Dan Lawson has spent much of his life giving back to Ashland University.

When he was hired as the dean of religious life in July 2003, he became the first person to hold that position.

Now, as AU’s new associate vice president of development and campaigns, Lawson will continue giving back to his alma mater, where he received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

“I’ve got a lot of love and loyalty and affinity to Ashland University so the idea of moving into the development office gave me a great opportunity to help improve Ashland if I could,” Lawson said.

He spent just under 11 years as the Dean of Religious Life, helping to expand and grow the ministries he controlled, particularly The Well, a non-denominational group that meets every Thursday night throughout the academic year.

When Lawson came to campus, The Well was a small attempt at a campus ministry by the University Church.

One of his first actions as dean was to bring that group under the Center for Religious Life.

In the years since the move, The Well has grown substantially.

“[The Well] has grown then over the years from 90 students or so to now, we have between 200 and 300 students that show up every Thursday night so that’s one of the things I’m really pleased at,” he said. “I can’t take all the credit for it, I just had good people in that position that did a great job there.”

Current The Well intern Jennifer Lindsay found a home at The Well her freshman year.

In her brief time working with Lawson, she remembers his willingness to serve and help out wherever and whenever necessary.

“One night we asked him as The Well was starting if he would be willing to give the benediction at the end of the service,” she said. “It was his last night technically as the director of religious life and he said sure because that’s the kind of guy he was. He was always willing to step in wherever we needed him.”

Jeff Alix, the current Director of Development and Alumni Engagement, will be working closely with Lawson going forward.

Although Lawson is new in this position, it is not the first time he and Alix will work together.

“I’ve had the privilege of working closely with him a few years ago when I was part of one of the first groups to go through the leadership development academy he’s overseen for several years,” Alix said. “I greatly enjoyed that year-long process and working with Dan.”

The two will continue working together throughout the upcoming comprehensive campaign, for which Lawson is constructing a campaign counting policy, which defines the gifts AU can and will accept, and how those gifts will be counted.

Transitioning from working in religious life to the development office is not a change seen every day.

However, Alix and Lawson are both confident and enthusiastic Lawson will have great success in his new role.

“He has a lot of already well-established and long-existing connections with alumni,” Alix said, “and that’s critically important for what we do because everything is so relational-based.”

“Ashland University was founded by the Brethren denomination,” Lawson said, “and it’s always been that we would not be a Christian college but a liberal arts college that operates on Christian values and so I see the opportunity to bring those current values to bear on my current position as well.”