Contact: Monty Jones, (512) 499-4363

Date: March 6, 1998

UT System News Release

Rodney H. Mabry Named President of U.T. Tyler

AUSTIN - Dr. Rodney H. Mabry, dean of business administration at the University of Tulsa, was named president of The University of Texas at Tyler on Friday (March 6) by the U.T. System Board of Regents.

Mabry will succeed Dr. George F. Hamm, who will retire after 17 years in the presidency.

Mabry has been dean of the College of Business Administration at the University of Tulsa since 1994. From 1984 to 1994, he was department head and professor of finance at Clemson University.

He held faculty and administrative positions in the department of economics and finance at Northeast Louisiana University from 1979 to 1984. Previously, he was on the economics faculty at Clemson and was a field research associate for the Brookings Institution.

"Dr. Mabry is a highly capable academic administrator with a distinguished record both as a scholar and a teacher," said Donald L. Evans, chairman of the Board of Regents. "He is an innovative and resourceful leader, and he has a deep understanding of the issues and challenges facing higher education. He will be a dynamic and unifying force at U.T. Tyler as the university continues its expanding role of service to the people of East Texas."

Chancellor William H. Cunningham said: "Dr. Mabry comes to U.T. Tyler with a long and highly successful history in higher education administration. He has a thorough appreciation for the diverse constituencies of an institution such as U.T. Tyler, and he will be a great president for the university."

Regent A.W. "Dub" Riter Jr. of Tyler commented: "I am delighted that Dr. Mabry will assume this vital leadership role for U.T. Tyler. The university community and the entire region served by U.T. Tyler will find in Dr. Mabry a leader of consummate skill. He is a visionary and personable administrator who cares deeply about people and knows how to bring them together in support of a common purpose."

The Board of Regents selected Mabry after interviewing him and another finalist for the presidency, Dr. William G. Cale Jr. of Lamar University, on Friday morning. Two additional finalists had been named by the advisory committee in January, but they subsequently withdrew their names from consideration.

Mabry, a native of Paducah, Ky., earned a bachelor's degree in commerce from the University of Kentucky and a doctorate in economics from the University of North Carolina. He also received a College Management Certificate from Carnegie-Mellon University.

He has published two textbooks on economics, as well as numerous articles and reports on economic and social issues. He has been an editorial board member or publications referee for professional journals including Southern Business and Economic Journal, Growth and Change, The CATO Journal, and Review of Economic and Business.

Mabry is a member of the American Finance Association, the American Economic Association, Financial Management Association, and other professional and scholarly organizations.

He is married to Merle Hardesty Mabry, who teaches first grade in the Jenks, Okla., school system. They have two children: Brad, an MBA student at Florida State University, and Patty, a junior and a scholarship basketball player at Augusta State University in Georgia.