diverse as older nontraditional students, ethnic and racial minorities, and international students all grew in numbers. The economic downturn in Texas in the mid-1980s seriously threatened the university, leading to proposals to close it entirely before a bus trip with 450 supporters trekked to the State Capitol in a show of support that ultimately secured its continued existence. In 1996, ETSU was admitted into the Texas A&M University System (TAMUS) and renamed Texas A&M University–Commerce (A&M–Commerce). ETSU's former branch campus in Texarkana was renamed Texas A&M University–Texarkana and admitted into TAMUS as a separate university.
During the summer of 2024, the university administration along with the Texas A&M University System began discussions regarding the possibility of another name change for the University that would "more accurately brand the school and reflect the university's mission to recruit future college students in the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex as well as Northeast Texas." The first …
