Athens State University has named a new vice president of corporate and community relations.

The school announced Tuesday that Joe Delap had been appointed to the position. He formerly served as the university’s provost and vice president for academic affairs.

“I am excited about this new opportunity,” Delap said. “This new position will strengthen the university academically and strategically.”

Athens State says it created this new position in order to help the university engage with external communities. According to a release, Delap will “be working with all departments at Athens State to create and implement or enhance partnerships with corporate and business leaders, the nonprofit sector, P-12 education, community colleges and community organizations. These partnerships will strengthen the University’s academic and leadership role in North Alabama.”

“Delap will be well-suited to this role,” said Athens State President Philip Way. “As provost and VP for academic affairs, he has been responsible for many of these areas internally. We thank him for his service. Now he will use his deep knowledge of internal operations to market the university externally, resulting in benefits for all VP areas.”

Athens State said Delap will gradually transition between his former role and his new position over the next few weeks. The university said it will conduct a national search via an outside firm for a new provost.