ’79. “It needs
to accommodate and inspire all who work
here and all who visit. It needs to reflect
not only the mission but the legacy of
former students. It needs to inspire The
Association’s employees and A&M’s former students and the future generations
of Texas Aggies. And we’re going to make
sure that it does that on a daily basis.”
When the project is complete, the
history of Texas A&M will come to life
in blazing video with the installation of
a state-of-the-art video wall. Aggies will
see the core values of Texas A&M represented through precious artifacts that
will rotate on display in a new mezzanine
area on the second floor. And due to the
generosity of Harold J. ’46 and Reta K.
Haynes, the exterior will feature a magnificent new Ring Plaza on the campus
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Texas Aggie | March/April 2008
An artist’s rendering of the front of the building.
The redesigned fountain is in the foreground.
An artist’s rendering of the back of the building,
showing one of the quote walls.
The video wall’s enormous size can be seen in
this rendering.
side of the building, which will contain
a larger-than-life bronze sculpture of an
Aggie Ring, big enough to walk through,
and sure to become a gathering place for
Aggies of all ages.
“The enhancement of our facility will
provide improved efficiency in our
office space, and most importantly, it will
allow us to tell the story of Texas A&M
and The Association in an interesting and
powerful way,” Garner said. “The Haynes
Ring Plaza will become a campus landmark where students and former students
gather to take photos under the Aggie
Ring. The video wall will allow us to present information videos and Aggie-related
programs in a powerful way. And our
mezzanine will allow future generations of
Aggies to experience Texas A&M’s past.”
Garner said he feels strongly that
the Williams Alumni Center is the best
repository for displaying the comprehensive history of A&M and The Association.
“There is now no single facility that
represents in comprehensive fashion the
entire 131-year history of Texas A&M and
its former students, and I think that’s a
travesty,” he said. “It’s a missed opportunity. The sports museum does a good job
with athletic history, and the Corps museum does a good job with Corps history,
but there is just no one single facility that
tells the whole story of Texas A&M and
The Association of Former Students.”
Shelley E. Potter ’78, president-elect
of The Association’s Board of Directors
and chair of the Building Enhancement
Task Committee, said the Williams
Alumni Center is a tool for connecting
the Aggie Network, whether in person
or virtually, and for bringing to life the
aggienetwork.com
core values of what it means to be an
Aggie. “It should serve as a welcoming
and engaging environment for prospective students, current students, former
students and their families … a ‘must
see’ destination on any visit to campus.”
Potter said that, in addition to enhancing the most visible features of the
Alumni Center, the transformation will
require behind-the-scenes improvements
to such items as mechanical systems,
security, sprinkler systems, technology
and fire alarms to ensure the safety and
continued enjoyment of the facility.
“It is an ambitious project, but we
feel that it meets the current and future
needs of The Association and enhances
our ability to fulfill our vision of being
the premier alumni organization in the
country,” Potter said. “Our building has
served us well for 20 years, but with the
incredible growth and changes in the
way we operate, it must do more.”
The Association
of Former Studen
ts
505 George Bu
sh Drive
College Station,
TX 77840
Funding
No university or other public funds
and no money from The Association’s
Annual Fund are being used for the
building enhancement project. Annual
Fund dollars support a wide spectrum of
student, staff and faculty activities, and
that support will continue. The leadership of The Association is committed to a
separate capital fundraising campaign for
the building project.
The project costs, including architectural and engineering fees, furniture,
technology, and branding, are estimated at
$12 million, which includes reserves for additional maintenance and operations. The
Association staff, as well as Board members
and volunteers, are being called upon to
cultivate and solicit the needed funds.
All former students are encouraged to
help fund these enhancements. For information about becoming a donor, contact
Barbara Kasper ’82 at (979) 845-7514 or at
[email protected].
Background
Research and discussions related to
enhancing the building began back in 1997,
after The Association launched a major
market research project to determine why
participation in The Association was not
growing at the same rate as the number of
aggienetwork.com
How To Reach Us
For safety reasons and to expedite construction, the staff of The Association
of Former Students has vacated the Clayton W. Williams, Jr. Alumni Center. All
staff had moved out of the building by the beginning of March and will return
when construction is complete in six to nine months.
There will be no changes to The Association’s phone number
or mailing address.
n Telephone number: (979) 845-7514. Departmental fax numbers
also remain unchanged.
n Postal mail: The mailing address remains 505 George Bush Drive,
College Station, TX 77840
n
E-mail addresses for Association staffers are also unchanged.
n For more information about contacting The Association, see Page 10.
Temporary locations of Association operations
n Most Association staffers and departments are temporarily working out of
Crystal Park Plaza, 2700 Earl Rudder Freeway in College Station. The
Crystal Park Plaza building is at the southwest corner of the Rudder
Freeway, also known as the Highway 6 Bypass, and Emerald Parkway. If you need turn-by-turn directions to the temporary location, call The Association at (979) 845-7514.
n The Campus Programs team and Ring Office will remain on campus with an office in the Grove, just south of Albritton Tower.
n The next Aggie Ring Day, scheduled for April 4, will take place at G. Rollie White Coliseum. For more information, visit AggieNetwork.com/Ring.
March/April 2008 | Texas Aggie
53
Texas A&M graduates. Through that study
and subsequent research over the following decade, The Association learned that it
was not maximizing the use and messaging opportunities of one of its largest assets,
that crowding of office spaces was leading
to inefficiencies that needed to be addressed, and that the atmosphere did not
showcase the programs and projects that
are supported daily by The Association.
In September 2003, The Association
engaged the services of leading worldwide architecture firm Gensler to study
the existing and adjacent properties,
review the building entrance and interior
space, and evaluate current and future
office space needs and efficiency. The
Board of Directors’ Building Enhancement Task Committee met with Gensler
as well as staff numerous times to review
the design elements.
The analysis, visioning, programming
and schematic design phases of the
project culminated on Nov. 3, 2006, when
schematic designs were presented to
and approved by the Board. As designed,
the enhancements will add about 12,460
square feet of interior space to the building.
A walkway leading to the Haynes Plaza and
the campus side of the building.
The Haynes Ring Plaza, a gift from Harold J. ’46
and Reta K. Haynes, seen from the mezzanine.
Raising The Goosebumps
Garner said that in a general sense, the
alumni center is every former student’s
home at Texas A&M, and it should be a
focal point for the unshakable pride that
Aggies have for their school.
“That pride needs to start swelling
the closer you get to this facilty,” he said.
“You park in the lot, come up through
The second-floor walkway in Flores Hall will
be finished out into a mezzanine and used for
historical displays.
Then And Now
Much has changed in the more than two decades years since the
Clayton W. Williams, Jr. Alumni Center was conceived and built.
1983
Today
Student Body
35,000
45,000+
Faculty
2,075
2,700+
Former Students
101,732
300,000+
Association Staff
29
65
Annual Fund
$2.6 million
$7.1 million
Technology Typewriters
Computers
Mail
E-mail
Paper ResourcesInternet
CommunicationsDirectory of Former Students
54
Texas Aggie | March/April 2008
AggieNetwork.com
the Haynes Ring Plaza, see all the quotes,
and it builds to a crescendo so that once
you enter Flores Hall, you are just overwhelmed with pride. As you go up those
stairs to the mezzanine level and navigate
the precious history of A&M and The
Association of Former Students, there
ought to be a tingle as you swell up with
pride. And as you leave, there ought to be
a sustaining feeling of pride as well. This
building ought to be a constant representation of the unshakable Spirit of Aggieland. That spirit is not tied to a winning
or losing football team. It’s tied to Muster,
it’s tied to Silver Taps, and it’s tied to all
the core values of Texas A&M, which are
going to reflect and be forever emoted by
the fact they are engraved in stone.”
Harold Haynes ’46, the project’s lead
donor, also cited A&M’s core values when
discussing his affection for the university.
“A&M gave me a real good, solid foundation, not only in the education process,
but also in learning discipline and moral
values,” he said. “Those are things that
still mean a lot to me and that I trace to
A&M. What I learned there at A&M really
serves to this day as the foundation for my
moral and ethical values.”
Garner noted that the Clayton W. Williams, Jr. Alumni Center is the only building on campus that 98 percent of undergrad students will visit during their career
at A&M, because it’s where students
order and then receive their Aggie Rings.
“When you consider that 98 percent,
the obligation becomes pretty stark,”
Garner said. “I think we have an opportunity here to inspire 98 percent of our
students by telling them their history
and by displaying their Aggie heritage.
Before they leave this campus, they know
what that Ring means and the symbolism behind it. They know the story of the
’42 Muster that put us on the map. They
know who Earl Rudder was. They know
who Lawrence Sullivan Ross was. They
see the Corregidor flag. They can access
oral histories. Whether it’s the branding of
Bevo or the finding of Reveille or the story
of Law Hall, we’re going to bring it to life.
“Educating, inspriring and motivating
future generations of Texas Aggies … now,
that’s impact. And if impacting 98 percent
of every graduating class isn’t inspiration
enough, I don’t know what is.”
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