A&M System regents name new presidents for three campuses

The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents looked internally on Tuesday when naming new presidents of three campuses across the state. 

The board picked permanent presidents at Texas A&M-Commerce and Texas A&M International University, while selecting an interim president to take over at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at the start of 2017. 

All three hires had previously worked at the schools they will now oversee. Ray Keck was selected at A&M-Commerce, where he has been interim president since June. Prior to taking the interim job, he was president of A&M-International. He is a scholar of romance languages and literature. 

His old job at A&M-International will go to Pablo Arenaz, the former provost at the school. Arenaz has been in the interim role as president since Keck left in June. 

The third hire was Kelly Quintanilla, a former communications professor, for the job of interim president of A&M-Corpus Christi. She'll take over that position at the start of 2017 when current president Flavius Killebrew retires. Quintanilla is currently provost of A&M-Corpus Christi. 

All three selections were made at a special meeting of the A&M system board. Keck and Arenaz won't formally be promoted for at least three weeks, however, since state law requires that public university presidents be named finalists before their hirings become official. 

“This is a significant day for each of these excellent institutions,” Cliff Thomas, chairman of the board, said in a statement. “These outstanding leaders are highly qualified and each is well suited to his or her respective institution. Dr. Keck, Dr. Arenaz, and Dr. Quintanilla give me great confidence in the future of the A&M System.” 

Disclosure: The Texas A&M University System, A&M-International and A&M-Corpus Christi have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed here.