Chris Willis has been appointed assistant vice president and chief facilities officer at Radford University.

Willis comes to RU after five years at the University of South Alabama (USA) in Mobile, where he was director of facilities management for USA, a public university with an enrollment of more than 15,000. Willis also spent eight years at the University of Virginia, where he was director of facilities operations.

Willis will supervise RU's Department of Facilities Management, which has more than 180 employees. His areas of oversight will include operations, planning and construction, and he will be involved in the development of a new six-year capital plan for the university. "RU has a diversity of beautiful buildings as well a staff that is really invested in them and the campus," he said.

With work to begin shortly on RU's Center for the Sciences and with the new Student Fitness and Wellness Center on the drawing board, Willis is already immersed in his new role. "I am in an 'assist' position where my goal is to help craft buildings and operations that fulfill the university's mission," he said.

Set to open in summer 2014, the multilevel, 115,000-square-foot Center for the Sciences will house laboratory, research and classroom spaces with energy-efficient features. The 112,000-square-foot wellness center will provide RU students with a broad choice of recreational, health and exercise activities and therapies.

Willis has a Master of Science degree in civil engineering from Georgia Tech and is a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Navy as an officer in the Civil Engineering Corps. A native of New York's Finger Lakes region, he is a graduate of Clarkson University with a Bachelor of Science degree in civil and environmental engineering.