Dr. Elsa Murano

Dr. Elsa A. Murano

President, Texas A&M University

Dr. Elsa A. Murano serves as the 23rd President of Texas A&M University. At age 48, she is the first woman and first Hispanic-American to lead the oldest public institution of higher learning in Texas and now one of the largest teaching and research universities in the nation.

Dr. Murano worked her way up the academic ranks and into administration from an unconventional beginning. At the age of 2, her family departed from Havana, Cuba, when Fidel Castro came into power. After living in several Latin American countries, she and her family settled in Miami when she was 14 years old. At that time, she only knew Spanish, a language in which she is still fluent, but quickly mastered English and launched an educational career that carried her through the doctoral ranks.

Dr. Murano’s association with Texas A&M dates back to 1995, when she served as a member of the faculty. She interrupted her Texas A&M service in 2001 when President George W. Bush asked her to serve as Under Secretary for Food Safety for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, making her the highest-ranking food safety official in the U.S. government.

She returned to Aggieland in January 2005 as Vice Chancellor and Dean of Agriculture and Life Sciences, joint positions within the Texas A&M System in which she served until being appointed President of Texas A&M in January of 2008.

Dr. Murano received a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from Florida International University, and earned both a master’s degree in anaerobic microbiology and a doctorate in food science and technology from Virginia Tech.