LSU panel opens search for new chancellor

• By JORDAN BLUM
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Mar 4, 2008 - Page: 1A

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LSU officially began its search on Monday for a new chancellor with university officials saying they want a person with the best combination of leadership, business savvy and academic research experience.

The 21-person chancellor search committee met for the first time on campus to discuss the chancellor attributes and timeline to have a new LSU leader in place by June.

LSU System President John Lombardi said LSU needs a Baton Rouge flagship campus chancellor who is a strong charismatic leader.

But he emphasized the next chancellor also must have a strong academic research background and know how to run the finances as well as the many small parts of a major university.

Schools can just have charming chancellors, Lombardi said, “but they don’t know how to run the business and they run the business into the ground.”

Because no one is perfect, “you want to get the best package of skills and attributes you can find,” Lombardi said, noting that the mix of faculty, staff, students and alumni on the search committee are well-suited to find the best.

Currently, former LSU System President William Jenkins is serving as interim chancellor. He took over after Sean O’Keefe resigned Jan. 16 at the tail end of a critical review under Lombardi and Jenkins.

Dallas-based higher education search consultant Bill Funk, who helped bring Lombardi to LSU last year, is leading the chancellor search.

The LSU president search was secretive and named Lombardi as the only finalist.

Funk and Lombardi said the chancellor search will have a group of semifinalists that will be narrowed down to at least three finalists who are brought to campus.

Although he expects between 50 and 70 chancellor applicants, Funk cautioned that many sitting campus leaders and provosts may need to be coerced and wait until the last minute before applying.

“After April 15, the process will go very quickly,” Funk said. “It’s just this first four to six weeks you can’t rush because that’s when you’re building your pool.”

Funk said he and the search committee will have to be proactive in drawing up a pool of candidates because there are many other ongoing university searches nationwide now that average chancellor tenures range only from four to six years.