How RELLIS Came to Be

The Texas A&M University System is one of the largest systems of higher education in the nation, with a budget of $4.55 billion. Through a statewide network of 11 universities and seven state agencies, the Texas A&M System educates more than 152,000 students and makes more than 22 million additional educational contacts through service and outreach programs each year. System-wide, research and development expenditures exceeded $972 million in FY 2016 and helped drive the state’s economy.

At the helm of this major network of people, places and accomplishments is System Chancellor John Sharp.

His newest and most innovate accomplishment is the creation of the RELLIS Campus on the site of the old Bryan Army Air Field and the Texas A&M University Riverside Campus.

Sharp talks about how the idea of the RELLIS Campus came to be.

As Chancellor of The Texas A&M University System, John Sharp leads one of the nation’s largest university systems, including 11 universities and seven state agencies. Sharp earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Texas A&M University in 1972, where he was student body president and a member of the Corps staff of the Corps of Cadets. Upon graduation, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army Reserves. In 1976, while working full-time with the Legislative Budget Board in Austin, Sharp received a master’s degree in public administration from Southwest Texas State University.Chancellor Sharp has spent more than three decades in public service. In 1978, he was elected to the Texas House of Representatives and was named “Outstanding Freshman” by Texas Monthly. He won a seat in the Texas Senate in 1982, where he served on the powerful Senate Finance Committee, and was elected to the Texas Railroad Commission in 1986. He was elected state comptroller in 1990 and re-elected in 1994.