AC board votes to take no action on naming president
The Amarillo College (AC) Board of Regents held a closed session and then voted to take no action regarding the college's presidential finalist during its Tuesday evening meeting, held at the Washington Street campus in the College Union Building Palo Duro Room.
Following deliberation in a closed session, the AC board of regents called for any board members to make a motion in choosing a candidate. Following a moment of silence and no motion, the AC regent chair Anette Carlisle declared that AC make no actions to declare a sole finalist for college president.
As stated during the meeting, the search for the next president of Amarillo College is now closed, and the regents will revisit the presidential search at a future time. In the meantime, Denese Skinner, vice president of student affairs, will continue to serve as interim president.
Carlisle said they wanted to direct their focus back to the college's students, and they will conduct another search at a later time.
"First thing I want to do is thank everyone who has participated in this effort, came to the forums last week, served on the search advisory committee and has paid attention to this long process. The board had two finalists and chose to take no action tonight," said Carlisle.
When asked if a timeline for reopening the application process has been set, Carlisle said, "There were no decisions made, just general discussion. It has been a really intense process, and we kind of need to take a breather right now and get back to the work at the college and creating student success, so we will focus on that for bit and see where we need to go and when we need to go there."
The following day, Skinner, AC's interim president, released a statement issued by the board to the campus:
The most fundamental role of the Amarillo College Board of Regents is to choose a President to lead our institution, and that responsibility is not taken lightly. ... As you may know, there were two finalists identified for the position of President. Unfortunately, one finalist withdrew due to personal reasons. After careful consideration, the Board elected not to move forward with a motion to consider the remaining finalist, nor reconsider others from the original candidate pool. Your survey feedback was extensively considered and pertinent to this decision.
Following this, the board added that the college does not wish to rush into a decision determining their future president, as they strive to provide the best for their students, staff, faculty and community.
As previously reported, this decision was made following the announcement of two finalists earlier this month and the selected candidates, Dr. Andrew W. Bowne, Ed.D. and Dr. Laura Boyer, Ed.D., visiting the campus last week and answering questions during public forums.
They were announced as the finalists for the search, facilitated by Gold Hill Associates Search Firm, during an AC board meeting held earlier this month. AC said both candidates are welcome to reapply in the next search, but for now officials are holding off on making any determination for the next AC leader. The college will still be working with the same search firm during the selection process as it continues.
For more information about AC, visit them online at https://www.actx.edu/
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: AC board closes current search for president with no action
