The Fourth Decade

E4 | Sunday, December 15, 2019 | lmtonline.com | Laredo Morning Times 50 Anniversary five buildings we had at the time, so students were going building to building to try to get all of their work done, so it was impossible and the tech wasn’t what it is today. That was a dream of ours to have a one-stop shop cen- ter.” It contained units in one area for students to access resources and information, including the offices for Registrar, Admissions, Fi- nancial Aid Campus Card Services, Recruitment and School Relations and the Bursar’s Office. It also housed the offices for Recruitment and School Relations, the bookstore, Student Success, Testing Center, Advising and Men- toring Center, and Student Counseling Services. TAMIU students could get closer to Wall Street and global finances through the renovation of the Value- Investing Trading Room and Technology Center. The renovation funding was donated by the “Tony” and Maria J. Sanchez Family Foundation. New Programs With the opening of the Office for International Pro- grams, it coordinated study abroad trips for students and faculty. It coordinated with more than 20 higher educa- tion institutions around the globe and assisted interna- tional students coming to TAMIU. In August 2000, TAMIU enrolled its first student to its new four-year Honors Program through the D.D. Hachar Hon- ors Program. In a victo- ry for sports, TAMIU an- nounced in 2002 it was beginning an athletics pro- gram which f e a t u r e d men’s and women’s soc- cer along with volleyball. T A M I U joined the Na- tional Asso- ciation for In- tercollegiate Athletics and par t i c ipa t ed in the Red River Athlet- ics Confer- ence under the guidance of Athletics Di- rector Steve Garippa. In 2007, TAMIU’s base- ball program launched its inaugural season and played four games over four days. It began with a three-game series at Tarleton State Uni- versity and played its first home game in school history against Schreiner Univer- sity. TAMIU became a full member of the NCAA’s Di- vision II in 2006 playing in the Heartland Conference, and all 11 TAMIU teams were then eligible for Con- ference and NCAA post- season championship play beginning in 2008 after the NCAA’s mandatory two- year probationary period. Native Puerto Rican Jose Alicea, a student-athlete, earned his Master of Busi- ness Administration at TA- MIU on a basketball schol- arship. He also was the first intercollegiate basketball athlete to finish four years in TAMIU’s basketball pro- gram in 2010. It was a tri- umph for Puerto Rican stu- dents who wished to attend school in the U.S. but were restricted by finances and language barriers. After it dissolved in the 1970s under Joe Garcia, the ROTC program was re- established in 2003. ROTC saw a great increase in the enrollment of women, which tripled since Spring 2009 to October 2009. “When I left here, they closed the program because we weren’t commissioning enough people,” Garcia said. “But later on, we became part of the new ROTC pro- gram, and they restructured the ROTC program com- pletely.” After successfully ob- taining its four-year status, TAMIU announced that its first Ph.D. in International Business was being consid- ered during a Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board meeting in 2003. From 2002 to 2003, TA- MIU received grants total- ing over $5.4 million for programs, research and/or services. Its International Business Ph.D. was approved and of- fered courses for Fall 2004. TAMIU also announced it would collaborate with Ph.D. degrees in Hispanic Studies and Curriculum with A&M System sister campus- es, the first Hispanic Studies doctorate program in Texas. Lola Orellano-Pérez joined Lisa Flores, the direc- tor of the Office of Student Activities, and Conchita Hickey, Office of Programs for Academic Support and Enrichment executive direc- tor, to become the first co- hort in the collaborate Ph.D. in Hispanic Studies. In 2003, the Texas High- er Education Coordinating Board approved TAMIU for three music degrees, making it the 55th degree offered at the university. TAMIU not only helped current students, but it also TAMIU’s ROTC program saw female cadet totals triple over the course of 2009.