ACC Chancellor Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart announced the Cabinet and Student Affairs reorganizations during the March Virtual Employee Town Hall on Friday, March 7. Nearly 1,000 employees attended the discussion on Zoom.

In addition to the restructuring, Russell discussed the future of a Wellness Center at the College, introduced the new Vice Chancellor of Advancement, and did some rumor-busting. 

Below are highlights from the discussion.

Wellness Center Update

The College is exploring options for what a Wellness Center should look like. The center would  start on Highland Campus at the old Macy’s building and could include telehealth options.

“We have data on how profound the student health needs are, but we want to know your needs,” said Russell. “We want to have a wellness center that could serve everyone, and we need feedback and data from you.” 

He asked employees to fill out a survey during the town hall.

He talked through what the concept might be. In addition to wellness spaces such as gyms, workout facilities, and spaces for Student Affairs, Russell said he would like a robust, fully functional clinic with urgent care, physicians, dental clinics, imaging, physical therapy, women’s health clinics, and more.

Russell and the Cabinet have met with community partners to learn about what the financial implications would be. 

He added that the conversations will now go public, and the ACC community will have more chances to weigh in.

New Vice Chancellor of Advancement

Russell introduced ACC’s inaugural Vice Chancellor of Advancement, Miriam Smith, who started in the role on March 3, 2025. He said that the position is not new—it was one of the six leadership positions that was eliminated during the operations and facilities reorganization. 

He reminded employees that the University of Texas has a $45 billion endowment. While he says he’s thrilled that ACC has a $22 million endowment, he believes that the College needs an apparatus that is more than just managing scholarships and will help raise money.

“I was taught by one of my mentors that fundraising is a team sport, and that is something that I keep with me in my day-to-day workings within fundraising. With that in mind, I look forward to working with each and every one of you in partnership as we work together to discover and create various ways to support our students and give them the resources they need to be successful,” said Smith. 

Learn more about Smith and her new role HERE.

Cabinet and Student Affairs Reorganizations

The majority of the rest of the meeting focused on the restructuring of the Chancellor’s Cabinet to recenter leadership and prepare the College for the future, as well as the reorganization of Student Affairs based on findings from the audit of the division.

Russell summarized his presentation in an email sent out to all employees, which is available HERE.

Rumor Busting

Q: Can you talk about work-from-home changes?
A: There will be legislative challenges that we will monitor. If departments are making decisions, I am not involved. My role is if there is a legislative change.

Q: I heard that ACC is striving to increase the percentage of classes taught by FT Faculty vs Adjunct Faculty. Can you please verify if this is an initiative, and if so, is there a specific goal?
A: The Board expressed a desire last year that we would match our peer average for hours taught by full-time faculty. That average is about 66% (two-thirds), so we are working toward that goal. At the time the Board approved 100 new positions for full-time faculty, we were at about 58%. 

Q: As the College realigns roles and responsibilities, are they then going to look at possibly establishing a communications plan so that students don’t get the same email from 5 different departments? 
A: Multiple entities have identified this as an issue. The Chancellor’s Leadership Institute is taking the head on this as a project. They are looking at all the communications students get and will map out when, where, and what messages get prioritized.

View the recording and Q&A transcript on the Virtual Employee Town Hall web page.