FEATURED: Texas A&M Chancellor John Sharp speaks at the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum in College Station on Thursday, November 3, 2023 after receiving the Jack Donnelly Award for Excellence in Counterintelligence. The award is given by the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency of the U.S. Defense Department only to entities that are cleared by the federal government to deter, detect and disrupt the theft of classified information. The award is named after John “Jack” Donnelly, who served as the Director of the Defense Investigative Service from 1988 to 1996.
Photograph TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY SYSTEM
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Sen. Hinojosa credits Texas A&M Chancellor John Sharp for influencing University of Texas System to create UT Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine
By DAVID A. DÍAZ [email protected]
As the summer 2025 retirement approaches for John Sharp, Chancellor, Texas A&M System, one of his most important, yet least known, contributions to the state and especially to the Rio Grande Valley was recently publicly revealed by Sen. Juan Hinojosa, D-McAllen.
On Friday, February 7, 2025, the Texas Senate Finance Committee – of which Hinojosa serves as Vice Chair — heard testimony from the Texas A&M University System, including the presidents of all A&M universities. Sharp, who last summer announced his retirement for later this year, attended the hearing to present his final priorities and funding requests after serving as chancellor since 2011.
During the hearing, Hinojosa praised Sharp for being an outstanding leader of the Texas A&M University System. He thanked him for playing a key role in transforming and expanding higher education opportunities and access to healthcare resources in the Rio Grande Valley and the Coastal Bend.
Hinojosa recalled that before the 2013 regular session of the Texas Legislature, when leaders from the Rio Grande Valley were working to create a medical school in South Texas, they received some pushback from the University of Texas System.
In 2012, Sharp stepped in and offered to create a medical school in South Texas.
“Almost within days after that story came out, UT relented and said, ‘Okay, we’ll support a medical school in South Texas.’ Now we have a medical school. Thank you (Sharp) for doing that for us,” Hinojosa said.
Sharp recounted how the proposal came to fruition, with the major involvement of Hinojosa and Alonzo Cantú.
Cantú, a native of McAllen, serves as Vice Chair, (University of Houston System, Board of Regents), who was appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday, November 8, 2019, and whose term ends on Sunday, August 31, 2025.
Cantú is CEO and president of Cantú Construction & Development Company, chairman of Lone Star National Bank, and a member at DHR Health (Doctors Hospital at Renaissance) Board of Managers. He is chairman and founder of Valley Alliance of Mentors for Opportunities and Scholarships (VAMOS) and a member of The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Foundation Board. Cantú received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from UH.
“How that really happened is (Juan) “Chuy” Hinojosa and Alonzo Cantú came to me and said, ‘Can you come down to the Valley and act like you’re putting a medical school in the Rio Grande Valley?’ True story,” Sharp explained.
Sharp continued, “They took me to the (McAllen) Country Club, made sure everybody saw me, made sure all the UT folks saw me. Then they put it in the paper that we were going to create a medical school. That got the attention of a member of my board of regents asking, ‘What are you doing?’ I said, ‘You know, everything’s alright. Then two days later, UT came and gave them a check for $50 million (joking about the $50 million).”
Sharp concluded, “It worked.”
During the 2013 legislative session, Hinojosa was the lead author of Senate Bill 24 which created the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and the UTRGV School of Medicine.
In November 2013, the University of Texas System Board of Regents approved nearly $200 million from the Permanent University Fund to pay for the construction of the medical school.
Hinojosa also thanked Sharp for establishing the A&M Higher Education Center in McAllen, which connects students directly to Texas A&M College Station, providing them with the same degree and opportunities.
Gov. Greg Abbott dedicated the first building at the McAllen Teaching Center, which for the first time brings Texas A&M education to the Rio Grande Valley, in 2018.
https://edinburgpolitics.com/2018/10/24/abbott-dedicate-higher-education-center/
“Chancellor Sharp has made the State of Texas a better place for all of us, and he has earned his upcoming retirement,” Hinojosa wrapped up his remarks. “I look forward to working with him in his final months as Chancellor of the A&M System.”
Hinojosa also acknowledged Sharp’s contributions to the Rio Grande Valley, referencing a report released by Sharp in 1998 during his tenure as Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.
This report highlighted the challenges and opportunities in the border area and included recommendations for specific initiatives.
Sharp published Bordering the Future: Challenge and Opportunity in the Texas Border Region, which provided an assessment of the economic, political, and social condition of the Texas border counties. This report, commissioned by the US / Mexico Border Counties Coalition, extends those findings to all of the 24 U.S. counties that are contiguous with Mexico. As a region, if these 24 counties were the 51st state, how would they compare with the rest of the nation?
“We implemented those initiatives, and they have made such a difference in taking the Valley out of poverty and making it into an economic success,” Hinojosa said. “Sometimes people don’t realize the impact that Chancellor Sharp has had throughout our state and the nation. And for that, we are very grateful and thankful.”
Bordering the Future: Challenge and Opportunity in the Texas Border Region was a report that assessed the economic, social, and political contributions of the Texas-Mexico border region in 1998. It was an attempt bo develop an agenda to life the border region out of poverty and neglect. It also helped to generate momentum in the region.
Bordering the Future: Challenge and Opportunity in the Texas Border Region recommendations included:
- Job training;
- Infrastructure investment;
- Economic development incentives;
- Improving public schools;
- Increasing state funding for colleges and universities;
- Unclogging border crossings; and
- Making affordable housing available.
Bordering the Future: Challenge and Opportunity in the Texas Border Region was well-received by business leaders, education experts, international-trade advocates, and community activists.
Sharp first said on Tuesday, July 1, 2o24, that he would retire as chancellor effective Friday, June 20, 2025.
Following his July 1, 2024 retirement announcement, Texans praised Sharp’s vision, energy, and breadth of accomplishments.
Porter Garner jokes that he is not sure John Sharp ever sleeps.
“It’s not uncommon to get a text from John late at night, or at four in the morning,” said Garner, longtime president of The Association of Former Students at Texas A&M University. “He has some new idea or concept he’d like to discuss. Ultimately, it is about A&M, to benefit our students, our former students our university.”
“He’s the best chancellor we’ve ever had,” Garner added. “No chancellor in history has ever advanced Texas A&M and the Texas A&M University System like John Sharp has.”
Garner is among the Texans praising the era of the longest serving chancellor in the history of the Texas A&M System.
“Texas is grateful for Chancellor John Sharp’s unwavering commitment to improving higher education in the State of Texas,” Gov. Abbott said. “His extraordinary leadership throughout his time as Chancellor of the Texas A&M University System provided young Texans with the tools they need to thrive in our booming economy.”
Sharp, who became Chancellor in September 2011, sent a letter thanking past and present regents, system employees and elected officials for their years of support.
“Leading this grand enterprise has been one of the great privileges of my life,” Sharp said. “I feel a deep sense of gratitude to all of you who have shown confidence in me and contributed to our collective endeavor. Together we have lifted the Texas A&M System to historic heights.”
The Board of Regents then announced a national search for Sharp’s successor, said Chairman Bill Mahomes.
“It’s an understatement to say we have giant boots to fill,” said Mahomes, a regent since 2015. “John Sharp is an Aggie icon – bigger than life – and we all are the beneficiaries of his bold leadership. He has made the system smarter, more innovative, and more responsive to the needs of Texans in every corner of the state.”
Phil Adams, who served on the Board of Regents during the first 10 years of Sharp’s tenure, applauded the breadth of Sharp’s accomplishments.
“The A&M System has become a dynamo nationally since John Sharp became chancellor,” Adams said. “He has had more vision, energy, and know-how than anyone else. Every year he had a big idea, and it got done.”
Some of the Sharp era achievements:
• A historic building boom with $11.4 billion for 306 projects that improved facilities at all 11 System universities and eight state agencies.
• The Chancellor’s Research Initiative built up key research fields by recruiting elite faculty. With additional support from the Governor’s University Research Initiative, the effort has led to a five-fold boost in faculty who are national research leaders as evidenced by membership in the elite National Academies in engineering, science, and medicine.
• The transformation of Riverside Campus into Texas A&M-RELLIS, a high-tech hub of research labs and test ranges to innovate for national defense and a variety of other needs. With backing from the U.S. Army Futures Command and numerous other outside stakeholders, the System and the state invested over $1 billion at RELLIS in the past eight years. The campus also includes an innovative academic component.
• The acquisition and growth of the Texas A&M School of Law, which has risen faster in national rankings than any law school in history. It is now considered No. 2 in Texas.
• The construction and renovation of athletic facilities throughout the System, most notably Kyle Field. Reopened in 2015 with more than 102,000 seats, it is the fourth biggest football stadium in the nation and the biggest in the SEC.
• The 10-year agreement to co-manage the Los Alamos National Laboratory, helping with lab management, nuclear operations and national security and scientific research.
A more detailed list of accomplishments is availablehere.
In his letter, Sharp noted proudly that “Texas A&M, in particular, has grown to become the school of choice, with one of the biggest enrollments in the nation” while “our culture, our traditions, and the patriotic fervor of our students remain intact. We reflect the great traditions and culture of the state of Texas.”
Sharp earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Texas A&M in 1972. He was a member of the Corps staff of the Corps of Cadets, and he was elected student body president. Before becoming chancellor, he had decades of public service, beginning in 1978 when he was elected to the Texas House of Representatives. He later was elected to serve in the Texas Senate, on the Texas Railroad Commission and twice as state comptroller.
Twice Sharp played critical roles in debates on the future of taxation and state finance in Texas.
In 1991, with the state government facing looming deficits, Sharp, as the newly elected Comptroller of Public Accounts, issued a performance report (Breaking the Mold) that found billions of dollars in efficiencies to sidestep the crisis.
Again in 2006, Sharp – by then out of office – was called by his old college friend and political rival, Gov. Rick Perry, to lead a tax reform commission and resolve a school finance crisis that threatened to close public schools.
The commission created a business tax in lieu of an income tax.
“I killed the income tax twice,” Sharp said.
Perry was not the only governor to call on Sharp.
In 2017, Gov. Abbott named Sharp as the leader of the Commission to Rebuild Texas in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.
Sharp accepted the challenge and the unpaid position while continuing to serve as the chancellor of the A&M System.
“Chancellor Sharp rose to the occasion and helped ensure victims received all the necessary resources to recover,” Abbott said.
Later, the state decided to improve coordination of disaster response by adding the Texas Division of Emergency Management to the A&M System as its eighth state agency.
“I thank Chancellor Sharp for his dedication to chartering a brighter future for Texas,” Abbott said, “and I am proud of the work we achieved together for students across our great state and for all Texans.”
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called Sharp “a Texas institution.”
“Throughout his 45 years of public service in many different roles, Chancellor Sharp learned and perfected how to get things done in Austin,” Patrick said. “In his years as Texas A&M Chancellor he was a fierce advocate for the Aggies and will leave an indelible mark on higher education in Texas long after his retirement. Chancellor Sharp is ever a maverick; he managed to keep me on my toes throughout my time as a public servant. I always enjoyed our meetings and dealings. He is truly one of a kind and I thank him for his public service.”
State Rep. Greg Bonnen, R-Friendswood, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, placed Sharp in the pantheon (a group of particularly respected, famous, or important people) of Aggie leadership.
“Texas A&M has had many great leaders like Sul Ross and James Earl Rudder, each leaving behind a legacy that reverberates through the character and values of Texas A&M,” Bonnen said. “As John Sharp’s tenure draws to a close, he steps into the history pages of this elite class of Aggie leaders, adding an indelible chapter of transformational advancements and life-changing achievements. His practical and enthusiastic guidance, driven by the spirit of the 12th Man, has forever changed Texas A&M and made our state and country safer and more prosperous for generations to come. I am grateful to Chancellor Sharp and his family for his many years of service to this great institution and the State of Texas.”
In his letter, Sharp said, “While I am retiring from this job, I will find ways to continue to serve the great state I love.”
He added, “One thing is for certain, I will never be too busy or too old to help Texas A&M and the Texas A&M System.”
The chancellor’s letter is available here.
A downloadable video message from the chancellor is available here.
The Texas A&M University System is one of the largest systems of higher education in the nation, with a budget of $7.3 billion. Through a statewide network of 11 universities, a comprehensive health science center, eight state agencies, and the Texas A&M-RELLIS campus, the Texas A&M System educates more than 157,000 students and makes more than 21 million additional educational contacts through service and outreach programs each year.
System-wide, research and development expenditures exceed $1 billion and help drive the state’s economy.
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Dariel Ramírez and Laylan Copelin contributed to this article. For more on this and other Texas legislative news stories that affect the Rio Grande Valley metropolitan region, please log on to Titans of the Texas Legislature (TitansoftheTexasLegislature.com).
