Zeinab Ali is a December 2022 graduate of the nursing program at Amarillo College (AC) who works full time in the medical-surgical unit at Northwest Texas Hospital. She also tutors aspiring nurses part time on AC’s West Campus.

From the outside looking in, hers is yet another heartening, albeit not uncommon, success story authored by what is, according to the Aspen Institute for Community College Excellence, the finest community college in the land.

Amarillo College (AC) Regents responded proactively and with dispatch to the news on July 24th that AC President Russell Lowery-Hart has been named sole finalist for the chancellorship of the Austin Community College (ACC) District.

The next day (July 25), AC’s Board of Regents conducted a special meeting to begin laying the groundwork for a potential presidential transition at AC, a contingency plan that includes the appointment of an interim president, should the need arise.

Having some form of elected student leadership has been a time-honored Amarillo College tradition since its very founding in 1929.

Yet throughout its many iterations, from Class Officers at the outset, to Student Council in the mid-1900s, to the Student Government Association (SGA) of today, there has never been an all-female leadership team on record – until now.

The Amarillo College Board of Regents unanimously agreed to contribute $50,000 in earned interest from AC’s MacKenzie Scott endowment to the Panhandle Disaster Relief Fund administered by the Amarillo Area Foundation.

Regents, who expressed concern for those affected by recent floods and tornadoes across the Texas Panhandle region, voted on the measure at their regularly scheduled meeting on June 27.

An Amarillo consortium, spearheaded by the Innovation Outpost and joined by Amarillo College and the Amarillo Economic Development Corporation, is still in the running for a $160 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The Texas Panhandle Innovation Engine (TPIE) is among the list of 34 semifinalists just announced for the inaugural NSF Regional Innovation Engines competition (NSF Engines). This fall, five of the semifinalists will be awarded grants of up to $160 million each, spread out over 10 years.

For the first time in its history, Amarillo College completed the crucial first step in its reaffirmation of accreditation by receiving what amounts to a perfect score for its on-site visit: zero recommendations for compliance with the 72 standards under review.

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) completed its on-site visit to AC on Sept. 22. Along with offering zero recommendations, the SACSCOC committee fully endorsed the Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), which is the cornerstone of AC’s reaccreditation efforts.

The Southern Light Gallery at Amarillo College has launched the fall semester with an exhibit featuring a variety of photographs by AC students.

The gallery is located on the first floor of the Ware Student Commons on AC’s Washington Street Campus and is free and open to the public.

The works currently on display are selections of AC student photographs previously featured in the Amarillo College/West Texas A&M University Student-Faculty Show presented earlier this year at Amarillo Museum of Art.

The island nation of Cuba had long been an alluring destination for Patricia D. Richards, a photographer and educator whose perseverance ultimately gave way to an exhibit currently on display at Amarillo College’s Southern Light Gallery.

Richards, who spent years trying to obtain a necessary visa, finally reached Cuba in 2011 and began creating Unexpected Cuba, an ongoing photography project viewable at Southern Light Gallery through Feb. 2.

When Rocky Banda learned he had been named a 2022 Coca-Cola Leaders of Promise Scholar and would receive a $1,000 award that goes with it, his first inclination was to look ahead – to consider how he might one day pay it forward.

Banda, 41, is a psychology major at Amarillo College who has endured drug dependency leading to homelessness and incarceration. His goal these many years since is to become a Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor (LCDC) and help others with similar experiences to his own get back on their feet.

Amarillo College and Martha’s Home, a shelter for homeless single women and mothers with children, are joining forces to empower the Home’s adult residents as they strive to escape poverty by pursing certificates and degrees through AC’s Adult Education and Literacy (AEL) program.

Leaders of AC and Martha’s Home will gather at 5:30 p.m. Monday, June 27th to cement the partnership and unveil the Home’s new “Present Needs—Future Success” campaign, which is already garnering meaningful local support.

Registration is now open for one of Amarillo College’s most highly anticipated summer activities, Chalk It Up, the sidewalk art contest that consistently spawns dazzling colorful creations and always awards cash prizes to the winners.

The event is from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, July 30. It is free to enter, and the first 40 entries will be accepted.

Amarillo College, which in 2021 was named one of the nation’s Top 5 community colleges and was dubbed a “Rising Star” by the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program, is once again an Aspen Prize Finalist.

The Aspen Institute today announced that AC is one of the 10 Finalists for the 2023 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. Started in 2010 and awarded every two years, the $1 million Aspen Prize is the nation’s signature recognition of community colleges that are achieving high, improving, and equitable outcomes for students.

There is no doubt that students who begin their exploration of academia at a community college can and do matriculate to universities of great distinction.

A sterling example of that is former Amarillo College student Roman Leal, who in May received his juris doctorate from Yale Law School. The accomplishment was achieved just three short years after he scored in the top three percent on the law school admissions test – the LSAT.

Amarillo College’s Washington Street Campus bustles big time on Tuesday nights in June, when the Jim Laughlin AC June Jazz Series is in full swing.

This will be the 27th year for June Jazz, the popular outdoor concert series that commonly draws an audience of hundreds to the College and is named in honor of its founder and continuous organizer, Dr. Jim Laughlin, professor of music.