CC president will step down this year

Clarendon College President Bill Auvenshine confirmed Tuesday that he will step down at the end of this year.

While no formal action has taken place, Auvenshine said he informed the Board of Regents at its May 20 meeting that he intends to resign at the end of 2010.

“My only regret is that I came to Clarendon at the end of my career,” Auvenshine told the Enterprise. “Had this been my first job, I would have wanted to stay for 30 years.”

Auvenshine said the college is not yet ready to receive applications for his job, but a plan is being formulated to select the next president of the Panhandle’s oldest college.

A committee will draw up a profile and qualifications to be presented to the regents in June as part of a six-month process to search for a replacement. The new president will take over on January 1, 2011.

The departure will cap Auvenshine’s 54th year in education. He came to CC three years ago following the resignation of Dr. Myles Shelton. Auvenshine originally was an interim president, but regents seated him as president several months later to lead the college as it worked to pass maintenance and operations taxes in Gray and Childress counties and undertook building projects at the CC Pampa Center.

“I was hired to help find a president, and that’s what I’m going to do now,” Auvenshine said. “I have thoroughly enjoyed Clarendon College, the city, and the citizens; and I have been extremely pleased with the direction Clarendon College is moving and know it will continue.”

Auvenshine said family health problems are his reason for leaving Clarendon.
In other college news, regents approved several new hires at its May meeting including Corey Murdock and John Havens as wind energy instructors, Brian Fuller as an agriculture instructor, Mark Simmons as a welding instructor, Mikalennet Tennel to coach volleyball, and

Kellye Reed as a nursing instructor. The board also accepted the resignation of volleyball coach Tennessee Brown.