PLAINVIEW, TX — Dr. Don Ashley has been named Wayland Baptist University’s first Executive Director of Global Initiatives.
According to Dr. Bobby Hall, President, he will work with many different aspects of the university in successfully implementing Wayland’s new programs around the globe. Dr. Ashley will also continually look for new opportunities for the university to pursue in an international context.
“Wayland is fortunate to have someone with his great experience and depth of knowledge,” Hall said, noting he is a veteran international educator. “We have worked together in an international context dating back to Wayland’s program in Kenya, which he successfully directed.”
Since 2023, Dr. Ashley has served as Executive Director of Wayland’s Anchorage and Fairbanks campuses in Alaska. For the past three years, he has also worked closely with the President to explore potential international partnerships, including two new graduate programs that will enroll their first students from India at Wayland’s San Antonio campus in March.
“Dr. Ashley has served effectively for several years in a part-time capacity as Director of Global Projects in addition to his leadership role in Alaska, and it is now time to establish this office as a standalone entity,” Hall said.
From 1995 to 1997, Dr. Ashley served as an academic adviser at Wayland’s Anchorage campus. He earned his doctorate in 2001.
Dr. Ashley returned to the Anchorage campus in 2001, where he served as a professor. In addition to teaching, he served as the Kenya program director from 2018 to 2021 before taking the helm of the Anchorage and Fairbanks campuses in 2023.
“It is a joy and a privilege to become Wayland’s first Executive Director of Global Initiatives, an extension of the work we have done through the years,” he said. “The Lord is opening doors of opportunity for Wayland around the globe, and it is an honor to be a part of what He is doing in Christ-centered higher education.”
Dr. Ashley and his wife of 34 years, Heather, have two adult children. He is an avid cold-water scuba diver, who enjoys the beauty of the underwater world of Alaska.
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