Dr. Keith Newman has been named Vice President for University Relations at Indiana Wesleyan University, effective July 1. He has held the same job at Mount Vernon Nazarene University in Ohio since January 2003.
Newman and IWU President Henry Smith were colleagues at Mount Vernon Nazarene until Smith joined IWU in July 2004.
"I have known Keith for several years and feel we can work together effectively," Smith said. "The chemistry between a university president and the vice president of university relations is so important because of the need for the two of us to travel together extensively."
Newman will be primarily responsible for fund raising and for building relationships with IWU’s various constituencies, including alumni and friends, the Grant County community and The Wesleyan Church.
Before he joined Mount Vernon Nazarene, Newman was the pastor of Nazarene churches in Arkansas, Texas and California for 18 years. Previously he was a police officer and detective sergeant on the Houston, Texas, Police Department for nine years.
Newman has played an active role in the Mount Vernon, Ohio, community. He has served on the boards of directors of the American Red Cross, the Chamber of Commerce and the Convention and Visitors Bureau.
For three decades, Newman has been a speaker at youth camps, conventions, retreats, capital stewardship banquets, parent-teacher organizations and civic associations. He was a founding trustee of a Christian high school in Houston.
Newman has a bachelor’s degree from Houston Baptist University and a master’s degree from Southern Nazarene University. He earned his doctorate in leadership education from Spalding University.
Newman also has Certificate in Fundraising Management from The Center of Philanthropy at Indiana University, Indianapolis.
Newman, his wife Carolyn, and their daughter Alana, who is in high school, are planning to move to Grant County this summer.
Newman will succeed Dr. Brian Simmons, who resigned to become President of the Association of Christian Schools International, which is based in Colorado Springs. Simmons has been IWU’s Vice President for University Relations for three years.