|
A
new vice president of Student Life was announced Thursday afternoon by
Brigham Young University-Idaho President David Bednar.
James
Gee will replace Robert Wilkes, who will retire at the end of the Fall
Semester after 33 years of service, including the past five years as vice
president.
Replacing
Gee as associate academic vice president will be Roy Huff, who is currently
a member of the religion faculty.
President
Bednar said Gee is well prepared to move into the new assignment. After
graduating from Sugar-Salem High
School in 1962, he earned an associate degree
from Ricks College. He then
earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Utah State University, majoring
in political science and minoring in history.
After
teaching seminary from 1969 to 1971 in Sugar City and St.
Anthony, he came to Ricks College in October
of 1972 as the supervisor of the BYU-Ricks Center. He subsequently
served as the director of evening school and summer school and the director
of records.
In
1986 he was asked to serve as the assistant academic vice president for
support services, with stewardship responsibilities over summer and evening
school, the Registrar’s Office, Advising, Financial Aid, Placement
and Student Employment – many of which are now housed within Student
Life. His present assignment involves a variety of administrative duties
that include budgeting, faculty salaries and space planning.
President
Bednar said, “As a member of the academic team at this institution,
Jim has earned the respect of his colleagues and has developed a broad
understanding of a wide range of programs and processes across the entire
campus. Of greatest significance has been his ability to help move the
school forward during the transition from Ricks College to
BYU-Idaho. He has been a key player in developing the academic programs for
the new baccalaureate institution and has a keen understanding of what this
institution should and can become.”
His
wife, Marilyn Gee, is an adjunct member of the Music Department where she
teaches piano.
Huff,
who will become a new associate academic vice president, presently serves
as a member in the Religious Education Department. As with other associate
academic vice president positions at BYU-Idaho, this appointment will be
for a period of five to seven years.
Huff
initially was hired in August 1990 as an instructor in the Foreign Language
Depart where he taught Russian for several years. For three years he also
taught seminary in Ririe. He began his tenure in
the Religious Education Department in August of 1995. He previously worked
at the Missionary Training Center as a
supervising teacher and for a short period of time for the U.S. Department
of Defense as a Russian linguist. He earned both his bachelor’s and
master’s degrees in Russian from Brigham Young University and a Ph.D.
in adult education from the University of Idaho.
Wilkes
said he has enjoyed his time at BYU-Idaho and Ricks College, but it
seemed to be the right time to retire.
“It’s
been a treat. I still can’t even imagine it was my opportunity to
serve as vice president,” he said. “How could I have imagined
five years ago what would transpire as we became BYU-Idaho?”
As
a former faculty member with little experience in Student Life, he added, “I’m
grateful that the professionals in Student Life adopted me and took me in
and saw that I didn’t mess things up.”
|