The Amarillo College Board of Regents on Tuesday, Oct. 22 named two finalists for the position of president, one an internal candidate, and one currently in a leadership role at a college in Florida.The two finalists are Dr. Jamelle J. Conner, vice present of student affairs at St. Petersburg College, a four-year public college in Pinellas County, Fla.; and Dr. Frank Sobey, vice president of academic affairs, at Amarillo College. 

The Common Lobby Gallery at Amarillo College will come alive for a student art show celebrating the Day of the Dead – Dia de Los Meurtos – an exhibit opening with a reception at 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 31, and the public is welcome to attend.Dia de Los Merutos is a Latin American holiday honoring dead loved ones, encouraging them through their journey in the afterlife with both costumed revelry and prayer. This marks the AC Art Department’s 22nd observance of the holiday.

Selected STEM majors at Amarillo College will have a chance to enhance their prospects for summer internships and future employment when they network with a number of local employers at AC’s STEM Employability Forum. The event, which is being co-sponsored by the College’s Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) STEM Grant and AC’s Career Services, is from 9 a.m. to noon on Friday, Oct. 25 at AC’s Innovation Outpost, 1220 S. Polk St.

On a recent morning in downtown Havana, Dr. Jim Laughlin saw some kindergartners immersed in a dance-exercise class on a roped-off section of a street near his hotel. Inspired, he grabbed his saxophone and hastened to ask their teacher if he could play for them.His ensuing rendition of When the Saints Go Marching In prompted a spontaneous marching parade of delighted children, a scene the woodwind aficionado is not likely forget.

Major renovations to the Ware Student Commons (WSC) at Amarillo College will be completed early next year, at which point specialized academic tutoring recourses – now scattered in different buildings – will be united under one roof.Additionally, Lynn Library, long a mainstay on the building’s uppermost fourth floor, will be fully redesigned and relocated to the third floor, where it will rest adjacent to the Writer’s Corner, long an occupant of Ordway Hall. And such student-centered assets as AC’s math and science testing centers and the behavioral health and wellness Counseling Center also will be moved into the WSC from other locations.

Two uniquely accomplished individuals have been selected to receive 2024 Distinguished Alumni Awards from Amarillo College.Mary Bralley, executive director for Window on a Wider World (WOWW), and award-winning music video director/producer and documentarian Michael Merriman will be the guests of honor at AC’s Distinguished Alumni Luncheon at noon on Wednesday, Oct. 16 at the Amarillo Area Foundation, 919 S. Polk St.

The Amarillo College Truck Driving Academy will host a regional convening of the National Association of Publicly Funded Truck Driving Schools (NAPFTDS) Oct. 2-4, with a full day of presentations on Oct. 3 at AC’s Innovation Outpost.The convening is expected to attract approximately 55 representatives from NAPFTDS member institutions from throughout Region 4 – from as near as Frank Phillips College to as far away as Laredo College and Houston Community College.

High school juniors and seniors will have a profusion of higher-education materials to explore – and people to meet – at the Texas Panhandle Area High Schools University and College Night being co-sponsored by Amarillo College. Approximately 50 colleges and universities from across the state and the nation are expected to have representatives in attendance at the event, which is from 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 8 at the Amarillo ISD’s AmTech Career Academy.

How faculty can avoid the pitfalls of hyper-specialization and teach across the spectrum of academic fields while remaining true to their own disciplines is the focus of a unique interdisciplinary seminar series underway at Amarillo College.The brainchild of Dr. Robert Fulton, assistant professor of humanities, The Two Cultures is a series of conversations – one each month through November – fittingly subtitled A Meeting of the Minds Across the Arts & Sciences.

Exactly when and where the post-apocalyptic story of Queen Lear transpires – in the future on Earth, or in another world altogether – may be open to conjecture.But the fact that the play has been judiciously adapted from Shakespeare’s masterful drama King Lear will be readily apparent throughout its four-performance run Oct. 3-6 at Amarillo College.

Amarillo College is pleased to introduce a mix of musical and theatrical entertainment opportunities that are on tap in the year ahead that have been collectively dubbed the Keep Us Live! Arts Performance Series.The inaugural Arts Performance Series, being sponsored by Keep Us Live!, is comprised of five live performances, the first four of which are piano concerts that will replicate what has for many years been popularly known as the AC Piano Series. The Arts Performance Series will conclude on April 27, 2025 with a captivating new musical, Between the Lines, presented by AC theatre students.

For unwavering support of Amarillo College that includes a generous leadership gift to AC’s comprehensive campaign and an insightful makeover of the Washington Street Campus fitness center, Sims + Architects has been named recipient of the AC Foundation’s annual Chairman’s Award.Majority owner Sheila Sims, who is a second-term member of the AC Foundation Board of Directors, accepted the illustrious accolade during the Foundation’s 60th Annual Meeting on Sept. 10 at the Amarillo Club.

Denese Skinner, interim president of Amarillo College, is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Frank Sobey as vice president of academic affairs (VPAA), effective immediately.Sobey, formerly associate vice president of academic affairs, has served as interim VPAA since mid-May, when Dr. Tamara Clunis resigned from the post.

Scores of high-level community college leaders from throughout the state will have the opportunity to explore Amarillo College, reigning recipient of the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, when AC hosts the Community College Association of Texas Trustees (CCATT) Annual Conference.The three-day annual event begins at noon on Thursday, Sept. 12 and concludes at noon on Saturday, Sept. 14, and this year’s theme is Collaborative Connections: Community College Governance & K-12 Partnerships.

Amarillo College’s Child Development Lab School has done it again – received reaccreditation from the world’s largest organization working on behalf of young children – and this time AC’s Hagy Center for Young Children has become a member of that exclusive club, too.After a rigorous and thorough process, the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) has granted its prestigious accreditation to both of the College’s early childhood-serving entities. NAEYC accreditation is achieved by less than 10 percent of all childcare centers, preschools, and kindergartens in the nation.

Amarillo College’s Badger Esports program is pleased to announce an exciting new affiliation that will provide students with significantly enhanced opportunities to excel in the rapidly growing world of competitive gaming.Badger Esports has officially gained membership in the National Junior College Athletic Association Esports (NJCAAE), a nonprofit association serving only two-year, technical, and community colleges in collegiate esports.

Three high-achieving members of the Amarillo College workforce have been named 2024 Employees of the Year. Amanda Anauo, custodial foreman, Brenda Davis, combined services assistant at AC’s Hinkson Campus in Hereford, and Shon Wagner, audio visual technical leader, each received AC’s foremost non-faculty accolade during Fall Convocation today (Aug. 15) at the Amarillo Civic Center.

Amarillo College and Education Credit Union are pleased to invite the community to a celebratory ribbon-cutting and grand-opening event for ECU’s new Badger $mart Branch on AC’s Washington Street Campus.The celebration is from 3-5 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 27 and will feature a DJ, pizza and sodas, some giveaways, and a ceremonial ribbon-cutting that is slated to take place at 3:15 p.m. ECU’s Badger $mart Branch is located at 512 SW 22nd Ave., a block east of Washington Street and directly north of AC’s Dutton Hall.

Margie Netherton is an Alabama native whose 1999 job interview at Amarillo College fell on a tempestuous day with twin tornadoes menacing the city. Noting that most folks appeared oblivious to the threat, she resolved to just go with the flow.

“I found it remarkable that the people on campus didn’t seem concerned,” said Netherton, a professor of English who retired in 2020 after 21 fruitful years at AC.

From axe throwing and face painting to free food and engaging giveaways, National Night Out will be a welcoming celebration at Amarillo College that the whole family is sure to enjoy..The AC Police Department will host the family friendly event from 6-8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 6 in the Durrett Hall parking lot (on the south side of 22nd Street) on the Washington Street Campus. Ample parking will be available immediately north of 22nd Street in the campus’s largest lot of all.