Riza takes over as president of CC

Dr. Robert Riza took the helm of Clarendon College this week as the school’s 19th president.

The new president arrived in town Saturday and attended church and the community Thanksgiving service on Sunday before greeting several visitors to his office on Monday.

“It’s been a very positive experience,” Riza said. “Everybody has been very gracious and welcoming just like I expected of good Panhandle, West Texas people.”

Riza transferred his Lions Club membership to Clarendon Tuesday and says his first priorities are to meet people and familiarize himself with what’s going on in the community and at CC. He also plans to sit down with his senior staff individually, and talk about what’s working and what’s not.

Beyond that the college’s reaccreditation in 2015 and the planning that goes into that will take quite a bit of the new president’s attention.

Riza comes to Clarendon after serving as Vice President of Student Services at Hill College in Hillsboro. His wife, Cobette, will join the president in Clarendon this summer after the couple’s daughter graduates from high school.

However, Mrs. Riza is already making a contribution on the Clarendon College campus, having the couple’s son deliver a 12-foot Christmas tree to the Bairfield Activity Center over the weekend. The tree was set up and decorated by students this week.

“She is very excited to be coming here,” Dr. Riza said of his wife. “She will be very involved in the community.”

Mrs. Riza has been an elementary teacher for 13 years and enjoys working with groups that help disadvantaged kids, the president said.