Brazos Matters

More than 11,000 students, several dozen buildings, and a staff of roughly 450 — all are the responsibilities of Texas A&M Residence Life, the second-largest employer in the Division of Student Affairs. In this episode of “Brazos Matters,” host Jay Socol and student contributor Kaleigh Mazy ’26 visit with Dr. Kyle McCracken, Director of Residence Life, to explore what it takes to run one of the university's biggest and most personal operations.

McCracken traces his own path from reluctant RA recruit to residence life leader of nearly 15 years, and explains how his department tries to make a massive operation care about the individuals it serves. He talks candidly about competing with Northgate's resort-style, rooftop-pool apartment towers on a very different budget, and running a genuinely 24/7 operation where some staff live full-time in the buildings they manage.

The conversation also covers practical advice for families navigating the housing application timeline (apply early, stay flexible on preferences, and don't be afraid to call), how common spaces have evolved from century-old barracks-style halls to today's flexible gathering spots, and McCracken's goals for keeping pace with a student body that changes a little more every year.

“Brazos Matters” is a production of Aggieland’s Public Media, KAMU-TV and KAMU-FM, a member of Texas A&M University's Division of Community Engagement.

Can a 25-year-old graduate student today realistically expect to own a home someday? In this episode of "Brazos Matters," host Jay Socol and student contributor Kaleigh Mazy '26 dig into that very anxious, very common sentiment with two guests from the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University: Research Director Daniel Oney and Research Economist Yanling Mayer.

The pair explain what "housing affordability" really measures beyond sticker price — mortgage rates, property taxes, insurance, and maintenance costs — and challenge the assumption that Texas is still the budget-friendly haven it once was; the state's cumulative price appreciation over the past decade has actually outpaced the national average. They also push back on some Gen Z doom-and-gloom narratives: surprisingly, the median age of first-time buyers has held steady at 32-33 for two decades, even as more young buyers lean on financial help from parents and grandparents to get there.

The conversation ranges from the shrinking supply of true "starter homes" and the recently signed 21st Century Road to Housing Act's potential to loosen zoning and boost manufactured housing, to what makes the Bryan-College Station market so distinctive — a college town shaped heavily by A&M enrollment, game-day rental housing, and a disproportionate share of small multi-unit housing options. The guests close with grounded advice for aspiring first-time buyers: know your finances, resist the urge to time the market, and think of a home first as a place to live securely rather than purely as an investment.

"Brazos Matters" is a production of Aggieland's Public Media -- 90.9 KAMU FM & KAMU-TV -- members of Texas A&M University's Division of Community Engagement.

Ten years ago, College Station Municipal Court Judge Edward Spillane III wrote a Washington Post op-ed — ""Why I Refuse to Send People to Jail for Failure to Pay Fines"" — that struck a national nerve and pushed cities across the country to rethink how they treat people who genuinely can't afford their fines.

In this episode of “Brazos Matters,” host Jay Socol and student contributor Kaleigh Mazy ’26 ask Judge Spillane to look back on what's changed since then — and what hasn't.

Spillane, who has presided over College Station's municipal court since 2002, walks through the roughly 30,000 Class-C misdemeanor cases his court handles each year and the alternative sentencing programs he's built to keep people out of jail: community living classes, warrant amnesty periods, payment plans, and a peer-run teen court that he says outperforms even felony boot camp at preventing repeat offenses.

The conversation also digs into some pressing modern issues facing the court system: how booking photos and public records now get bought and sold by data brokers long after a case is resolved, how court-impersonation scams and fraudulent texts have become a daily nuisance, and why College Station sees a strikingly disproportionate share of the state's minor-in-possession cases — nearly 20% of all MIP filings in Texas — tied largely to the Northgate entertainment district.

“Brazos Matters” is a production of Aggieland's Public Media — KAMU-FM and KAMU-TV — members of Texas A&M University's Division of Community Engagement.

An estimated 400,000 first responders across America are living with symptoms of PTSD — yet stigma, cost, and scheduling keep many from ever asking for help. In this episode of "Brazos Matters," host Jay Socol and student contributor Kaleigh Mazy sit down with Alisa McDonald, program director of the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service's (TEEX) Public Safety Wellness Program, to discuss how first responders process trauma — and what's being done to support them.

Alisa, a licensed professional counselor who came to TEEX from the Texas Department of Public Safety, was tasked from day one with a daunting mission: help end first responder suicide. She walks through how the program built its "Support That Saves" peer support training, why mixing firefighters, police officers, EMTs, and dispatchers in the same class turned out to be the key to breaking down silos between disciplines, and what her team encountered when they deployed to support responders during the devastating Kerrville floods in 2025.

The conversation covers the real barriers responders face in getting mental health care, the warning signs loved ones should watch for, and the difference between "commiseration" and genuine peer support. Alisa also shares her vision for expanding the program to reach first responders' families and retirees, and offers guidance for local officials considering wellness programs of their own.

A candid, informative conversation about the hidden toll of first responder work — and the growing effort to make sure no one has to carry it alone.

TEEX Public Safety Wellness Program: https://teex.org/public-safety-wellness/

"Brazos Matters" is a production of Aggieland's Public Radio 90.9 KAMU-FM, a member of Texas A&M University's Division of Community Engagement.

Jennifer Nations, Water Resource Coordinator, City of College Station discusses her role with the city, water availability, student awareness of water conservation, local water quality, wastewater challenges, scaling water infrastructure with population growth, irrigation check-ups, incentivizing water conservation, & water conservation practices at Jennifer's home.

Victoria Taylor, Sarah Lankford, and Giulia Goerigk discuss their experiences as student athletes in the Texas A&M Swimming program, their paths to A&M, majors at A&M, how they got acclimated to college, hosting team recruits, what inspired them to be swimmers, culture shocks encountered when coming to A&M, things that they would have liked their freshman selves to know, what they would have done differently in college, greatest challenges, things they will miss about College Station, how A&M has prepared them for the future, and their post-grad plans.

Anne Black, Executive Director of OPAS at Texas A&M University discusses how OPAS looked when she started, how OPAS took over Broadway programming from MSC Town Hall, recruiting high-level acts & Broadway shows to Bryan/College Station, OPAS' impact on the local economy, kids programming, where OPAS advertises, programming events for our specific local community, and how she got started at OPAS.

Craig Huffhines, Director of the Institute for Equine Sciences at Texas A&M University discusses his background & path to Texas A&M, the beginnings and scope of the Courtney Cares program, program partners across campus, benefits of hippotherapy, the types of clients who can benefit, student outcomes, identifying horses that exhibit traits that make them a good fit for the program, areas of research in equine science, funding needs, and the difference between therapy dogs and horses.

Maggie Hostetter, Performance Dietitian with Texas A&M Athletics discusses her background, why she chose a career in college sport nutrition, her path to Texas A&M, what all is involved in a typical day either in or out of season, nutrition options made available to student athletes, common misconceptions and mistakes made in nutrition, protein needs, cherry juice, and guilty food pleasures.

Darby Roberts, Director, Student Affairs Planning, Assessment & Research at Texas A&M University & Robert Tirso, Data Analyst, Student Affairs Planning, Assessment & Research at Texas A&M University discuss the WISHES Survey & Aggie Wellbeing Survey, their roles in this office, trends that they're currently seeing, first generation students vs others, the importance of fostering a sense of belonging, positive vs negative survey responses, confidentiality of responses, the option of having follow-up from the university, faculty & staff student support, some of the questions in the survey, who the survey is sent to (and how), and where to find data from the survey.