Texas A&M will soon begin interviewing applicants for Corps of Cadets commandant, President Mark A. Welsh III said during a press conference in the Memorial Student Center marking his anniversary in the permanent position.
Applications for the Corps’ highest position closed on Nov. 12. The search committee, led by Welsh’s chief of staff, Susan Ballabina, is currently selecting top candidates for first-round interviews.
“The Corps — in my mind, it is this noble, elite organization that should always be at the center of Texas A&M because of its tie to the heritage and the legacy of this university,” Welsh said. “Hiring a new commandant is really critically important to us.”
The search committee hopes to have finalists on campus by the end of January to “expose them to many different groups” and “give people the opportunity to make input on the final selection,” Welsh said.
Lt. Gen. Loyd S. “Chip” Utterback has served as interim commandant since Welsh directed the previous leader, Patrick Michaelis, to step down in August for unstated reasons.
“There were just some things happening that made it very clear that it was time for a change,” Welsh said during a sit-down interview with The Battalion on Thursday, Nov. 21. “I think there are a number of constituencies that believe that. Patrick knows why he was asked to step down. Let me say this: I have a lot of respect for Patrick Michaelis. He worked hard in his job, and it’s a very difficult job.”
Michaelis was the commanding general of the U.S. Army Training Center at Fort Jackson before being named commandant in 2022. In the role, he continued the “March to 3,000” initiative to increase the Corps to 3,000 members. As of this fall, the organization boasts 2,400 cadets.
Michaelis faced criticism after attempting to reform various aspects of the Corps, such as a proposed plan to remove freshman cadets from the outfit structure in exchange for an academy where they trained together before integrating with the outfits. Opponents believed the change would dilute the individual outfits’ uniqueness, while Michaelis saw it as a reform that would better integrate freshmen .
“He’s a very smart guy,” Welsh said. “He’s a very conscientious guy. He’s a big-thinking guy, actually, and he did everything he could to move the Corps forward in the time he was here.”
In a letter the former commandant wrote earlier this year announcing his resignation to his staff, he said he had “been working on borrowed time.”
Following Welsh’s directive, Michaelis transitioned to special assistant to the president. His current role’s duties are unclear. The next commandant, Welsh said, must be “an example of how things should be at Texas A&M and an even stronger defender of the traditions and the legacy of the university.”
“[The Corps] used to be all the student body, and it’s kind of — steadily, as the university has grown — has become a smaller and smaller percentage,” Welsh said. “To me, and to I think most of the members of the Corps, that means that you need to be even more and more prestigious. You need to have a greater impact, not a lesser impact.”
The committee searching for the new commandant is composed of Welsh’s chief of staff, Ballabina, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs Angie Hill Price, Dean of The Bush School of Government and Public Service John B. Sherman, Office of the Commandant Chief of Staff Meredith Simpson, Corps of Cadets Commander Deandre Macri and General (Ret.) William M. Fraser III. The committee anticipates announcing a finalist in February 2025.
