King named NSU's director of housing

E. Thayne King has been named director of housing and assistant director of auxiliary services at Northeastern State University.

Arriving from a similar position held at Texas A&M University-Commerce, King assumed his post with NSU on Nov. 8. He will oversee operations within the campus residence halls including hiring, training and supervision of staff. He replaces Todd Hefner, who left in October 2009.

"I've worked in residence halls since I became a resident assistant as a senior in college," said King. "Hefner was a RA at Sam Houston State when I was the housing director there. He knew I was looking for an opportunity and when he was preparing to move back to Texas, he let me know that the job would be open. I had been on the NSU campus before for a basketball game and really enjoyed it."

Previously, King held residence hall management positions at TAMU-Commerce for 8-plus years, Sam Houston State in Huntsville, Texas, for 22 years and Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., for five years.

King holds bachelor's and master's degrees from Eastern Illinois University.

"During the interview process, I was really struck by how committed everyone is to make NSU everything it can be," he said. "I met some very sharp student leaders who knew what they were doing and really cared. That all told me the right messages are getting to the university personnel and students about working together."