Howardwick party time
CC signs agreement with WGU
Clarendon College graduates and employees now have a new pathway to earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees through online, non-profit university WGU Texas.
Through the new agreement, CC graduates, faculty, and staff will receive a five percent discounted tuition at WGU Texas, exclusive partner scholarships, valued at up to $2,000, and can select from more than 60 accredited bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in information technology, business, health professions and teaching.
CC President Robert Riza said he is very excited to give students a way to earn higher degrees while still living and working in their hometowns.
“This is another opportunity for our graduates to complete their education at the next level while being allowed to remain employed and not have to move their families,” Dr. Riza said. “WGU is a great institution that has been at the leading edge of online education for years.”
The agreement also includes Amarillo College and Frank Phillips College in Borger.
“WGU Texas is thrilled to expand its presence in the Panhandle by providing more CC, AC, and FPC students a seamless pathway to completing their bachelor’s and master’s degrees and preparing them to enter some of the state’s most in-demand careers,” said WGU Texas Chancellor Steven Johnson.
“Community colleges enroll almost half of all students in the state – more than 700,000 students. This partnership creates an opportunity to link those students to alternative, viable pathways to earning a degree,” Johnson said.
WGU Texas’ current enrollment is more than 12,500 students, Dr. Johnson said. He added that WGU Texas students are in 17 of the counties that make up the Texas Panhandle, including Potter, Randall, and Hutchinson Counties, with students enrolled in 233 of the state’s 254 counties.
Students transferring from Clarendon can expect a comprehensive transfer policy. Information about WGU Texas’ community college partnerships and scholarship opportunities is available at texas.wgu.edu/cc.
WGU Texas is an online, nonprofit, competency-based university established to expand Texans’ access to higher education throughout the state. Formed through a partnership between the state of Texas and nationally-recognized Western Governors University, WGU Texas is open to all qualified Texas residents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate and graduate degree programs.
Since the university’s launch in 2011, more than 11,000 graduates have earned their undergraduate or graduate degrees.
Bivens leaves behind legacy of service, fun
Clarendon lost a man who was one of a kind Saturday when Paul Bivens was called to his great reward.
Our community was shocked, just as his family was, by his sudden passing; and as much as our hearts go out to his wife and family, we each probably selfishly thought of our own personal loss in his untimely death.
If you knew Paul Bivens, he most likely made an impression on you. He was a great man… a role model in business and in life. He was a friend to many, including myself, and a great servant of his church and his community.
My own relationship with Paul began not long after he and Elmonette moved to town in 1976. They were my family’s pharmacists, picking up those duties from Richard Tunnell. I don’t know how many school supplies, Hallmark Christmas ornaments, and prescriptions we picked up from the drug store downtown, but it was considerable and enough that the Bivens and their staff always seemed like extended family members.
The Bivens’ boys were not exactly the same age as my brother and I but close enough that our time in school and Boy Scouts overlapped, and our birth years were staggered just right so that blue jeans could be passed down between our families.
But I think it wasn’t until junior high or high school that I really got to know Paul better, especially his sense of humor and his laugh. Oh, how we will miss that laugh! They started a little place called “Salads & Such” in the back of the drug store, and I would frequent that establishment for lunch with my Dad as I worked with him in the summers. There, around a few tables pulled together, I got to sit with the businessmen of the day and listen to them joke and visit. It was sort of like going to an informal Lions Club but without any fund raisers… except for the high-low game they played to determine who paid for lunch.
Paul and Elmonette were always close family friends; and when I returned from college to take over the newspaper, I knew I could count on their support. In fact, I always felt that I could count on Paul’s support for anything, not just business. We didn’t necessarily agree on every issue, but he supported me in the same way a parent supports the best interests of his child. Having friends like that, when you lose your own parents, makes it a little easier to know that there are still people who care for you and your family.
In my experience, if Paul saw a need, he tried to take care of it. Whether that was his service in Lions Club, on the board of aldermen, with the Salvation Army, or on boards at church, he tried to do his part to serve his fellow man. That’s just part of who he was.
Immediately after his passing Saturday, a friend of mine said, “Did you know that Paul did this?” and told me of an act of charity that he had done. “No,” I replied. “I didn’t know that. But it doesn’t surprise me.”
Alan Jackson sings about “the little man who built this town.” Paul Bivens was one of those men… a small business man who, with his wife and family, helped make Clarendon what it is.
When I talk to people in other communities about where I’m from, they invariably know Clarendon for our college and our lake and sometimes an influential restaurant from days gone by – Mrs. Bromley’s or Sam Hill’s. But many times they also know Clarendon for something else… The Clarendon Outpost… a place you can get anything you need and find a clean bathroom.
When Paul and Bill Stavenhagen moved off main street and opened the Outpost in 1996, I’m not sure anyone fully realized the impact that business would have on the traveling public. And to this day it continues to pull people off US 287 and entice them to spend some money in Clarendon. And does anyone really know how many young people have gotten their first job at the Outpost?
Paul Bivens will be missed. He’s missed already. We will miss his generosity, his quick wit, his sarcasm, his honesty, his integrity, and his friendship. He leaves behind a family more than capable of carrying on his legacy, but there will never be another man like him. We give thanks for having shared our time on earth with him. We are richer for having had him in our lives, and our community is a better place because of him.
Rest well, my friend.
PEAK donation
Let it fly
Chamber to draw for $500 June 13
The Clarendon Chamber of Commerce will hold its next Business After Hours and its second Totally Locally $500 drawing at A Fine Feathered Nest Thursday, June 13.
The come-and-go event will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. and will provide Chamber members and prospective members an opportunity to learn more about what’s happening in the local business community. Refreshments will be served.
In addition to learning more about A Fine Feathered Nest, one of the highlights of the June After Hours will be the Chamber’s second Totally Locally drawing. Shoppers can sign up for the drawing at eleven local stores, and one will win $500 in Clarendon Cash at the After Hours.
Totally Locally participating businesses include A Fine Feathered Nest, Floyd’s Automotive Supply, Clarendon Outpost, Henson’s, Cornell’s Country Store, J&W Lumber, Country Bloomers Flowers & Gifts, Mike’s Pharmacy, Every Nook & Cranny, Saye’s Tack Store, and Turquoise & Rust.
Accident claims two lives near Clarendon
Two people lost their lives in a two-vehicle collision at the east city limits in Clarendon last Friday afternoon, May 31.
Sandra Gray, 57, of Amarillo and Karen Chan, 37, of Palo Alto, Calif., were both pronounced dead on the scene by Donley County Judge John Howard.
Department of Public Safety Sgt. Cindy Barkley reported that Chan was driving a 2016 Honda Odyssey southeast bound on US 287 when veered over into the northbound lane and collided head-on with a 2015 Chevrolet Traverse driven by Gray about 200 feet outside the city limit at approximately 4:07 p.m.
Chan’s passengers, an eight-year-old female and a one-year-old male, were transported to North West Texas Hospital in Amarillo with non-life-threatening injuries.
DPS says the posted speed limit at the location is 55 mph, and the roadway was clear and dry. All the occupants and drivers were wearing seat belts.
The accident remains under investigation by Texas Highway Patrol Troopers, Barkley said.
Billie Nell Sharp Shaffer
Billie Nell Sharp Shaffer, 92, of Clarendon died on Wednesday, May 29, 2019, in Amarillo.
Services were held on Monday, June 3, 2019, in the Robertson Saints’ Roost Chapel in Clarendon. Burial followed in Citizens Cemetery in Clarendon.
Arrangements are under the direction of Robertson Funeral Directors of Clarendon.
Billie was born August 18, 1926, in Clarendon to Carl and Clara Risley Harris. She grew up in Clarendon and had lived in Florida for 19 years prior to moving back to Clarendon in 1983. She enjoyed doing a lot of genealogy work.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Jack H. Shaffer; and a daughter, Debra Dupry.
She is survived by her son, David Sharp of Clarendon; a daughter Jennifer Wing of Florida; 8 grandchildren; and several extended family.
Memorials can be made to a favorite charity.
Sign our online guest book at www.RobertsonFuneral.com
Thompson, accrediting chief speak to CC board
The daughter of Clarendon College’s longest serving regent and the president of CC’s regional accrediting body addressed the Board of Regents during its May 16 meeting following an April decision not to extend President Robert Riza’s contract.
Debbie Thompson, the daughter of the late Delbert Robertson, spoke to the board during public comment about what she called the discord of recent meetings.
“I’m here today in the name of my father,” Thompson said. “He served on this board for more than 50 years and was proud of this college. I stood on this land and watched my Daddy dig dirt with a gold shovel. He was so happy and proud of this college.”
Thompson said her father often spoken to her after board meetings to brag on the good things that were happening and how proud he was of the college. But she said before he died in 2017, “he saw discord starting, and he worried about it.” After a motion in April to extend Riza’s contract failed by a vote of 4-5, Thompson said she had to speak out.
“As I read the paper, my heart was breaking, and I wondered what my Daddy would think about what was said and written and the discord,” Thompson said. “My Daddy thought Dr. Riza was the best thing to happen in a long time. My grandson is graduating [high school] with 47 [college] credit hours. He wouldn’t have that.”
Thompson, who is a nurse at the public school, also praised the president’s wife, who is a third grade teacher. Although Riza still has a year left on his contract, Thompson said the prospect of losing the him as college president “is a big heartache” for her and said Clarendon would be losing “an amazing teacher” if Mrs. Riza leaves.
“Our kids are learning from us,” Thompson said. “It was discord that caused this. I beg you not to destroy what’s been built.”
Later in the meeting, Dr. Belle Wheelan, the president and CEO of the Southern Association of Colleges & Schools – Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), addressed the board.
The vote not to extend Riza’s contract apparently prompted the SACSOC president’s visit to the college board as she opened her remarks by saying, “I thought it would be good to review what SACSCOC does since you’ll obviously be going through a change in leadership.”
Wheelan presented a PowerPoint presentation of more than 30 slides, defining the role of the accrediting body and the necessity of accreditation and then focusing on the SACSCOC Principles of Accreditation.
Under the Principle of Integrity, Wheelan said that it’s not what colleges do but what they don’t do that calls attention to whether they have integrity.
“If you don’t follow policies and you cover things up, that shows a lack of integrity,” she said.
She also drew attention to two separate principles – “Governing Board” and “Administration and Organization.”
“Please recognize these are two different functions and never the two shall meet,” Wheelan said. “When they do, that’s when we come in.”
SACSCOC has also adopted new principles in the last couple of years addressing board responsibilities.
“We found that many boards didn’t remember their roles,” Wheelan said. “Board members as individuals have no power.”
Wheelan said SACSCOC oversight requires that an institution not be controlled by a minority of its board members.
“When you have a handful running the board, then the board is not running the college,” she said.
SACSCOC rules also require that the board’s presiding officer and a majority of other board members are free from any contractual, employment, personal, or familial financial interest in the institution.
This requirement led to SACSCOC requiring Jerry Woodard to step down as chairman of the board of regents over a year ago due to his position as president of Herring Bank, which is the college’s depository.
“You have to keep the college free from that crap,” Wheelan said. “You all had a problem with this, and thanks for letting me in the room today because I know you were pissed about that.”
Wheelan also said it is important that the board keeps a distinction between policy-making and the responsibility of the administration to implement policy.
“This is the challenge,” Wheelan said. “Remember: ‘Eyes in; Hands off.’ Ask questions but don’t tell him [the president] how to do it.”
The college also needs to have a fair and appropriate process for the dismissal of a board member, Wheelan said.
“The state may have guidelines. Otherwise you need to have a policy to address this,” she said, noting that is important to keep undue political influences out of the college’s business and to prevent outside influence “by persons or bodies” on the president’s office.
Following her presentation, Wheelan offered to answer any questions the board might have. They had none.
SACSCOC is CC’s regional accrediting agency, assuring the quality and integrity of the college and its programs. Accreditation by SACSCOC ensures that credits earned by Clarendon College students transfer to other colleges and universities and it also ensures CC can receive federal financial aid funds.
CC had previously drawn SACSCOC’s attention a few months ago after a complaint filed by former CC Vice President of External Affairs Ashlee Estlack raised questions regarding compliance with four SACSCOC accreditation standards. The complaint followed almost two years of rising tensions between Regents Jerry Woodard and Darlene Spier and members of the college administration.
The SACSCOC Board of Trustees is expected to address that complaint next week.
Pell Grant pilot program at CC extended
A program piloted by Clarendon College three years ago has been renewed and expanded by the US Department of Education.
CC is one of 64 colleges nationwide and one of only seven in Texas in 2016 to host the Second Chance Pell program, which allows incarcerated Americans to access Pell Grants to pursue post-secondary education.
CC President Robert Riza says the program has proven its effectiveness and CC’s funding for the program has gone up from $101,000 in 2018 to $140,000 this year and has helped 151 students in Pampa and Childress.
“If you can spend $10,000 to get these students and education, it’s better than spending $40,000 per year to incarcerate them,” Riza said. “That’s not liberal or conservative; that’s just math. The recidivism rate of someone who earns an education credential drops to single digits.”
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced recently that the government will expand the Second Chance Pell experiment by allowing new cohorts of colleges and universities to participate. This important experiment has already provided a number of students with new educational opportunities that prepare them for college and workplace success.
“We are eager to expand the Second Chance Pell experiment, which has shown significant promise,” said Secretary DeVos.
“We hope that through this expansion, we can reach more students and utilize the information gathered to better inform Congress about future updates to the Higher Education Act.”
Clarendon is the only community college is West Texas to be included in the program, Riza said. It is funded through the federal government, and the money is handled through the college’s financial aid office.
“President Trump supports this, and the state supports it,” Riza said. “They know the program is successful.”
The program started with the Obama Administration’s commitment to creating a fairer and more effective criminal justice system, reduce recidivism, and combat the impact of mass incarceration on families and communities through educational opportunity.
The US has the highest incarceration rate in the world with approximately 2.2 million people incarcerated in American prisons and jails. Hundreds of thousands of individuals are released annually from these facilities. A Department of Justice-funded 2013 study found that individuals who participated in correctional education were 43 percent less likely to return to prison within three years than those who did not participate in any correctional education programs.
Through the Second Chance Pell pilot program, institutions may provide Federal Pell Grants to qualified students who are incarcerated and are likely to be released within five years of enrolling in coursework.
In addition to traditional classes, Clarendon College is trying to expand career and technical training opportunities to local prisons as well, Riza said.
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