The Southern States Athletic Conference announced the appointment of Dr. Kim Hays as the league's new eligibility chair.
Dr. Hays takes over the role from Dr. Ronald Melton, who has served as the eligibility chair since 2011.
Dr.
Hays has served as the Dalton State faculty athletics representative since 2016 and is also an associate professor of biology.
She completed a BS in environmental biology at Jacksonville State in 2002 and MS and PhD degrees in zoology at Oklahoma State in 2005 and 2010.
Dr. Hays said, "I am excited to take on the role of eligibility chair for the Southern States Athletic Conference. I have learned so much in my time as FAR at Dalton State College and I am honored to use that knowledge in service to the student-athletes and staff of our conference. I know I have very big shoes to fill and Dr. Melton leaves behind a legacy of excellence to which I can aspire. I look forward to working with all of our conference members and continuing to grow our conference moving forward."
SSAC Commissioner Mike Hall said, "I'm very excited to announce the appointment of Dr. Kim Hays as our new eligibility chair. Dr. Hays has a strong set of administrative attributes and a very jovial personality. She loves higher education, college athletics, coaches and student-athletes and I'm very confident that she will bring us excellent leadership in this very important part of our conference operations. Also, we are very grateful for the many years of outstanding leadership from NAIA Hall of Famer, Dr. Ron Melton in this role and are glad that he will continue to be available to Dr. Hays during this transition period."