The 100,000-member association of University of Texas alumni has named former U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison as its new president.
The Austin American-Statesman reports the Texas Ex-Students' Association named the 70-year-old former UT cheerleader to the unpaid position, from which she will be asked to promote and defend her alma mater.
The Texas Republican, who served three full terms and part of a fourth in the Senate, will need her political skills to manage the strange relations between the university administration and alumni on one side and the UT System Board of Regents on the other. The regents have battled with the university administration for more than three years, with one regents campaigning to oust UT President Bill Powers. Hutchison has been an ardent backer of Powers.
