TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Robert Haubein, retired executive vice president of Southern Company Generation, has been named chairman of The University of Alabama College of Engineering Leadership Board.

During his two-year term, Haubein will preside over all Leadership Board meetings and oversee all the activities and responsibilities of the board. The Leadership Board consists of engineering leaders from Alabama and elsewhere. Its mission is to review programs and accomplishments of the College of Engineering and provide the dean with critical analysis.

Haubein, a native of Kansas City, Mo., received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Missouri. He had worked with the Southern Company Generation since 1967. Haubein retired in 2002 and is a registered professional engineer in Alabama and Georgia.

In 1837, UA became the first university in the state to offer engineering classes and was one of the first five in the nation to do so. Today, the College of Engineering, with about 1,900 students and more than 90 faculty, is one of the three oldest continuously operating engineering programs in the country and has been fully accredited since accreditation standards were implemented in the 1930s.