This story is the fourth in a series of six Values in Action profiles that highlight the Texas A&M core values.

Story by Elisabeth Kent
Video by Jamie Arrexi and Nicole Smith

Integrity is a frequently used word on the Texas A&M University at Qatar campus. Students sign the University’s integrity banner each year, and faculty members remind students to behave with integrity on coursework at the beginning of each semester. Dr. Eric Wilson, the University’s student support services manager, is one of the central figures behind these initiatives. He promotes integrity on the campus as the overseer of the University’s Honor System.

Wilson describes his role in the Honor System saying, “I work to protect the University’s interests by making sure that students exhibit academic integrity and with students to make sure that they understand the Honor Code. In situations where students violate the Honor Code, I want to help them realize the implications of their actions – why these actions are detrimental to the academic community and to themselves professionally. I hope they also understand the importance of personal integrity, not only academic integrity.”

For engineers in particular, Wilson emphasizes the danger of a lack of integrity. If an engineer does not practice integrity, someone could be injured or killed. The severity of this potential consequence makes it all the more important to Wilson that integrity be emphasized on the Texas A&M at Qatar campus.

Wilson is working with a team of students, faculty and staff to highlight integrity at the University. “We are trying to make the Honor Code much more visible,” he says. “Faculty discuss the Honor Code in the beginning of every course and reinforce it when they’re handing out exams. Outside the classroom, we want to keep integrity on the forefront of students’ minds. Most recently at Academic Convocation, we had the student academic integrity banner available for students to sign. We’re also forming a student organization so that students have a bigger piece in promoting academic integrity and can take ownership of it for themselves.”

Wilson clearly has his hands full with the ongoing integrity initiatives at the University, but he also works in other capacities in his role as the University’s student support services manager. He maintains that the best part of the job is working with students. “I get to work with students in every area of my job,” he says. “I help students with their financial aid and scholarship opportunities, advise the Student Engineers Council and assist with the study abroad program and career services. The one thing that ties all of these aspects of my job together is interacting with students.”

Close interaction with students and the student growth opportunities this creates motivates Wilson daily in his work. “If I’m dealing with academic integrity, there’s an opportunity for a student to grow to understand the importance of integrity,” Wilson explains. “It’s a great day when I realize that a student truly understands what he or she has done wrong in violating the Honor Code and won’t do it again in the future. Being able to help students with financial aid or an international exchange experience through study abroad also motivates me.”

In the same way that he helps students to grow, Wilson credits Texas A&M at Qatar with encouraging him to grow professionally. “In my previous jobs, I had a small area of responsibility because the organizations that I worked in were very large,” says Wilson. “This organization is much smaller, so I get to have a wider breadth of experience. I’ve developed many skills that I wouldn’t have developed in other situations. I’m very grateful for the opportunity to be part of Texas A&M at Qatar because of the experiences and growth it has offered me.”

Texas A&M at Qatar aims to provide students with a top engineering education, but also opportunities that enable them to grow as individuals, leaders and community members. Wilson is one of the many staff members that contribute to making this goal a reality, supporting Texas A&M at Qatar in its efforts to engineer a world of difference.

Reflecting on his role, Wilson concludes, “I hope to engineer a world of difference by helping equip students to be the leaders of tomorrow. Integrity is a large part of this. Besides the fact that it is crucial for success as an engineer, integrity is the cornerstone of what it means to be an Aggie.”