South Plains College Board of Regents

South Plains College is governed by a seven-member Board of Regents elected to staggered six-year terms by the registered voters of the South Plains College District. The college's district encompasses Hockley County and the Whiteface Independent School District portion of Cochran County.

The board functions to set policy for the college, to ensure the college's financial well-being and to select and hire the President of the College. Members of the Board of Regents include the following individuals.

Board of Regents Meeting Agenda and Minutes Postings

Mike Box, Chairman,
Position 3, Term Expires May 2010
Mr. Box has served on the SPC Board of Regents since May 1986. He was elected chairman of the board in May 1994. Mr. Box has worked 30 years in the banking industry and currently serves as vice president and branch manager for City Bank Whiteface. He is a graduate of South Plains College, receiving his associate of arts degree in 1971. He attended Texas Tech University, majoring in education. He is active in the South Plains Football Officials Association, serving as treasurer. He is a past member of the board of directors of the South Plains Regional Housing Authority. He serves as a deacon at South Plains Church in Levelland. Mr. Box and his wife, Teresa, reside in Sundown. Mrs. Box is a third grade teacher with Sundown ISD. They have two sons: one teaches and coaches with Ozona ISD; and the other is a recent graduate of South Plains College.

Bobby Neal, Vice Chairman
Position 1, Term Expires May 2014
Mr. Neal has served on the SPC Board of Regents since May 1992. He was elected vice chairman in May 1994. Mr. Neal is an agricultural producer and has farmed in the Whiteface area of Hockley and Cochran counties for more than 45 years. He is a former South Plains College student, enrolling in the college's agriculture program in 1959 and took day and evening classes while farming full-time on his father's farm. He served 12 years as a member of the board of trustees for the Whiteface Independent School District. He also serves on the board of directors of City Bank Texas and United Cotton Growers Coop Gin. He is a member of the board of deacons for the First Church of the Nazarene in Levelland. Mr. Neal and his wife Linda have a son and two daughters, all of whom attended South Plains College.

Charles Miller, Secretary
Position 4, Term Expires May 2010
Mr. Miller was appointed to the SPC Board of Regents in February 1988. He was elected secretary of the board in May 1990. Mr. Miller worked 32 years with Amoco before retiring in August 1987. During that time he worked as a petroleum engineer with the company in Pampa, Sweetwater and Lubbock, before moving his family to Levelland in 1964. He served as district manager of Amoco's Levelland and Slaughter fields from 1977-1987. During this time he worked with South Plains College in developing oil field training programs that led to the establishment of the college's petroleum technology program. Within the industry, he served as chairman of the West Texas Oil Information Committee with the Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association and chairman of the South Plains Chapter of the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum Engineers. He is a past chairman of the local American Heart Association, past member of the Levelland Chamber of Commerce, and is currently the scholarship chairman for the South Plains Chapter of the American Petroleum Institute. He has also held numerous leadership roles at First United Methodist Church in Levelland. Mr. Miller attended Amarillo College for one year before transferring to Texas Tech University where he completed his bachelor's degree in petroleum engineering in 1955. His wife, Jean, worked 22 years with the Levelland Independent Schools District as high school registrar. They have two grown daughters and five granddaughters.

Alton C. "Pete" Pettiet
Position 5, Term Expires May 2012
Mr. Pettiet was appointed to the SPC Board of Regents in March 1989 and elected to his current position in April 1994. He is the owner of Pettiet Insurance Agency in Ropesville in northeastern Hockley County.  A native of Ropesville, he has served as city councilman and mayor for the community. He worked 40 years in agriculture fertilizer sales, primarily with Zipp Industries. Mr. Pettiet has operated his insurance business for the past 23 years. He and his wife, Charlene, are active members of First Baptist Church in Ropesville where he serves as a deacon. They are involved in the Baptist Student Ministries at SPC, and he also serves as a delegate from his church to the South Plains Baptist Association. The Pettiets are also active fundraisers and supporters of the Ropes Senior Citizens Center and the Class of 1951 scholarship program that benefits students graduating from Ropes High School. The Pettiet family has been very involved with South Plains College. A son and daughter are former students of SPC, as well as a daughter-in-law, son-in-law and two grandchildren.

William Clements
Position 7, Term Expires May 2012
Mr. Clements was appointed to the board in August 1992 and was elected to his position in April 1994. He has since been elected for two additional terms of office. Born and reared on a Terry County farm, he has been farming in Hockley County near Sundown since 1961. He presently serves as chairman of the board of directors of the Hockley County Appraisal District and chairman of the board of directors of the Hockley County Farm Bureau.  Mr. Clements previously served on the Sundown Independent School District Board of Trustees.  In that capacity, he was actively involved in the South Plains Association of School Boards, serving a term as president of that organization. He served a year as a director for the Texas Association of School Boards. He is also a former director for Sundown State Bank. Mr. Clements and his wife Beth have three grown children, all of whom graduated from South Plains College.

James Montgomery
Position 2, Term Expires May 2014
Mr. Montgomery was elected to the Board of Regents in April 1996 and has served for 12 years on the board. A native of Hall County, Texas, he moved to Levelland in 1960 where he owned and operated Hockley County Abstract Company for 40 years. He sold his business and retired in December 1999. During his career, he taught accounting courses in the evening at SPC and helped develop the college's real estate program. Mr. Montgomery served as mayor of Levelland from 1972-1976, was president of the Chamber of Commerce board of directors, actively worked with the Boy Scouts of America and the Levelland Little League Association, and was a charter member of the Levelland Board of Realtors. He was named Levelland Man of the Year in 1979. He holds a bachelor of business administration in accounting from Texas Tech University and a master of education from West Texas State University. His wife Mildred taught a total of 33 years as a home economics teacher before retiring from Levelland Independent School District. They have one son and four grandchildren.

Linda Patton
Position 6, Expires May 2012

Linda Patton, widow of fomer Regent Dennis Patton, was elected May 10, 2008 to complete the remainder of her husband’s term on the South Plains College Board of Regents. She was appointed to the board at a Special Meeting held August 23, 2007. The former Linda Embick is a native of Hutchinson, Kan. She is a graduate of Hobbs (NM) High School, South Plains College and Texas Tech University. Mrs. Patton was a teacher for 33 years. She taught in Dallas, Brownfield and Levelland. The couple was married for 39 years. The Pattons have two children, Michelle “Missy” Patton of Levelland and Lance Patton of San Antonio, and two grandchildren, Mya, 3, and Luke, 1. Dennis Patton had served two terms as a member of the SPC Board of Regents since April 1994. He was a former SPC basketball player who later became the coach of the Texans. He coached the team for six seasons. He was the co-owner of Chem Tech until his retirement in 2006. Patton had completed the first year of his third term at the time of his death on July 12, 2007.  With her election, Linda Patton becomes the first woman elected to serve on the SPC Board of Regents.