Whitworth board approves president pick

An economics professor from Birmingham, Ala., has been appointed president of Whitworth University, the Board of Trustees announced on Friday. Beck A. Taylor, dean of the Brock School of Business at Samford University, will replace Bill Robinson, who announced last fall that this would be his last academic year at the private liberal arts college in north Spokane. Taylor, 40, received master’s and doctoral degrees in economics from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., and an undergraduate degree from Baylor University. He will be the 18th president of Whitworth, which is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church and has an enrollment of 2,700 students.