Posted on November 27, 2001 at 11:10 a.m.

BIRMINGHAM, AL — E. Douglas Rigney Jr. Ph.D., of Cahaba Heights, has been elected president of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) National Alumni Society for 2001-2002. He succeeds Patti Hendrix Lovoy, M.B.A.

Rigney, who is assistant dean for academic and student affairs in the UAB School of Engineering, has been a member of the UAB National Alumni Society Board of Directors since 1994. He was the president-elect for 2000-2001. He has held several other positions in the Alumni Society, including vice president for student relations from 1996 to 2000. In addition, he worked on the membership and fundraising, alumni affairs, and nominating committees. He also volunteered with the Alumni Society’s Mentor Program 1991-1993 and in 1999.

He was president of the UAB School of Engineering Alumni Association from 1992 to 1994 and was the association’s vice president for student affairs from 1991 to 1992.

Rigney earned his bachelor’s degree in engineering from UAB in 1980. He later continued his education at UAB, earning both a second bachelor’s degree in materials engineering and a master’s degree in biomedical engineering in 1985 and a doctorate in biomedical engineering in 1989.

He was an engineer in the UAB School of Dentistry Biomaterials Department from 1987 to 1989. He later joined the School of Engineering faculty in 1989, where he is an associate professor of biomedical engineering. He has received numerous awards, including Who’s Who in Science and Engineering in America, 1994, 1995 and 1996.

The UAB National Alumni Society has nearly 3,500 active members with chapters in Birmingham, Anniston, Gadsden, Huntsville, Atlanta and Taiwan.