{"id":52686,"date":"2026-01-08T12:07:22","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T17:07:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/?p=52686"},"modified":"2026-01-08T12:07:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T17:07:25","slug":"austin-community-college-district-honors-52-year-legacy-of-founding-faculty-member-roland-c-hayes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/2026\/01\/08\/austin-community-college-district-honors-52-year-legacy-of-founding-faculty-member-roland-c-hayes\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin Community College District Honors 52-Year Legacy of Founding Faculty Member Roland C. Hayes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Austin Community College District (ACC) will relocate its January Board of Trustees meeting to the ACC Eastview Campus to honor the remarkable career and lasting legacy of Roland C. Hayes \u2014 one of the College\u2019s founding faculty members and the visionary director of ACC\u2019s African American Cultural Center.<\/p>\n

Reception Honoring Roland C. Hayes<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Date:<\/strong> Monday, January 12, 2026
Time: <\/strong>2 p.m.
Location<\/strong>: African American Cultural Center | ACC Eastview Campus, 3401 Webberville Rd.<\/p>\n

Hayes has served ACC for 52 years, beginning as one of the founding faculty members in 1973 when the College first opened its doors. For over five decades, he has shaped the Institution\u2019s academic and cultural identity as a history professor, mentor, advocate, and leader for student success and opportunity. His work establishing and leading the African American Cultural Center helped create a welcoming and empowering home for students, families, and the broader Central Texas community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis College is better because of Roland Hayes,\u201d says ACC Chancellor Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart. \u201cFor more than 50 years, he has poured his heart into students and into this community, always believing in what people can become when they\u2019re given opportunity and support. His legacy lives on in the doors ACC continues to open, and in the way we show up for students every day. It\u2019s an honor to celebrate someone who helped shape the soul of this college.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Eastview Campus, home to the African American Cultural Center, was selected as the venue to recognize the place where Hayes\u2019s leadership continues to build connection and community.<\/p>\n

His contributions extend far beyond the classroom. Hayes helped lead responsive education at ACC and has been a powerful voice for social awareness, educational opportunity, and the preservation of African American history and culture. Hayes also serves as the board president at the Texas Empowerment Academy. The North Austin location is named in his honor.  <\/p>\n

The regularly scheduled Board meeting will follow the reception on campus. The agenda for the January Board of Trustees meeting will be posted to the ACC Board Meetings webpage when available. Guests may RSVP to attend the reception.<\/a><\/p>\n

For more information, visit austincc.edu\/board<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Austin Community College District (ACC) will relocate its January Board of Trustees meeting to the ACC Eastview Campus to honor the remarkable career and lasting legacy of Roland C. Hayes \u2014 one of the College\u2019s … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3930,"featured_media":52687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,13,15,18,19],"tags":[2239,2049,744,4324],"class_list":["post-52686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-announcements","category-current-students","category-facstaff-news","category-official-acc-press-releases","category-students-and-alumni","tag-african-american-cultural-center-2","tag-board-meeting","tag-eastview-campus","tag-roland-c-hayes"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3930"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}