Tag Archives: Paul Matney

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College finds another home-grown leader

Russell Lowery-Hart appears headed to the office of Amarillo College president.

There goes my advice to the college board of regents, which was to cast a wide net to find a successor to retiring AC President Paul Matney.

Lowery-Hart is the second in command at AC and the board has voted unanimously to declare him as its sole finalist in the search for a new president.

I still favor wide-as-possible searches — if only to strengthen the local candidates, making them compete head to head with qualified individuals with fresh ideas and outlooks.

That won’t happen with Lowery-Hart, just as it didn’t happen when the college picked Matney to succeed the late Steven Jones, who did come from beyond the Panhandle to run the college before he died.

Lowery-Hart will take office with overwhelming support from AC faculty, staff and students. That gives him a huge advantage, just as it did for Matney.

I am not going to criticize this pending appointment. I’ve heard from those close to the situation that Lowery-Hart brings a lot to the office. He’s a West Texas A&M University grad; he got graduate degrees from Texas Tech University. He’s well-educated and knows the college well. He appears to be a solid pick.

I’ve long been amazed about Amarillo College’s community standing. AC seems almost immune to significant criticism, such as what one hears about Potter and Randall county governments, or Amarillo City Hall, or even the Amarillo and Canyon independent school districts. AC has escaped many of the barbs that get tossed at public institutions.

That speaks well for the leadership of the school.

I am optimistic that the new president-in-waiting will maintain that standing.

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AC honors living past presidents

One school of thought about naming buildings or academic programs after living individuals is that the institution doing the naming can get embarrassed if the honoree messes up.

I have subscribed to the notion that you need to take great care to ensure such a thing doesn’t happen if you honor someone who’s alive in such a manner.

However, Amarillo College’s decision to put two past college presidents’ names on AC facilities is far more than just the right call. It is an outstanding one.

AC President Paul Matney’s name will be honored by putting his name on the Mass Media Program at AC. Joyner, who served as president twice before Matney took office, will see his name attached to the auditorium at the college’s downtown campus. A third Amarillo College official, the late Louise Daniel, will be honored with her name being attached to the College Union Building’s third-floor meeting room at AC’s Washington Street campus. Daniel, who died in 2003, served on the AC Board of Regents and taught in Amarillo’s public school system for more than three decades.

I cannot think of three more deserving individuals to be honored in such a fashion.

As for the notion of honoring two living past presidents by putting their name on these facilities, well, we all can rest assured that neither man is going to do a single thing to sully the institution they served so honorably.

Putting living individuals’ names on buildings, rooms or academic programs sometimes comes with a bit of a risk. Not so with these fellows.

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Look far and wide, Amarillo College

Now that Paul Matney has announced his intention to retire as president of Amarillo College, it’s not too early to light a fire under the school’s governing board of regents.

Cast a wide net, AC regents, in your search for someone to succeed Matney.

The AC president, arguably one of the most highly regarded public officials anywhere in the Texas Panhandle, rose from the ranks to the presidency in 2009. He had served as acting president while the late Steve Jones battled cancer. Matney had served three decades at AC in various faculty and administrative capacities. The school would have been wise then to look outside for a successor to Jones, but it chose instead to stay in-house.

The decision turned out to be a brilliant one.

Matney’s replacement, though, will need to be someone special. Matney’s mark is indelible. Foremost among his accomplishments has been his relentless advocacy of Amarillo College and the astonishing loyalty and ease with which he argues the virtues of the institution that has set student enrollment records for several of the past academic years.

Should regents look solely within the ranks of current administrators? I think not. Amarillo College has established an enough of a stellar reputation among other junior colleges — indeed, among universities — in Texas that qualified administrators would scramble to apply for this office the moment it is posted.

Paul Matney set a high bar for his successor and in the process has created a “headache” most college regents would love to have. They likely will have the chore of poring through a mountain of applications from high-quality candidates seeking to fill some mighty large shoes.

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Matney sets record for loyalty

If you want to craft the ideal spokesman for a public institution, someone whose love for it is beyond reproach, who speaks with intelligence and clarity, and who means every single word of what he says about the place he runs, you would use Paul Matney as your template.

Matney announced today he is retiring after more than three decades working on behalf of Amarillo College.

http://amarillo.com/news/latest-news/2014-03-31/acs-matney-retire

The past five years of that service have been as president of one of the premier junior colleges in Texas.

Man, what a loss for the school with which Matney has had a love affair ever since he enrolled there fresh out of high school.

Paul Matney has been one of my better friends since my arrival in Amarillo in January 1995. He was a trusted source for perspective on the school, on Amarillo, public higher education, the Panhandle, on Texas politics and occasionally on how to live a good life.

He earned the trust, respect and admiration from folks all across the spectrum.

I want to share one tidbit that, for me, testifies to the universal respect Paul has enjoyed in Amarillo.

Some years ago, I was sitting at the table with some other local residents at the Good Scout Luncheon sponsored by the Golden Spread Council of the Boy Scouts. One of them was Tom Roller, a local real estate broker and at the time the chairman of the Potter County Republican Party. I mention Roller’s partisan affiliation only because Matney is an unapologetic Democrat.

Matney was serving as acting AC president when he walked by our table. He greeted us all individually and walked on. Roller turned to the person sitting next to him and said, “That man should be the next Amarillo College president. I hope the regents appoint him to the job permanently.”

Roller’s off-the-cuff endorsement told me clearly that Matney’s credentials as an avid AC advocate and spokesman were unassailable. Indeed, over the years I have listened to Matney speak on AC’s behalf at luncheons, seminars, press conferences or in informal gatherings of individuals just standing around.

The man is a treasure to the college he loves so much and to the place he calls home.

The college board of regents will need to look hard to find someone to step into the enormous void that Paul Matney will leave.

Well done, my friend.