Regents tap Shirley as next CC president

The next president of Clarendon College will be a familiar face for many people after the Board of Regents tapped Dr. Phil Shirley for the job in a called meeting last Thursday.

Shirley, who is currently president of Southeastern Arkansas College in Pine Bluff, Ark., was the Dean of Instruction at CC from 1986 to 1990.

“All of my memories of Clarendon are very good memories, and this time will be even more so,” Shirley told the Enterprise. “My family and I are really looking forward to it. Serving Clarendon is something that is very exciting to me.”

Shirley said becoming the president of Clarendon College was a lifetime goal of his, and he
thinks the years he has spent away from CC will be good for the institution because of the experience he will now bring to the job.

After leaving Clarendon, Shirley spent almost five years at Western Oklahoma State where he was the vice president for academic affairs and served for a time as that school’s interim president. He then moved to Southeast Arkansas College as vice president before moving up to the presidency in 2000.

A native of the Dallas area, Shirley said he spent most of his early life in that region before coming to Clarendon in 1986. He attended Sayre Junior College and then earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of North Texas. He earned a Master’s of Religious Education from Southwest Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth and then realized his true calling was in higher education, which led him to pursue and earn his doctorate from the University of North Texas.

Shirley said he is excited to get to Clarendon and said he anticipates a “long and fruitful tenure.”

“There are a lot of opportunities that await us,” he said. “I expect great things to come not because of me but because of the people I will serve.”

Shirley will begin his new duties on January 1.

Clarendon College conducted a national search for a president to replace Dr. Bill Auvenshine, who has served as CC’s president since 2007 and will be retiring at the end of the year.

“Dr. Auvenshine has set a very strong course, and I’m very thankful for his leadership,” Shirley said.

CC received 34 applications for the post. A search committee pared the list of applicants to eight semifinalists; then the board of regents chose the five finalists.