Jacksonville, AL – Per the Director of Strategic Communications for JSU, Buffy Lockette, on the one-year anniversary of the dedication of Hugh Merrill Hall, the JSU Board of Trustees passed a resolution naming one of the departments housed in the building in honor of fellow trustee and alumnus Greg Brown. The Department of Finance, Economics and Accounting will now be known as the “Greg D. Brown Department of Finance, Economics and Accounting.”
Brown graduated from JSU with a BS in accounting and mathematics in 1979 and spent much of his career as president and CEO of BR Williams Trucking, Inc., a leader in the transportation industry. In 2016, he joined the Board of Trustees, where his contributions have included serving as founding chair of its Audit Committee – improving the university’s financial procedures and strengthening its fiscal accountability.
The trustees also voted to change the name of the Office of Graduate Studies to the “Graduate School” and approved a plan to restructure and rename departments within the College of Education and Professional Studies as follows:
- The Department of Curriculum and Instruction and the Department of Secondary Education are merging into the Department of Teacher Education.
- The Department of Counseling and Instructional Support is being renamed the Department of Professional Counseling and Leadership.
- The Department of Family and Consumer Sciences is being renamed the Department of Career Technical Education and Professional Studies.
The board also approved several namings brought forth by the Advancement Committee to recognize university alumni and donors, as follows:
- The scoreboard in JSU Stadium will now be known as the “Ronnie Watkins Ford Scoreboard,” in recognition of the Ronnie Watkins Ford dealership in Gadsden, Ala., which has supported the university for more than 20 years.
- The team locker room in Jim Case Stadium will be named the “David Boatfield Team Locker Room” in honor of 1983 graduate and former Gamecock baseball player David Boatfield. He and his wife, Cynthia – a 1982 alumna – are longtime supporters of the university. They reside in Allen, Tex.
- An interview room in Merrill Hall will be named the “Guaranteed Labels, Inc. Interview Room” in recognition of the Moody, Ala. business owned by 1990 JSU graduate Scott Noell and his wife, Kathy.
Finally, the trustees voted to move forward with the demolition of Wallace Hall. Built in 1973, the building was home to the School of Nursing in the College of Health Professions and Wellness until the 2018 tornado. The School of Nursing will start the Fall 2023 semester in its updated new home at the JSU South Complex, formerly Jacksonville Hospital. Athletic Training and Respiratory Therapy are also housed at the JSU South Complex. The property was donated to the university by Regional Medical Center in 2018.
