NCAA News Archive - 2010

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    O'Brien elected vice chair of DII Presidents Council

    Apr 30, 2010 11:14:01 AM


    The NCAA News

     

    Pat O'Brien, president of West Texas A&M, has been elected to succeed Beverley Pitts as vice chair of the Division II Presidents Council.

    O'Brien will replace Pitts, president of the University of Indianapolis, on September 1.

    In addition to filling in for the Presidents Council chair as needed, the vice chair of the Division II Presidents Council also chairs the Planning and Finance Committee, among other responsibilities.

    O'Brien became president at West Texas A&M in 2006. Previous to that, he served at Loyola (Louisiana), where he was dean of the college of business administration and professor of economics.

    He is regarded as an expert in the field of long-range planning. In that regard, O'Brien was selected to chair the Division II Strategic Planning Task Force that helped align the division's strategic priorities through 2013 with the division's strategic platform. That task force completed its work in 2008.

    A native of Tennessee, O'Brien earned baccalaureate (economics) and master's (agricultural economics) degrees from Auburn in 1967 and 1969, respectively. He received his Ph.D. in economics with areas of specialization in monetary economics, public finance and regional economics from Oklahoma State in 1977.

    O'Brien is chair of the Council of Presidents for the Lone Star Conference.