Amarillo College to host 2 presidential finalists on April 16, 18
The Amarillo College (AC) Board of Regents have announced four planned meetings next week with its two presidential finalists.
AC said the two semifinalists would be invited to the college between April 16 and 18 to view the campus, visit with faculty and administration, as well as participate in a public forum. Following the campus visits, a sole finalist is tentatively planned to be announced in the following board meeting.
AC gave public notice Thursday for two open forums and two closed sessions, one with each candidate. No official action will be taken at any of these meetings.
At 3 p.m. Tuesday, April 16, the board will hold a special meeting in an open forum format with semifinalist Dr. Laura Boyer at the Ordway Hall Auditorium, located at 2201 S. Washington St., in Amarillo. Then, at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, the regents will hold a closed session to have dinner and interview Boyer at the Amarillo Club, located at 600 S. Tyler St., Suite 3000, in Amarillo.
At 3 p.m. Thursday, April 18, the AC board will hold the same open forum format at the Ordway Hall Auditorium with the second presidential candidate, Dr. Andrew Bowne. The board will then host dinner and interview Bowne in a closed session at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Amarillo Club.
The purpose of these forums is to give internal and external stakeholders the opportunity to become acquainted with each of the candidates, and everyone within the AC community and the general public is invited to attend, according to a news release. For those unable to attend in person, recordings of both forums will be accessible for later viewing at https://www.actx.edu/president/.
Each candidate forum will begin with the featured speaker making brief opening remarks. Next, the speaker will respond to questions gathered from AC employees, students, and community members. AC said time will be reserved at the end of each forum for the candidate’s closing remarks.
The open forums represent just one item on the schedule of interviews and tours that each of the finalists will participate in during their respective visits to the College, the release stated.
As reported previously by the Globe-News, the search followed last year's departure of Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart, who accepted the position of ninth Chancellor for the Austin Community College District. AC then named Denese Skinner as interim president. AC had won the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, the nation’s signature recognition of high achievement among America’s Community Colleges, last April.
AC announced its two presidential semifinalists recently during a special board meeting April 3, determined through the candidates presented by the Gold Hill Associates search firm in partnership with AC's Presidential Search Advisory Committee.
"Their education, their experience and their passion for student success is what shone through in the interviews. They are obviously both visionaries who work well with collaborative teams, and we were obviously very impressed with them," Paul Proffer, AC regent and chairman of the AC search committee, said of Boyer and Bowne after the decision was announced.
"The exact date when Regents expect to announce their selection of a sole finalist for president of AC has not yet been finalized, but discussions are expected to take place between April 22-30, and any vote by Regents will be taken in a duly advertised and public meeting of the Board, all of which are livestreamed," the release states.
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Amarillo College presidential finalists Boyer, Bowne to visit campus
