Birmingham-Southern College names vice president for advancement

For Immediate Release
May. 5, 2017

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.--Virginia Gilbert Loftin, assistant vice president for development communications and principal gifts at UAB, has been named Birmingham-Southern College's vice president for advancement, the college announced Friday, May 5.

Loftin has 20 years of experience in higher education advancement and communications, including at Samford University, the UAB School of Nursing, and the UAB Department of Medicine. She spent six years as executive director of development, strategic planning, and community relations for the UAB School of Medicine before taking on her most recent position in April 2015. In her current role, she is responsible for the development and implementation of an integrated communications strategy related to the $1B Campaign for UAB.

Loftin will assume the role Aug. 1, taking over for Interim Vice President Dr. Sara Robicheaux, who has been serving that role since the departure of Joe Dean Jr. earlier this year due to health reasons. Dr. Robicheaux--BSC's dean of business programs, B.A. Monaghan Professor of Business, and director of the Stump Entrepreneurship Program--is returning to the classroom full-time. Loftin will also have oversight responsibility for the college's communication efforts.

“I am thrilled that Virginia has agreed to take on this important leadership role,” said BSC President Linda Flaherty-Goldsmith. “She is the perfect person to develop our fundraising and communications strategy moving forward and to lead our three-year fundraising initiative, The Bridge to the Future. I also thank Sara for her continued service to BSC and the work her team has accomplished this year. We were so fortunate to have a faculty member with her skillset volunteer to lead this effort.

A Birmingham native and a journalism graduate of the University of Alabama, Loftin spent her early career as a reporter and editor, including seven years as lifestyle and entertainment editor for the Birmingham News. From 1997 to 2001, she was director of external relations for Samford University's Cumberland School of Law, where she coordinated the school's media relations, publications and web site. She was director of development and alumni affairs for the School of Nursing at UAB from 2001 to 2005, then moved to the School of Medicine as senior director of development; she spent 10 years there, including six as executive director of development.

“Birmingham-Southern College is a critically important asset to our city and to Alabama,” Loftin said. “I am honored to join the leadership team under President Flaherty-Goldsmith, and to work with the faculty, staff, students, alumni and the Board of Trustees as we seek investment to ensure the future strength of the college, its people, programs and especially its traditions.”

Loftin serves as president of the Delta Zeta Sorority National Foundation. She is chairing the building committee for the new 40,000-square-foot Delta Zeta chapter house at the University of Alabama, which is scheduled for completion in July 2018.

This fall, she will begin a three-year term on the Communications and Marketing Commission for the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). She is a member of the Kiwanis Club of Birmingham and a past president of The Women's Fund of Greater Birmingham and the YWCA of Central Alabama's Junior Board.

A sustaining member of the Junior League of Birmingham, Loftin won the League's Dottie Haynes Service Award in 1997 and was named Sustainer of the Year for 2002. She was named a Girl Scout Woman of Distinction in 2006.

She and her husband, Robert Lee Loftin III, live in downtown Birmingham. They have one daughter, Emily Perrin Britt of Lexington, Ky.

About Birmingham-Southern College:
Birmingham-Southern College is a four-year, private liberal arts institution in Birmingham, Ala., founded in 1856 and affiliated with the United Methodist Church. It enrolls about 1,300 students from more than 30 states and 15 foreign countries.