Monday, August 27, 2001

Today@Sam: A Brief Biography of Bobby K. Marks

Bobby K. Marks, who came to Sam Houston State Teachers College in 1960 as an instructor of management, retired in August 2001, after serving almost six years as the 11th president of Sam Houston State University.

Friday, August 10, 2001

Today@Sam: The Master of the Plan

Ralph Spencer, the well-known architect and new Huntsville resident, just finished designing the new Master Plan for Sam Houston State University that will take the institution through the next 10 years of its development.

President Marks was able to get Spencer to come out of his 1989 retirement and design the new master plan. Spencer designed the previous plan in 1980 that took the university to the year 2000.

"It was hard for us to think in terms of working with a different campus master planner, one who would have to start from the beginning to know the University," said Marks. "Ralph knew the personality and infrastructure of the University well.

"Frankly, we began to contrive ways of coaxing him out of retirement on a temporary basis, to update the campus master plan one more time. To shorten the story, we were successful in our attempts."

Tuesday, August 7, 2001

Today@Sam: Y2K+10 Master Plan Adopted

Y2K+10, a master plan calling for expenditures of more than $200 million, has been adopted for Sam Houston State University for the first decade of the 21st Century.

The plan submitted by architect/planner Ralph D. Spencer Sr. and approved by the university's board of regents emphasizes new student housing, better definition of campus edges, new and improved academic facilities and structured parking.

Sunday, August 5, 2001

Item: Marks says farewell to university

In a special interview with The Huntsville Item this week, Sam Houston State University President Bobby K. Marks reviewed a 41-year career that has witnessed the growth and development of a former teacher's college into one of Texas' important doctoral intensive state universities.