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The new Lurleen B. Wallace interim president Dr. Chris Cox said he is ready to get the year started and he is excited to recruit new students to the college.

Yesterday, LBW held a reception and meet and greet for Cox.

“Everything has been really great so far,” Cox said. “I am excited to be here. We have got a great community and great people here in Andalusia that want to serve the community. I’m just here to support them, keep them riled up and work hard.”

One thing that Cox wants to focus on at the college is making sure everybody in the surrounding area knows that they can benefit from LBW.

“We have something that they can benefit from here at LBW,” Cox said. “I actually went out to Georgiana the other day to watch a

basketball game and I told all of the players that I didn’t want a few of them to come play for us, I want them all to come. Another thing we want to focus on is monitoring the campuses as far as any needs they have, we want to see if we can do some updating and see if we can spruce things up a bit.”

When Cox got the news that he would be interim president, he said he was more than excited.

“I have been in education for 26 years,” Cox said. “Education is kind of second nature to me. It’s just what I love to do and I love to see people achieve their goals and dreams and in my opinion, being in education is the best way to see that happen.”

Growing up in Geneva, Cox said he has always known Andalusia was a great community, but he is excited to finally be apart of it.

“I had the opportunity to come here for three weeks this summer to help with Dr. Ridel’s retirement transition and I just really fell in love with the good people of Andalusia,” Cox said. “We are going to start thinking differently and be innovative here at LBW, of what we can offer our students and how we can get them here. I heard Jason Jessie say that our biggest competitor is not another college, but the kids that don’t go to school at all. We want those folks to know that there is an opportunity for them here and we want to educate them on those opportunities.”

Prior to his role at the ACCS, Cox served as the Assistant Superintendent for Oxford City Schools.

A Geneva, Alabama native, Cox began his career as a teacher and coach at Dale County High School in Midland City. He later served as Assistant Principal at Geneva High School in Geneva and Principal at Pinedale Elementary School in Enterprise. Prior to joining the ACCS, Cox spent time in Oxford, first as Oxford High School’s principal and then as Assistant Superintendent for the Oxford City Board of Education. Cox earned a Bachelor of Science in Social Science from Troy State University and a Master of Science in Educational Administration from Alabama State University. Cox also earned his Doctorate of Philosophy in Educational Administration from Auburn University.