OREM — Val Hale, former athletic director at Brigham Young University, was hired as an assistant vice president for external affairs at Utah Valley State College, school officials announced Monday.

Hale will lobby at the Utah Legislature on behalf of UVSC, as well as meet with opinion and community leaders to generate support for the college.

The job officially began Monday. Hale has worked as a consultant for the school since October 2004.

"The salary was listed between $55,000 and $76,000, and I'm toward the upper end of that," Hale said Monday night.

Hale was engaged in many aspects of the job when he was a consultant — except for working at the Legislature.

"I'm actually looking forward to it. I think it's going to be fun. I know a lot of them (political leaders) from my previous life," Hale said. "This whole political arena is new to me and it's pretty intriguing. I'm excited to learn about it."

Hale also will foster economic development from UVSC. He'll work with the college's small business and manufacturing centers to help launch entrepreneurs.

As a consultant, Hale helped organize a Community Relations Council of civic, political, religious and business leaders to discuss the goals and responsibilities of UVSC and its relationship with Utah County residents.

"The thing that has im- pressed me more than anything over the last eight months is how critical, vitally important UVSC is to the future of Utah County. I did some research and found 70 percent of all young people in Utah County who go to college in Utah go to UVSC," he said. "That's remarkable."

Hale said that he has had more lucrative job offers, but chose UVSC because he likes the administration, their ap- proach and vision.

"You know, BYU used to serve the needs of Utah County when I was in high school," said Hale. "UVSC had to grow just to absorb all the kids, not only from this valley but from all over the state and outside the state."

Hale, 47, attended Orem High. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in public relations from BYU. He has worked as a newspaper reporter and columnist and in marketing and athletics at BYU.

From 1999 to 2004, he was BYU's athletic director. His contract was not renewed last fall. BYU administrators said they wanted to change the structure of the athletics department after they studied and compared it to other prominent Division I schools.

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E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com