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V. Lane Rawlins (born November 30, 1937) is an American academic who served as the President of the University of North Texas from May 2010 to February 2014. He is also the former President of Washington State University (WSU) and of the University of Memphis.
Born on November 30, 1937, in Idaho, Veldon Lane Rawlins began his college education at Idaho State University and after serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Australia he transferred to Brigham Young University about the same time he married his wife Mary Jo Love. He graduated from Brigham Young University in 1963 with a bachelor's degree in economics. In 1969, Rawlins obtained his doctoral degree in economics from the University of California, Berkeley.[ citation needed ]
In 1968, Rawlins became an economics professor at WSU. He served as the chair of the department from 1977 to 1981 and was WSU's vice provost from 1982-1986. He served as the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs of the University of Alabama for five years before assuming the presidency of Memphis State University—overseeing its renaming as the University of Memphis.
In June 2000, Rawlins returned to Washington State where he served as president until May 21, 2007. Rawlins created some controversy in the WSU community in 2002 when he tried to phase out the popular nickname "Wazzu" from usage. The change proved a firestorm of protest from students and alumni. As of the start of football season 2022, the nickname is back in popular use by WSU Athletics. [1] He is remembered for a strategic plan developed by faculty that led to increases in research funding and to growth in the numbers of talented students choosing WSU.[ citation needed ]
Rawlins is a labor economist by training and much of his research work focused on the effects of education on earnings in people's lives. His books include "Public Service Employment: The Experience of a Decade," co-authored with Robert F. Cook and Charles F. Adams, published in 1985.
In 2006, Rawlins announced his retirement as president of WSU. He was succeeded by former University of Missouri System President Elson Floyd in late May 2007. Floyd is WSU's first African-American president. Rawlins then returned to the School of Economic Sciences faculty. He served as the interim director of The William D. Ruckelshaus Center, a regional problem-solving program of Washington State University and the University of Washington, from 2007 to 2009.[ citation needed ]
On April 16, 2010, the University of North Texas System Board of Regents appointed V. Lane Rawlins as UNT's president for the 2010-11 academic year. The appointment, effective May 14, was expected to run through summer 2011 as UNT conducted a national search for its next president. On November 9, 2010, Rawlins accepted the offer to become the university's permanent full-time President. Rawlins succeeded Phil C. Diebel who served as UNT's interim president following Gretchen Bataille's February 2010 resignation.[ citation needed ]
He and his wife Mary Jo Rawlins have three children and 11 grandchildren. As Vice Chancellor of Alabama, Rawlins also served as bishop of the Tuscaloosa Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). [2] He was president of the North Memphis Tennessee Stake of the LDS Church.
Washington State University is a public land-grant research university in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant universities in the American West. With an undergraduate enrollment of 24,278 and a total enrollment of 28,581, it is the second largest institution for higher education in Washington state behind the University of Washington. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity".
Brigham Young University–Idaho is a private college in Rexburg, Idaho. Founded 136 years ago in 1888, the college is owned and operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Previously known as Ricks College, it transitioned from a junior college to a baccalaureate institution in 2001.
Leonard James Arrington was an American author, academic and the founder of the Mormon History Association. He is known as the "Dean of Mormon History" and "the Father of Mormon History" because of his many influential contributions to the field. Since 1842, he was the first non-general authority Church Historian for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, from 1972 to 1982, and was director of the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Church History from 1982 until 1986.
Jeffrey Roy Holland is an American educator and religious leader. He served as the ninth president of Brigham Young University (BYU) and is the acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, Holland is accepted by the church as a prophet, seer, and revelator. Currently, he is the third most senior apostle in the church.
Lowell Tom Perry was an American businessman and religious leader who was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1974 until his death.
Charles Coulson Rich was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement. He led one of the first groups of Mormon pioneers west from Illinois under the leadership of Brigham Young after Joseph Smith's murder.
Kim Bryce Clark is an American scholar, educator, and religious leader who has been a general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since April 2015, and was the church's seventeenth Commissioner of Church Education from 2015 to 2019. He served previously as the 15th president of Brigham Young University–Idaho from 2005 to 2015, and as the dean of the Harvard Business School (HBS) from 1995 to 2005, where he was also the George F. Baker Professor of Business Administration.
The Mormon corridor are the areas of western North America that were settled between 1850 and approximately 1890 by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who are commonly called "Mormons".
The Church Educational System (CES) of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints consists of several institutions that provide religious and secular education for both Latter-day Saint and non–Latter-day Saint elementary, secondary, and post-secondary students and adult learners. Approximately 700,000 individuals were enrolled in CES programs in 143 countries in 2011. CES courses of study are separate and distinct from religious instruction provided through wards. Clark G. Gilbert, a general authority seventy, has been the CES commissioner since August 1, 2021.
William Bowker Preston was the fourth Presiding Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1884 and 1907.
Elson S. Floyd was an American educator who served as the 10th president of the four-campus Washington State University from May 21, 2007 to June 20, 2015. Floyd was also the first African American to be named president of Washington State University. Floyd also served as president of the University of Missouri System and president of Western Michigan University. Floyd was the Chairman of the Pac-12 CEO Group.
Bruce Clark Hafen is an American attorney, academic and religious leader. He has been a general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 1996.
Neil Linden Andersen is an American religious leader and former business executive who serves as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was sustained by church membership as an apostle on April 4, 2009, during the church's General Conference. At the time of his call to the Twelve, Andersen had been serving as an LDS general authority since 1993, including service in the Presidency of the Seventy from 2005 to 2009. Currently, he is the ninth apostle in order of seniority in the church.
Floyd Melvin ("Mel") Hammond was an Idaho politician and has been a general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 1989. He was the nineteenth general president of the church's Young Men organization from 2001 to 2004.
Stephen Douglas Nadauld is an American academic, the former president of Dixie State University and Weber State University (WSU). Nadauld was a general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1991 to 1996.
John Sears Tanner was the tenth president of Brigham Young University-Hawaii (BYU–Hawaii), serving from 2015 to 2020. He previously served as first counselor in the General Sunday School Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as president of the church's Brazil São Paulo South Mission and as academic vice president of Brigham Young University (BYU). Tanner is married to Susan W. Tanner, a former general president of the LDS Church's Young Women organization.
Gary Jerome Coleman has been a general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 1992.
Henry Johnson Eyring is an American academic administrator who served as the 17th president of Brigham Young University–Idaho (BYU–Idaho) from 2017 to 2023. From 2019 to 2023, he also served as an area seventy in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He previously served as both the academic and the advancement vice president at BYU-Idaho, as well as director of the Marriott School of Business (MSB) MBA program at Brigham Young University (BYU).
Clark G. Gilbert has been a general authority seventy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since April 2021 and the Church Commissioner of Education since August of that year. He was the president of BYU–Pathway Worldwide (BYU–PW), an online higher education organization, from its creation in 2017 until August 2021. He was serving as the sixteenth president of Brigham Young University–Idaho (BYU–Idaho) when he was appointed inaugural president of BYU–PW. Previously, Gilbert served as president and CEO of both the Deseret News and Deseret Digital Media, having also served as an executive vice president of Deseret Management Corporation, a professor at Harvard Business School (HBS), and as an associate academic vice president at BYU–Idaho.
Geoffrey Gamble is an American linguist who served from 2000 to 2009 as the 11th president of Montana State University.