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In a month, Joseph Savoie will step away from his work in Baton Rouge as the state's higher education commissioner and step into his new role as president of UL.
The move means big changes for both Savoie and the university - changes that have been the focus of months of investigation by six advisory teams with their eyes fixed on the university's future.
According to Jerry Luke LeBlanc, the transition team's coordinator, things are going well as the process moves toward completion.
"Everything is moving along nicely," he said. Teams are expected to have their findings and recommendations complete by the end of the month, and Leblanc thinks formal presentations will be made in early July.
This will coincide with Savoie's official start on campus, expected by the end of the month. Savoie will finish the legislative session as higher education commissioner before settling in at UL.
So far, LeBlanc said, the real work of the transition has been handled by the advisory teams, assembled to take stock of the university's current landscape and make recommendations on changes the new administration might undertake to move the university forward.
Academic issues
For the academics and faculty advisory team, the work has brought up a mix of old and new concerns.
"Long-standing issues like the core curriculum, recruitment, and retention rates have come up in our meetings," said Dr. Carolyn Bruder, who serves as an administrative member of two advisory teams. "But we've also seen newer issues come up."
One of those issues, reliance on adjunct faculty members, is a concern for colleges nationally.
"We have to hire adjuncts to meet student demand for classes," Bruder said, " And we're looking for solutions that address our reliance on adjuncts and that will best serve the faculty and the students."
Bruder also said the increase in students attending community colleges will force a discussion about better serving transfer students.
"Our goal is to find better ways to integrate transfer students overall," Bruder said, "and eliminate some of the difficulty of transferring or losing course work taken elsewhere."
Moving forward
Local attorney Shawn Wilson sits on the university advancement team and said they've spent their time looking closely at what's already in place.
""We've focused a lot of time just understanding how the pieces that make up the advancement branch of the university function," he said. "Understanding their mission, their structure, and then starting to look at how that system can be improved."
Wilson said he's confident that his team will devise a set of recommendations that can move the university forward.
"It's been a very open, very frank discussion so far," he said.
Looking to build ties
Attorney Clyde Simien said work for the ecomnomic development team has been equally candid.
"We've identified a number of issues," he said, "and the conversation has been a very progressive one."
Simien said development of the research park has been on their agenda, as well as bolstering the administrative end of economic development.
"We've talked about the importance of developing an economic development council and economic development liasons," Simien said, "to better address the issues and problems."
Simien also said the team has explored ways for communication and collaboration between the city and the university to be deepened.
Focus on students
For the student issues team, the challenges of being a commuter campus have come to the forefront.
Bruder said students are eager to find ways to make commuter students a more active part of on-campus activities, as well as address the need for affordable housing for students.
"Lafayette's housing market is expensive," she said. "So, we're looking at ways to expand apartment-style housing for our students."
The student issues team is also exploring ways to better integrate international students into campus life, renovating the Student Union, and raising awareness of the child-care center and student health clinic.
One thing not on any advisory team's agenda is the bill to increase tuition, currently being considered by the legislature. The bill - which would allow schools to raise tuition 3 percent to 5 percent each year for the next four years - has already passed the House and is now being reviewed by the Senate.
"The tuition increase isn't something the teams are considering at this point," LeBlanc said. "Although it will come up as we move forward into the new adminstration, and we will figure out how it plays into the recommendations."
Despite the imepending changes Savoie's tenure no doubt will bring, Bruder notes that one raised concern reassures that no matter how things change, some things will always be reliably present.
"There's even been some discussion about cafeteria food," she said with a laugh.
<p><a href="http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080613/NEWS01/806130327/-1/NEWSFRONT2" target="_blank">The rest of the story</a>
Cody Daigle •
cdaigle@theadvertiser.com • June 13, 2008
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