Attachments

Becky Gates grew up in a Coast Guard family and had the opportunity to live in several states before returning to her parents’ home state of Washington in the sixth grade. She graduated from Roosevelt High School in Seattle, received her bachelor’s degree in History from Washington State University, and later went on to earn her master’s degree in Student Personnel Administration at Indiana University where she met her husband. Becky worked in higher education for 28 years, spending nearly 24 of those years at the Alexandria Campus of Northern Virginia Community College.

 

During her husband’s tenure as president of Texas A&M University, Becky supported numerous activities on campus including women’s leadership, the horticultural gardens, women’s sports, and the children’s day care center which was later named in her honor. She also served on the executive committee and chaired the Presidents’ and Chancellors’ Spouses Council of the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges (now the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities.) Although her husband’s work broughtthem back to Washington, DC, Becky has continued her close ties with Texas A&M. She remains an avid supporter of the Aggie women’s basketball and softball teams, attending games when possible, and occasionally she participates
in trips to New York City and tours in our nation’s capital with the Traveling Aggies. In August of 2007, Becky received an honorary doctorate from Texas A&M University.

 

Becky splits her time between Washington, DC, and her permanent home in Washington State. She has been married for 44 years to Dr. Robert M. Gates, the 22nd President of Texas A&M University and the 22nd Secretary of Defense, and is the mother of two adult children, Eleanor and Brad, who livein Washington State. She serves as the sponsor of the USS MISSOURI and participated in the keel-laying, christening, and commissioning ceremonies of the submarine between September 2008 and July 2010. Becky has served since 2005 on the Advisory Council for the College of Liberal Arts at her alma mater, Washington State University. She has recently accepted responsibility to help promote existing and develop new international and cultural awareness programs for Liberal Arts students and to link programs between the College of Liberal Arts and other colleges within the University. As she looks forward to returning to Washington State fulltime, in 2010 Becky joined the Board of the Olympic Park Institute, an organization dedicated to teaching science and environmental education in nature’s classroom – the Olympic National Park near where her parents grew up. Becky is hoping the long anticipated move to the Pacific Northwest will give her time to garden, hike, cook, play the piano, travel, shop, read, and try to keep in touch with her friends.