December 2025 Operations Update

The excitement of hosting a College Football Playoff game … what a monumental moment to be an Aggie, and what an honor it is for each of our teams to play such an integral role in welcoming fans from across our nation to Kyle Field, our campus and our Bryan-College Station community.

With an avid base of college football fans near and far, it is no small undertaking to prepare as Texas A&M will host Miami in the first round of the College Football Playoff on Saturday, Dec. 20, with a kickoff time of 11 a.m. CST. We’ve gotten the all-clear to stay true to the Aggie gameday experience, from Midnight Yell to the Aggie Band and Boot Line at halftime. More details will be shared soon with the university community about main campus operations and key services.

As we welcome these visitors and move about the Bryan-College Station community on the day-to-day, phase one of the State Highway 6 widening project is fully underway. Crews are focused on the areas south of University Drive, setting barriers, adding street lighting, restriping the frontage roads temporarily and making improvements to drainage. You will also notice temporary widening of the main lanes, from Briarcrest Drive to University Drive, but this will be completed overnight.

All major work in the renovation of Penberthy Boulevard, a part of the campus mobility improvements underway on our main campus, is complete. This included expanding the roadway to offer four lanes of vehicular travel, with the addition of multiuse paths for wheeled devices and pedestrians in each direction. The final touches are underway, including paver installation at the northern entry of Lot 100m, landscaping on the east side of George H.W. Bush Drive to Tom Chandler Drive, final signage and striping, and digital signage for lots 100c and 100e. Transportation Services is also piloting in-road safety devices at the intersection of Penberthy Boulevard and Tom Chandler Drive designed to slow speeds and draw attention to crossing points.

The Bryan-College Station Metropolitan Planning Organization, with support from Texas A&M, the cities of Bryan and College Station, and Brazos County, is set to kick off a study to develop an implementation plan for grade separated bicycle and pedestrian crossings. The study area includes University Drive between Texas Avenue and Agronomy Road/Olsen Boulevard and identify complete streets opportunities along South College Avenue from Villa Maria Road to University Drive. The study, which focuses on creating safe connections and mobility for different modes between the community and campus, will start in January 2026 and is expected to take 12 months to complete.

Texas A&M’s new TAMU AI Chat, developed by Technology Services and The Texas A&M University System, is now available to help employees streamline everyday work. This secure, university-approved platform brings together leading AI models — including GPT, Claude and Gemini — to assist with drafting messages, creating agendas, summarizing documents, generating ideas, analyzing data and more. Learn more through the Documentation site and Getting Started videos and contact the team via email at aichat@tamu.edu with any questions.

Technology Services is also set to continue their resource table pop-up events in January, offering support to faculty, staff and students across the main campus Jan. 20-23. From setting up DUO multifactor authentication on a new device to assisting with software or other tech-related questions, Help Desk Central will be on hand, and collaborating with local IT professionals, to provide support and guidance in-person from 12:30-4 p.m. at the dates and locations noted below:

• Tuesday, Jan. 20: Aggie One Stop, General Service Complex (GSC)
• Wednesday, Jan. 21: University Libraries, Sterling C. Evans Library lobby
• Thursday, Jan. 22: College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, VENI lobby
• Friday, Jan. 23: The Bush School of Government and Public Service, Allen Building lobby

And as we finish out this semester, I want to take a moment to once again thank you for your contributions — not only in the work you do, but also in the generosity you’ve shown through the State Employee Charitable Campaign. As a university, we collectively gave just under $287,000, and of that total contribution, Operations generated nearly $30,000 in support for organizations supporting a variety of worthy causes, helping communities across our state, nation and even world.

Peter Lange
Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President, Texas A&M University