Payne, Eugene E.

Biography

Eugene "Gene" Payne arrived at Southwest Texas State University in fall 1974 as Associate vice president for fiscal affairs and as Associate professor of accounting and computer science. He came from University of Texas at Dallas, where he was the director of planning and management.

When Jack C. Cates moved to the position of Senior vice president in February 1975, Payne assumed the title of Vice president for fiscal affairs.

Payne was highly involved in negotiations for the acquisition of the San Marcos Baptist Academy property in 1979; the university took over the 78.5 acre property in 1982 after the academy completed its move. He also initiated and led the effort to establish the Edwards Aquifer Research Center, the university’s first state-funded research center. Payne also led the taskforce which developed the first campus master plan at the university, and secured legislative funding for construction and renovations.

He left the university for a high level administrative post at Texas Tech University in fall 1981 where he stayed until 1989 before leaving for an executive position at Financial Industries Corporation. Payne then rejoined the university as Chair of the Department of Management from September 2000 to 2002. In 2004, Payne helped establish the McCoy College of Business Foundation, where in 2020 an endowed chair was named in his honor.

Payne received a M.S. and B.S. at Texas A&M, and his Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma in management science and industrial engineering.

See News Service People morgue and Inside TXST article “$1 million gift honors Eugene Payne with endowed chair in McCoy College of Business,” by Jayme Blaschke 2020 April 14, for more information.

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