The Coastal Carolina University Board of Trustees recently voted to rename University Hall as Bill Baxley Hall in honor of Col. William J. Baxley Jr., a retired professor and administrator who served the University in various capacities for nearly 30 years.

The Bill Baxley Hall will be dedicated at 4:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 22 during Founders Day events at the University. The events are free and open to the public.

The building, located at the corner of Chanticleer Drive and University Boulevard, houses the Welcome Center, the Technology in Education to Advance Learning (TEAL) Center, graduate offices, honors program and the Coastal Carolina University Bookstore. It was built in 2001. Baxley is dean emeritus of the E. Craig Wall Sr. College of Business Administration. A native of Dillon, he graduated from West Point in 1950 and earned an M.B.A. from the University of Alabama in 1962.

During his 22-year career in the U.S. Army, he served as an infantry battalion commander in Vietnam and as a colonel in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He received the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Medal and the Freedom Foundation's George Washington Honor Medal.

Baxley joined the Coastal faculty in 1972 and served as associate chancellor of advancement and dean of the Wall College of Business. After retiring in 1992, he served as executive-in-residence for the Wall College of Business until 2002. He was named an honorary founder of the University in 2003.