privacy and security statement

This website is operated by Texas A&M University (“University”). This privacy policy ("Policy") explains how information is collected, used and disclosed by the University with respect to your use of the tamu.edu website and other University sites that display this Policy (the "Sites") so you can make an informed decision about using the Sites. This Policy also applies to information collected on other websites on our behalf by third-party vendors. We reserve the right to change this Policy at any time. We encourage you to review this Policy from time to time to make sure that you understand how any personal information you provide will be used.

Information Collection and Use

We collect personal information when you voluntarily provide us with information for responding to inquiries, including mail, telephone or electronic contact. Personal and demographic information may also be collected if you leave comments on the Sites or in connection with your participation in surveys, social media, contests, games, promotions and other activities on the Sites. As used herein, the term "personal information" means information that specifically identifies an individual (such as a name, address, telephone number or email address) and information about that individual or his or her activities that is directly linked to personal information. We use personal information collected through our Sites for the purposes described in this Policy or elsewhere on the Sites, to respond to your requests or to monitor the overall effectiveness of the Sites. Information is kept as long as the service for which it was submitted is active. Information may be retained afterward as a record of the service.

When you use the Sites, some information is automatically recorded, such as your Internet Protocol (IP) address, your operating system, the browser type, the address of a referring website and your activity on our Sites. If you access the Sites from a mobile device, we may also collect information about the type of mobile device you use, the type of mobile internet browsers you use and information about the location of your device. This information may be used to analyze trends, to identify system performance or to create summary statistics. We treat this information as personal information if we combine it with or link it to any of the personal information mentioned above. Personal information does not include "aggregate" information, which is data we collect about the use of the Sites or about a group or category of services or users, from which individual identities or other personal information has been removed.

We may also collect certain information through the use of "cookies" or web beacons. Cookies are small data files stored on your hard drive at the request of a website. Among other things, cookies help us improve our Sites and your experience. Information obtained from cookies and linked to personally identifying information is treated as personal information. Anonymous identifiers are random strings of characters that are used for the same purposes as a cookie on platforms, including certain mobile devices, where cookie technology is not available. Web beacons are small, invisible graphic images that may be used on the Sites or in emails relating to the Sites to collect certain information about usage and effectiveness and monitor user activity on the Sites.

If you wish to block, erase or be warned of cookies, please refer to your browser manufacturer’s information to learn about these functions.

Web Analytics

You can browse our website without giving us any personal information. We use web analytics technology, including specifically Google Analytics and Google Analytics Demographics and Interest Reporting, to help us analyze traffic to the Sites in order to understand visitors’ interests and to continually update our Sites to improve a user’s experience. Visit Google’s Privacy Policy to learn how Google Analytics collects and processes data. You may choose to engage Google Analytics’ currently available opt-outs for the web.

Collection and Use by Third-Party Vendors

Third-party vendors, such as Google, may use cookies or other technologies to serve ads or deliver content on other websites based on your visits to our Sites and other sites on the internet and to provide analytics services. These third parties may automatically collect information about your visits to this and other websites, your IP address, your ISP, the browser you use to visit our Site, pages viewed, time spent on pages, links clicked and conversion information. They do this using cookies, clear GIFs or other technologies.

Information automatically collected by third parties may be used by third parties, among other things, to analyze and track data, to solicit donations, to deliver advertising or content on other websites based on your prior activities on this or other sites or targeted to your interests, and to better understand the usage and visitation of our Sites and the other sites tracked by these third parties. To manage settings for the Google advertising cookies and to opt out of certain features, visit their Ad Settings.

This Policy does not apply to, and we are not responsible for, cookies or clear GIFs used by third parties, and we encourage you to check the privacy policies of advertisers and/or ad services to learn about their use of cookies and other technology. If you would like to opt out of these cookies or obtain more information about this practice, visit Google Analytics opt-outs.

Information Sharing with Affiliates

Texas A&M University does not sell or share information for commercial solicitation or political purposes. However, we routinely share information among affiliated organizations to advance their missions in support of Texas A&M University. These affiliated organizations include the Texas A&M Foundation, The Association of Former Students, the George & Barbara Bush Foundation and the 12th Man Foundation. In recognition of their complementary missions, the Texas A&M Foundation and The Association of Former Students maintain a joint database of former student and donor records to provide superior service in a cost-effective and efficient manner to both you and Texas A&M University. Information provided to the Texas A&M Foundation and stored on the unified database is accessible to The Association of Former Students. You should review the privacy policies of the Texas A&M Foundation and The Association of Former Students for disclosure of how they may utilize this information.

Access to Information

Except for education records governed by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and other regulations, all information collected from this website, including the summary server log information, emails sent to the website and information collected from web-based forms, may be subject to the Texas Public Information Act. This means that while Texas A&M does not actively share information, in some cases it may be compelled by law to release information gathered from its web servers.

The Texas Public Information Act, with a few exceptions, gives you the right to be informed about the information that this website collects about you. It also gives you the right to request a copy of that information and to have the university correct any of that information that is wrong. You may request to receive and review any of that information or request corrections to it, by contacting the Texas A&M University Public Information Officer or the Texas A&M Office of Open Records, 1280 TAMU, College Station, Texas, 77843-1181, or at 979-862-4571.

Deleting Personal Information

Your right to delete personal data is subject to applicable legal requirements. To remove personally identifiable information that has been collected about you, contact helpdesk@tamu.edu. We will make a sincere effort to respond to your request in a timely manner. For a more timely response, you may instead directly contact the departmental owner of the site in question. We may take reasonable steps to verify your identity before granting this request. Deletion of data may result in the loss of services that are dependent on that information. We will also retain your personal data when it is needed to comply with legal obligations, disputes or agreements.

Security

Extensive security measures consistent with the Texas Administrative Code (TAC) "Information Security Standards" and Texas A&M University Rules and Standard Administrative Procedures have been employed to protect against unauthorized access, disclosure, modification, or destruction of information under our control, as well as the loss, misuse or alteration of this website and/or associated electronic information resources. The information resources that support this site undergo an annual information security risk assessment, to assess the security posture of information systems and measure compliance with information security standards.

Questions

Texas A&M University complies with the State Website Linking and Privacy Policy (PDF).