UL Lafayette Presidency Field Pared to Five Candidates

Published on June 11, 2008 under 2007 / News

UL Lafayette Presidency Field Pared to Five Candidates – Oct 3, 2007

Public Interviews Targeted for Nov. 11-13

BATON ROUGE, La. – Five candidates will be extended invitations to interview for the President’s position at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. The search committee charged with recommending an individual for this position trimmed the field of 38 applicants earlier today.

The following will be invited to interview in Lafayette later this month:

· Raymond Flumerfelt (Ph.D., Northwestern University); Vice Director, Texas National Wind Energy Project and Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Houston

· Steve P. Landry (Ph.D., University of Louisiana at Lafayette); Vice President for Academic Affairs, University of Louisiana at Lafayette

· E. Joseph Savoie (Ed.D., Columbia University); Commissioner of Higher Education, Louisiana Board of Regents

· Major General Clifford L. Stanley (Ed.D., University of Pennsylvania); President and CEO, Scholarship America

· Karen White (A.Mus.D., University of Arizona); Regional Chancellor and Professor, University of South Florida

“The committee was thorough and thoughtful in considering all of the applicants,” said ��Ƶ President and Search Chair Sally Clausen. “However, in the end, the committee felt that these five individuals presented the most potential in assuming the leadership role of a large progressive research institution such as UL Lafayette. We’re confident that the next President will emerge from this group.”

“Today we have taken an important step towards selecting a very qualified candidate for UL Lafayette. We have five capable people for our consideration, any one of whom could lead this university” said ��Ƶ Board Chair Jimmy Long, Sr.

The meeting marked the third gathering of the search committee. Public hearings were conducted on the Lafayette campus June 14 and Sept. 12, where the university community addressed the committee regarding the search. Videos of both meetings are available to view at .

The search committee will hold public interviews on the UL Lafayette campus tentatively set for Nov. 11-13. The ��Ƶ office will release a complete schedule of interviews, once available.

“We’ve given several opportunities for faculty to comment both publicly and privately. I’ve received a lot of comments that have been positive,” said UL Lafayette Faculty Senate representative John Meriwether.

Community member and UL Lafayette Foundation representative James Prince commented, “We have heard much from the community in our open sessions and some of the characteristics that they asked for are definitely in the five finalists.”

“We heard most of our local community’s cry, as well as the students, faculty and administration. I think the five candidates here have the desired characteristics and would be qualified to run our university,” said UL Lafayette Student Government Association President Candace Urbanowski.

“As we conducted our open process and stakeholders participated, all of their ideas were taken into consideration when we looked at these candidates. I felt the search committee did a thorough job and worked very hard to keep this process open to the public,” said ��Ƶ Board Vice Chair Elsie Burkhalter. “The input from those closer to the university including students was especially appreciated.”

Candidate applications are available at , where a special section has been dedicated to the search. It also contains information about the university, search announcements, news and important links.

Voting members on the presidential search committee are ULS Board members Paul Aucoin, Elsie Burkhalter, Jeffrey Jenkins, Renee Lapeyrolerie, Jimmy Long, Sr., Wayne Parker, Olinda Ricard (student member), and Winfred Sibille, as well as UL Lafayette Faculty Senate representative John Meriwether.

��Ƶ President Sally Clausen chairs the committee as a non-voting member. Other non-voting members include community member and UL Lafayette Foundation representative James Prince and UL Lafayette Student Government Association President Candace Urbanowski.

The ��Ƶ Board of Supervisors launched an extensive, national search after President Ray Authement, the longest-standing public university president in the country at 33 years, announced April 27 he will retire from UL Lafayette.

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For More Information Contact:
Jackie Tisdell
225-342-6950
jtisdell@uls.state.la.us
UL Lafayette Presidency Field Pared to Five Candidates – Oct 3, 2007