RADFORD — Radford University President Penelope Kyle has chosen a longtime faculty member to help her figure out how to improve the university’s athletics programs.

Kyle announced that she had named Charles Hayes, a theater professor, to be the special assistant to the president for athletics at the Radford University Board of Visitors meeting Thursday.

The board has expressed for several years an interest in boosting athletics at the university, and it unanimously approved Hayes’ appointment.

Kyle chose Hayes at the recommendation of David Braine, a former Virginia Tech athletic director who had been working as an athletic consultant with RU since May.

“David Braine said you need someone who knows Division I athletics and preferably you need someone who knows Radford University,” Kyle said.

And Hayes fits that bill.

He started teaching at RU in fall of 1967 and has been active recently on the president’s Commission for the Future.

For about the last 13 years, Hayes was the faculty athletics representative, a position in which he was the liaison between the RU athletics department and administration and faculty and between the university and the National Collegiate Athletic Association. He has also chaired the faculty athletics group with the Big South Conference and has held other positions with the conference.

He also happens to be a big sports fan.

“What’s not to like?” Hayes said. “I read the sports page before I read the front page.”

Hayes was planning to take a buyout at the end of this year from the university but said he is excited about staying on in another role.

His new salary is $106,615, and his appointment will end December 2007.

Hayes now has an office in the Dedmon Center, the central area for athletics on campus. He is still teaching one course in the theater department this semester and is now in rehearsals for “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” a production the university is presenting in October starring Sally Struthers.

The board of visitors also voted on its new leadership, as this meeting was the first of the new fiscal year.

Randal Kirk, a 1976 RU alumnus, is the new rector, and Nancy Agee is continuing on as vice rector. No committee assignments were made.