 A number of new buildings have been added since 1996, most notably the Morris Recreation Center (opened in 2003), the Keith D. McFarland Science Building (2006), the Rayburn Student Center (2009), and the Music Building (2011).In 2016, the university's Carnegie Classification was upgraded to "Doctoral University-Higher Research Activity" (R2), due in part to an Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Summer Faculty Fellowship and Fulbright Scholarships awarded to its faculty.A&M–Commerce has become increasingly diverse during this period, most notably in terms of Hispanic students, who have grown from approximately 7% of the student body in 2008 to about 18% in 2015, which has allowed the university to be designated an "emerging" Hispanic-serving institution (HSI) in 2014.