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BIRMINGHAM, Ala.-Longtime higher education
and state government administrator Dr. Wayne Echols of Birmingham
is the new vice president for business and finance at Birmingham-Southern
College.
Currently the assistant to the president
and director of state and community relations at the University
of Alabama at Birmingham, Echols will assume his new duties April
1, 2002.
The Tuscaloosa native will serve as Birmingham-Southern's
chief business and finance officer and play a key role in developing
innovative financial strategies to meet the college's future resource
needs, said BSC President Dr. Neal R. Berte in making the announcement
after a national search.
"Wayne has valuable experience in higher
education administration, particularly in the areas of fiscal management,
business affairs, and strategic planning, and we look forward to
his leading Birmingham-Southern's efforts in these areas,"
Berte said.
Echols' responsibilities will include the
college's accounting operations, budgeting, strategic planning,
investment management, purchasing, physical plant, auxiliary services,
construction, campus safety and security, and administrative information
systems.
He joined UAB in 1988 as director of administrative
affairs for the School of Dentistry, and in 1992, he became assistant
vice president for health affairs and the principal administrator
to the institution's Executive Council for Medical Care. He assumed
his current duties in 1996.
Echols also has served as director of program
evaluation for the state's Legislative Fiscal Office, as director
of planning and budget development for the Alabama Commission on
Higher Education, and as assistant to the governor of Alabama from
1979-81.
At UAB, he is an adjunct professor of government
and public policy in the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences
and a member of several advisory and planning committees. He is
a member of the Birmingham/Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce
Governmental Affairs Committee, a founding board member of the Public
Affairs Research Council of Alabama, and is active in Vestavia Hills
United Methodist Church.
He received his bachelor's degree in political
science/history, his master's in higher education administration,
and his Ed.D. in higher education administration, all from the University
of Alabama.
Echols replaces Johnny A. Johnson, who died
last November. Johnson held the position for 13 years.
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