Tag Archives: James Hallmark

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Hallmark takes himself out of WT running? Not so fast

20060912-25

Rats!

I just read in the paper this morning that James Hallmark, recently selected by the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents to be West Texas A&M’s interim president is a member of the search committee looking for a permanent WT president.

The search team will seek to replace J. Patrick O’Brien who announced his retirement effective at the end of the current academic year, which is when Hallmark takes over the helm on an interim basis.

Thus, the story said, Hallmark won’t be a candidate for the permanent post.

That would seem to shoot down a theory I posted yesterday that regents had found their WT head man when they selected Hallmark as the interim. It means Hallmark will return to WT — where he served previously as provost/vice president for academic affairs before becoming vice chancellor for the A&M System.

See earlier post here.

But let’s hold on a moment.

I’ll take you back now about 16 years to the time when a certain Texas governor was about to sew up the Republican nomination for president of the United States.

George W. Bush called on his good friend — Dallas businessman Dick Cheney, the former defense secretary in Bush 41’s administration — to look for a vice presidential running mate.

Cheney and his search team looked high and low — supposedly — for the right candidate to run with W in the fall campaign against Vice President Albert Gore Jr.

Then, by golly something weird happened.

Gov. Bush chose Cheney! They went on to win the election and, as they say, the rest is, uhh, history.

So, you see, recent precedent has been set right here in Texas.

Is Hallmark, a man perfectly suited to lead the WT campus, really and truly out of the picture as the permanent president of the Canyon school?

I’m not taking that bait … just yet.

 

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Welcome back, James Hallmark

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Hallmark_Portrait_5x7

If I were a betting man — and I’m not; heck, I don’t even play the lottery — I would wager that Texas A&M University System has just installed the next president of its campus in Canyon.

Here’s how it goes.

The A&M University System Board of Regents has named James Hallmark as the interim president of West Texas A&M University, effective upon the upcoming retirement of Pat O’Brien.

Interesting, yes? Sure it is.

Why? Because Hallmark just recently — I think it was a year or two ago — moved from the Panhandle to take an administrative post at the A&M “mother ship” campus in College Station.

Hallmark had served as provost and vice president for academic affairs at WT before he left for College Station to assume a vice chancellor post at A&M.

Now he’s coming back to become the “interim” head man at WT.

My strong hunch is that the regents might go through some kind of perfunctory search for a permanent president. It just looks for all the world, though, that they’ve found their man.

Is it a good thing? That depends. I don’t know Hallmark well, but I do know of his reputation, which my understanding is that it’s quite stellar.

My preference would be for regents to conduct a real national search to find a WT president and if Hallmark is one of the applicants and he competes with others, then he — and the school — are strengthened if he demonstrates an ability to lead the campus.

Then the system regents can ratify their decision to send them back to WT to take the reins of a growing university.