DANDRIDGE, Tenn. — Roy A. Dobyns, the eighth president of Bluefield College, died Nov. 12 in a Dandridge, Tenn., nursing home. He was 82.
Roy Dobyns
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Dobyns was president of the Baptist-affiliated school from 1989 until he retired in 1996, a period of enrollment growth for the school in southwest Virginia. During his tenure the number of students doubled, to an all-time high of 853. Much of the growth occurred following the addition of an adult degree completion program in 1991.
Also during Dobyns’s tenure, Bluefield launched its 75th Anniversary Campaign, a fundraising effort which garnered $7.5 million for a science center, two parking lots, a campus roadway, an expansion of the Student Activities Center, renovations to Lansdell Hall, and additional investments in faculty and students.
Dobyns’s career included stints on the staff of Carson Newman University in Jefferson City, Tenn., Clayton State University in Morrow, Ga., Georgetown (Ky.) College, McNeese State University in Lake Charles, La., and Louisiana College in Pineville, La.
He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Kathryn Dobyns, and three sons. A funeral service will be held Nov. 15 at First Baptist Church in Jefferson City.