Amarillo College President Russell Lowery-Hart has a tradition at every graduation ceremony for the college: taking a group selfie with all the graduates at some point.
While there was not a graduation Tuesday, after the college hosted its two ceremonies at Hodgetown last Friday, Lowery-Hart was in a celebratory mood as the college was announced as the Rising Star winner from the Aspen Institute. This prompted Lowery-Hart to gather faculty, staff, students, community leaders and supporters for a selfie.
After more than a year-long process, and being named as a Top 10 finalist for the 2021 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, AC was recognized as one of the top five community colleges in the nation, being honored with the institute’s Rising Star award and gaining a $100,000 prize.
Amarillo College named among top 5 community colleges in nation
VIDEO: Amarillo College named among top 5 community colleges in nation By Vania Patino | May 18, 2021 at 9:00 PM CDT - Updated May 18 at 10:31 PM
AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - Amarillo College today became one of the top five community colleges in the country.
According to Amarillo College, every two years the Aspen Institute evaluates colleges across the country based on performance in six areas: teaching and learning, certificate and degree completion, transfer and bachelor’s attainment, workforce success, equity in access and success for students of color and students from low-income backgrounds, and leadership and institutional culture.
During a recent special meeting of the Amarillo College Board of Regents, the board certified the canvassed election results for three seats on the Board of Regents, which occurred earlier this month.
Based on the results of Saturday’s election, city of Amarillo voters showed that they wanted consistency both on the city council as well as who was named the city’s Mayor.
According to unofficial results from the Election Administration Offices for Potter and Randall counties, Amarillo Mayor Ginger Nelson, Place Two Councilmember Freda Powell, Place Three Councilmember Eddy Sauer and Place Four Councilmember Howard Smith were all re-elected for their respective positions.
“I am very pleased that voters have seen the work that we have done. We have been working for four years, and now they have said, let’s go two more years,” Nelson said. “I’m hopeful that we can use the next two years to get a lot of things done in the city. The message that I have heard over and over today from being at the polls is, ‘Thank you for the progressive way you are leading the city. Keep moving forward.’ We will do that.”
Based on the results of Saturday’s election, city of Amarillo voters showed they wanted consistency for both the city council and mayor positions.
According to unofficial results from the Election Administration Offices for Potter and Randall counties, Amarillo Mayor Ginger Nelson, Place Two Councilmember Freda Powell, Place Three Councilmember Eddy Sauer and Place Four Councilmember Howard Smith were all reelected for their respective positions.
The only addition to the council will be Cole Stanley in the place one seat. This comes after Elaine Hays, the place one incumbent, announced in December she would not seek reelection.
“I am very pleased that voters have seen the work that we have done. We have been working for four years and now they have said, let’s go two more years,” Nelson said. “I’m hopeful that we can use the next two years to get a lot of things done in the city. The message that I have heard over and over today from being at the polls is ‘tha