JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. (ABP) — Veteran Baylor University professor and administrator Randall O’Brien has been named president of Carson-Newman College.
Trustees of the Jefferson City, Tenn., school elected him July 8. O’Brien will assume full-time duties Jan. 1, 2009, after a transitional period that begins in August. During the transition, he will share administrative duties with Carson-Newman’s current interim president, Joe Bill Sloan.
“It quickly became apparent to the committee that Dr. O’Brien’s reputation in Baptist higher education was national in scope,” said Carson-Newman trustee chair David Ogle, according to a news release from the school. Ogle also served as chair of the search committee that called O’Brien.
“He brings a breadth and depth of education, experience and understanding for the roles, challenges and opportunities required to ensure quality faculty and instruction, vibrant student life, and visionary leadership,” said Ogle, a Sevier County, Tenn., businessman. “Further, he is also nationally recognized by Baptists as an outstanding pastor, religious scholar, author and speaker. I look forward to seeing Dr. O’Brien in Baptist pulpits across this nation as Carson-Newman’s chief ambassador.”
O’Brien replaces James Netherton, who resigned under pressure in early 2007. He was the target of a no-confidence vote by the faculty in the fall of 2006. Critics among Carson-Newman professors, alumni and supporters accused Netherton of incompetence and mistreating faculty, and they blamed him for declining enrollment and financial pressures.
The school has also been a point of contention in the Tennessee Baptist Convention for at least a decade. In 1998, Carson-Newman trustees voted to remove the power to appoint their successors from the convention. Fundamentalists have accused the moderate-dominated school of teaching incorrect doctrine, while moderates have defended the academic freedom of professors.
However, Carson-Newman and the convention have reached an agreement to jointly appoint trustees and continue the convention’s financial support for the school.
Like O’Brien, Netherton previously worked for Baylor. He was vice president and chief operating officer until 1996, when he accepted the post of provost at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala.
O’Brien told the <i>Knoxville News Sentinel</i> that he hoped to continue to improve Carson-Newman’s relationship with the churches that support it. “We want Tennessee Baptists to trust us,” he said. “When people trust you they'll support you. I hope to prove trustworthy.”
O’Brien has served at Baylor — Texas Baptists’ flagship school — for 17 years, including the last three as executive vice president and provost.
“Randall has served Baylor admirably in a variety of positions over a period of nearly two decades,” Baylor President John Lilley said. “I have deeply appreciated the important role he has played as executive vice president and provost, overseeing our academic programs and helping to lead the university as we’ve confronted a variety of opportunities and challenges.”
A popular choice of students, O’Brien’s courses often were oversubscribed, and students have honored him with numerous teaching awards. He also has written four books and more than 70 scholarly articles.
He has filled the pulpit in many Texas Baptist churches, and he currently serves as interim pastor of one of the state’s most prominent moderate congregations — Trinity Baptist Church in San Antonio.
“Baylor University has been good to us,” O’Brien said. “For 17 wonderful years, Baylor has been home. Our children have grown up here. We have loved Baylor and Baylor has loved us. We have been a part of each other—family you might say, and in a very real sense we always will be.
“The only thing harder than saying goodbye to family and friends is saying ‘no’ to God, a sure recipe for misery,” he said.
“Someone has said that God’s other name is ‘Surprise!’ Well, God has, indeed, surprised us once again, this time with a call to become the 22nd president of Carson-Newman College. … We have prayerfully accepted God’s call upon our lives and Carson-Newman’s call to become president of the college.”
O’Brien was a full-time pastor — most recently at Calvary Baptist Church in Little Rock, Ark. — before going to Baylor. A native of McComb, Miss., he is a graduate of Mississippi College, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and Yale Divinity School. He also studied at Harvard and Oxford universities and is a decorated Vietnam veteran.
O’Brien’s wife, Kay, has extensive experience as a licensed social worker and an educator, and has taught in Baylor’s social-work school since 1997. They have two married adult daughters, both of whom are preparing to be international missionaries, and a son who is in college.
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