Chancellor James L. Oblinger announced Wednesday that Kevin Howell, a lobbyist for Gov. Mike Easley, will serve as the assistant to the chancellor for external affairs effective Dec. 1.

As one of the chancellor’s 10 executive officers, Howell will serve as the primary liaison with state and local officials and will be heavily involved in lobbying for campus priorities with the General Assembly.

Oblinger said his staff has definitely found the right man for the job, especially since Howell is an alumnus and a former student body president. It’s a fact he said will ease Howell in his transition to the new position at the University.

“It’s not going to be a steep learning curve partly because of that,” Oblinger said. “One thing that was important for us was that he knew N.C. State.”

The announcement comes just three weeks after N.C. State News Services sent out a press release via e-mail announcing the same decision. Director of News Services Keith Nichols however, indicated at the time that the release had been sent out by mistake and that Oblinger had not yet officially hired Howell.

“We weren’t quite there yet,” Oblinger said Wednesday about the previous release.

Howell indicated when News Services sent the press release, he was still working out the details with the University.

“I knew that I was interested in N.C. State because any lobbyist would be,” Howell said. “[The press release] was just premature.”

Despite the false start, Howell, who graduated in 1988 in political science, said he is excited to come back to the University.

“I was building my skills and I learned my craft from N.C. State,” he said. “Now, the opportunity to give back is so exciting.”

Howell served as student body president during the 1987-1988 school year and said he’s received calls from people he hasn’t spoken to in years.

“All of my friends from that class are calling me at work,” he said with a laugh.

Clogged voicemail aside, Howell said he feels connections like these, coupled with his institutional knowledge of campus will help him become a better lobbyist for the University’s message.

Andy Willis, Howell’s predecessor and currently the vice president for government relations for the UNC System, said he couldn’t agree more.

Despite this advantage however, he said the biggest challenges for Howell will be “learning the campus.”

“I went to N.C. State just like Kevin did. But that was in the ’80s, and a heck of a lot has changed since then,” Willis said.

But Willis said that with an individual like Howell, he isn’t too worried.

“He’s going to bring a level of respect and integrity that is probably unparalleled to anything we could have gotten,” Willis said.

When Howell does take over, the external affairs position will have been vacant for two months. But Willis said he doesn’t anticipate any problems, especially in light of the fact that when he took the position in January 2003, the job had been vacant for eight or nine months.

“I would worry if it was anyone else,” Willis said. “Knowing Jim Oblinger, even if [Howell] doesn’t start for a month, [Oblinger will] be on the phone with him once or twice a day.”

Howell said he already plans to meet with Willis to discuss the job, and said he’s looking forward to getting started.

“I’ll take the skills I have learned with the government and hopefully be an asset to the University,” Howell said.