Aug. 26, 2014

It is now official: Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart became president of Amarillo College on Tuesday, Aug. 26 when the Board of Regents conclusively voted him into the office.

Regents gave Lowery-Hart a three-year contract, the first year of which will pay him $180,000, along with a car allowance.

“It will be my greatest honor to lead Amarillo College,” Lowery-Hart said. “I am deeply grateful for the opportunity.”

Lowery-Hart, AC’s vice president of academic affairs since 2010, emerged over the summer months from a pool of about two dozen applicants for the position, which was vacated by the retirement of Dr. J. Paul Matney.

Lowery-Hart was named sole finalist for the post on July 23, but Regents were then required by state law to wait a minimum of 21 days before taking a final vote.

And just like back in July when they voted him sole finalist, the final vote on Aug. 26 was unanimous.

“Our search committee, which was comprised of regents, faculty, staff and students, did an outstanding job,” Don Nicholson, chairman of the Board of Regents, said. “We’re fortunate and proud to have Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart as our president.”

Lowery-Hart has served as AC’s vice president for the past four years, but the extent of his academic leadership is even farther-reaching than that—from his presidency of the Panhandle Twenty/20 consortium for the Top 26 counties of the Texas Panhandle, to the chairmanship he held of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s Undergraduate Advisory Committee.

Earlier this year, Lowery-Hart was the recipient of the National Academic Leader of the Year Award as bestowed by the National Council of Instructional Administrators.

Lowery-Hart joined the administration at AC following four years as associate provost for academic affairs at West Texas A&M University. He holds bachelor’s degree from West Texas A&M University, a master’s from Texas Tech University, and a Ph.D. from Ohio University.