LYNCHBURG, Va. (AP) - Outgoing Republican U.S. Rep. Dave Brat has been named the new dean of Liberty University's business school.

The nation's most high-profile evangelical university announced Brat's hiring Wednesday.

Brat is a former economics professor at Randolph-Macon College in Virginia who scored one of the biggest upsets in U.S. political history when he defeated then U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in a 2014 Republican primary. Brat lost the Richmond-area congressional seat last year to Democrat Abigail Spanberger in a closely watched race.

Brat was a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus. He has staunchly backed President Donald Trump, much like Liberty President Jerry Falwell Jr.

Brat joins former Virginia Republican Rep. Robert Hurt, who the Lynchburg-based university hired in 2017 to lead the school's Center for Law & Government.