Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service
Official TEEX logo
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| Agency overview | |
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| Formed | 1919 |
| Jurisdiction | State of Texas |
| Headquarters | College Station, Texas |
| Annual budget | $76.4 million (FY2013) |
| Agency executives |
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| Website | www.teex.org |
Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX, pronounced "teeks") is a state agency that offers training programs and technical assistance to public safety workers, both in Texas and around the world. Established in 1940 as the Industrial Extension Service, the agency took on its current name when it joined The Texas A&M University System in 1948. The agency sponsors the state's primary urban search and rescue force, Urban Search and Rescue Texas Task Force 1, and operates the Brayton Fire Training Field. Brayton is the largest firefighting training facility in the United States that also contains a mock city for conducting training operations for emergency responders.
The first step toward the formation of the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service was the passing of the Morrill Land-Grant College Act in 1862, which led to the founding of several land-grant colleges, including the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas in 1871, which later became known as Texas A&M University. Despite its name, the college taught no agricultural classes, leading to protests by farmer groups and to much of the college's leadership being replaced. Other land-grant colleges around the country were also struggling, as farmers felt they had little incentive to adopt intensive farming methods and other advanced agricultural technologies. In response to the growing criticisms and lack of agricultural research being conducted, Congress passed the Hatch Experiment Station Act of 1887, which provided funding for agricultural experiment stations in each state. This led to the founding of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station in 1887, tasked with conducting research in all aspects of crop and livestock operations. While considered a big step toward improving farming, the stations struggled to effectively communicate their findings to farmers. In 1903, Seaman Asahel Knapp (1831–1911), a US Department of Agriculture agent, created a demonstration farm, where he could show other farmers how new farming techniques and production methods could benefit them. His success got Congress' notice and led to the passing of the Smith-Lever Act on May 8, 1914, which gave states the ability to establish official extension agencies affiliated with their land-grant universities. The Act helped to "extend" the research findings of the colleges and Experiment Stations in practical ways that helped the citizens in every county. Texas quickly took advantage of this new act and formed the Texas Agricultural Extension Service in the same year, associating it with the Agricultural & Mechanical College of Texas (Texas AMC).
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