KAMU, the public television and radio station at Texas A&M, premieres the first installment of its documentary series on the university's 150th anniversary at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29, on KAMU-TV.
The series, "Texas A&M University: 150 Years of Impact," was produced by KAMU Studios and runs six parts and roughly six hours in total. The station says it is not a chronological history; each episode instead follows the people behind a different area of the university's work. Texas A&M opened on Oct. 4, 1876.
Episode 1: "Answering the Call"
The opening hour deals with national security, protecting the coast and responding to disasters. KAMU lists these people among those featured:
- Robert Gates, former secretary of defense, former CIA director and a former Texas A&M president
- Marvin Adams, former deputy administrator for defense programs at the National Nuclear Security Administration
- John Sherman, dean of the Bush School and a former chief information officer of the Department of Defense
- Christine Crudo Blackburn of the School of Public Health
- Sam Brody, director of the Institute for a Disaster Resilient Texas at Texas A&M Galveston
- Jeff Saunders, director of Texas A&M Task Force 1
- Alex Brinley of the Veterinary Emergency Team
Fred McClure, a 1976 graduate who worked as an assistant to then-President George H.W. Bush and is now A&M's chief community engagement officer, narrates the series, according to the station. A different Texas A&M student hosts each episode; Elizabeth Drake, a 2026 graduate now in a master's program at Mays Business School, hosts the first.
Producer Jay Socol told KBTX the team's hardest job was cutting material. "There was no problem finding the right stories," he said. "The problem was which stories do we leave out." KAMU General Manager Kelly Brown leads the project.
