UL Presidential Selection Process

[Cowboy Up]

_ It is the way things are period and all over. There's a 25,000 season ticket waiting list for the Saints this year. Why do you think that is? _

"Winning isn't everything........it's the only thing!" Vince Lombardi

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Lafayette retired businessman and UL Foundation board member James Prince was named Tuesday as the final member of the search committee for UL's next president. Prince will serve on the committee along with UL Student Government Association Pres-ident Candace Urbanowski in a nonvoting, advisory capacity. Ten UL System Board of Supervisors members, as well as UL Faculty Senate Executive Officer John Meriwether, will serve as voting members on the committee. The committee will have its first public meeting on June 14 on UL's campus. Several public forums are scheduled throughout the process and interviews also are held publicly. Expect openness throughout the process, said some who have served on past presidential search committees for the system. "It dispelled Louisiana myths that decisions were made behind the scenes. It was not a done deal," said Linda Holyfield, who served on the UL Monroe presidential search committee as an advisory member. That search started in 2001. The search committee is set up to be comprised of not only board members, but a faculty member, a student representative and a community member. The public forums for the search process will be held on UL's campus, offering the local community an opportunity to express its input during the process. UL's Student Government Association President Candace Urbanowski said that she hopes students take advantage of the opportunity. "I think that students were shocked to know that they were allowing the students to have a voice, because we know that it's really important to us. I don't think people realize how important this is to students," she said. Urbanowski said that she and the UL student vice president Jamey Arnette met Tuesday to devise a plan to hear feedback from students about what qualities they'd like the next president to have. "We're encouraging student participation," she added. "When we say that this is what students want in a new president, they'll (committee members) see students who back what we represent." Marsha Sills

[DaddyCajun]

_ If you win they will come. If want 30,000 people in the stands in Lafayette you got to put some skins on the walls. You can call them fair weather fans, not true fans etc... but they are your average fan. We laid a major egg last year it is going to take some W's to get people in the stands. This would take place on a smaller scale even in Baton Rouge. _

Yes you have to put skins on the wall, we laid an egg this past season, and many fans in the Acadiana area are fickle till there is a consistant winner, but one thing that needs to happen is the money people must continue to get off the wall and put up in larger numbers!!!

DaddyCajun

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LAFAYETTE — When the City-Parish Council meets Tuesday night to commend retiring University of Louisiana at Lafayette President Ray Authement for his decades of service, it also will vote on its support for turning the ULL Horse Farm into a public park. Authement has announced that he will step down from his post next spring, ending the longest tenure of any public university president in the country. The last year of Authement’s presidency, however, has been marked by a controversy over the former Horse Farm, a 100-acre tract of land on Johnston Street. Authement attempted to trade a portion of the Horse Farm to commercial developers in exchange for a smaller piece of property near Girard Park, which is nearer campus. The deal drew opposition, not only because some considered it an uneven trade, but also because some would like to see the Horse Farm preserved as green space for future generations. A grassroots group — which has a Web site at http://savethehorsefarm.com — has been working with the Trust for Public Land, a nonprofit organization that specializes in preserving green space for public use. City-Parish President Joey Durel has met with trust officials to try to make an arrangement by which the trust would purchase the Horse Farm from ULL, then sell it back over time to the city. The resolution to be voted on Tuesday by the council would endorse this acquisition. Lafayette Economic Development Authority President and CEO Gregg Gothreaux has said that an abundance of public parks help in attracting economic development to a community, because of their benefit to quality of life. The City-Parish Council meets at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall on University Avenue. KEVIN BLANCHARD

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UL's Landry "strongly" eyes top post. State's Savoie non-committal Steve Landry, UL Lafayette’s vice president for academic affairs, says he’s “strongly considering” applying for the university president’s job, but the state’s commissioner of higher education maintains it’s “much too soon” to talk about his potential interest. E. Joseph Savoie, who has served as commissioner for the past 11 years, says he is focusing his attention on the current legislative session, which comes to a close at the end of June. “This could be a historic session for us,” Savoie says. “I’m not going to let rumors avert my attention.” Before becoming commissioner, Savoie was vice president for university advancement for five years. Now 53, he was the youngest commissioner in the country when he took over the job — he’s now the third longest serving. Landry, however, isn’t as distracted. “I’m watching for the ads and the timeline,” he says. “I’m getting encouragement from some of my colleagues … from faculty.” Landry has served in his current post since 2000; prior to that, he was vice president for research after having been director of research and sponsor programs. In the 1980s he was a faculty member in the computer science department and head of the department. Both Landry and Savoie have doctorates and classroom experience, which is favored by members of UL’s faculty. While a nationwide search is under way, they are viewed as top contenders for the post, but many believe they may represent the status quo due to their loyalty to retiring UL President Ray Authement. Whether the search committee will seek candidates who represent significant change in the direction of the university has yet to be determined. Long considered the heir-apparent, Savoie acknowledges such “rumors have been around for several years.” Saying he is “flattered” by the speculation, Savoie is adamant there is no basis for it. “If there have been any arrangements made, I haven’t been a part of them,” he says. The rest of the story Leslie Turk

Landry Savoie

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The UL System will hire a consultant to help recruit a pool of candidates to replace retiring UL President Ray Authement, but the recruiting already has begun, said UL System President Sally Clausen. "Every one of us is a recruiter now," Clausen said after listening to comments from a crowd of about 100 people who attended the first public hearing of the search committee set to find Authement's replacement. "The way that we speak, what we say, how much we know, our interests in ourselves and our future will be reflected in the interest of the candidates that we hope to attract," she said. The rest of the story Marsha Sills msills@theadvertiser.com

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So far, no budget has been set for the expense of searching for the next UL president. But a consultant will be hired to help with the task, according to UL System President Sally Clausen. "Coaches recruit - look how much money is spent on that process," she said after the system's search committee's first public forum last week in Lafayette. "Why not take the same approach and recruit for the highest position at a university that affects everybody?" It's been about three years since the system conducted its last search for a president. During the search for the new Grambling president, which ended in 2004, the system spent $49,900 on consultant fees. In 2001, consultant fees were $35,139 for the search for UL Monroe's new president. The rest of the story Marsha Sills msills@theadvertiser.com

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At least 25 people have issued comments online or by phone about the UL presidential search, but the system isn't releasing who or how many people have applied for the job yet. "We do not release it until it is complete," said Jackie Tisdell, executive director of student development and communications. Tisdell explained that as part of the process, system officials verify that the application and materials were submitted by the applicant. She said during the verification process system officials also ensure that the applicant understand that the application and submitted materials will be made public. Tisdell could not say how long the verification process would take or how many applicants have submitted applications. The rest of the story Marsha Sills msills@theadvertiser.com

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BATON ROUGE, La. – Seven professionals have submitted applications to become the new president of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. All seven are based outside of Louisiana, representing six different states and China.

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BATON ROUGE, La. – Seven professionals have submitted applications to become the new president of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. All seven are based outside of Louisiana, representing six different states and China. The applicants are: • James William Berry, Ph.D., Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at Butler University, Indianapolis, Indiana • Peter Fos, Ph.D., D.D.S., Dean of the College of Health at the University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg • John Frederic Garmon, Ph.D., Chief Academic Officer at New Mexico State University at Carlsbad • Valentine James, Ph.D., Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Fayetteville State University, North Carolina • Christopher Lu, Ph.D., Professor at the University of Hawaii at Hilo • James Mackin, Ph.D., Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania • James Moy, Ph.D., Dean and Chair Professor of the School of Creative Media at City University of Hong Kong Full applications are available for the public to review in the UL Lafayette campus library and electronically on the UL System’s website, www.ulsystem.net. The presidential search committee held its first meeting and public hearing June 14 on the UL Lafayette campus. Desired qualifications for a new president were compiled from public input at that meeting and through a special email, web comment form and phone line set up for the search. Those qualifications are also posted on the UL System’s website. A special “You Tube” site, www.youtube.com/ulsystem, houses video clips of the entire June 14 meetings. The next committee meeting and public hearing are scheduled for September 12 in Lafayette. Later in the year public candidate interviews are planned with the expectation of naming a new president by December. Voting members on the presidential search committee are ULS Board members Paul Aucoin, Elsie Burkhalter, Robert Hale, 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. Serving on the search committee in an advisory, non-voting capacity are community member and UL Lafayette Foundation representative James Prince and UL Lafayette Student Government Association President Candace Urbanowski. UL System President Sally Clausen serves as the committee chair. President Ray Authement, the longest-standing public university president in the country at 33 years, announced April 27 he will retire from UL Lafayette. For More Information Contact: Jackie Tisdell 225-342-6950 jtisdell@uls.state.la.us The rest of the story System