Skip to main content Currently Reading Texas A&M's incoming president says she's planning for campus to return to 'normal mode' this fall KATE MCGEE, The Texas Tribune April 9, 2021 FacebookTwitterEmail When M. Katherine Banks became the new engineering school dean at Texas A&M University in 2012, an associate dean drove her to the Zachry building, the heart of the university’s engineering program in College Station. He pulled into the basement-level garage and honked the horn twice — a preventive measure to scare off skunks that infested the aging facility. Above them, the building reeked of mold. Engineering students not-so-lovingly dubbed it the “Zachry Smell.” Inside the building's lecture hall, a once-impressive revolving stage, was broken.