Texas, Florida pair seeking LSU position

• By JORDAN BLUM
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Apr 17, 2008 - Page: 1B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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The first batch of LSU chancellor applicants includes the Texas Tech University president and the University of Florida provost.

The chancellor search committee of alumni, employees and students is scheduled to meet Monday to begin reviewing the early applications and to consider how to proceed in the interview process.

The highest ranking of the six qualified applicants thus far are Texas Tech President Jon Whitmore and Florida Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Janie Fouke.

Both are in the midst of leaving their jobs, so they are free to apply elsewhere early in the process. Often, top university leaders will wait until late in the process to apply for fear of being publicly linked to searches early on.

The other applicants thus far are:

• Tito Guerrero, Texas A&M vice president and associate provost for diversity. Guerrero is former president of Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas.
• Colin Scanes, University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee vice president of research and graduate school dean; former Mississippi State University vice president for research.
• James Hupp, University of Mississippi School of Dentistry dean and medical center professor.
• Dr. Edgar Ratcliffe Anderson, LSU graduate and CEO of Anderson Medical Consulting in Chicago.

LSU System President John Lombardi has said a new chancellor could be selected as early as late May or that the search could last well into the summer.

Lombardi ultimately will pick the next chancellor, who must be approved by the LSU Board of Supervisors.

Whitmore, 63, is being pushed out at Texas Tech, where he has said he would rather focus on quality rather than focus on campus growth as encouraged by state leaders.

Coincidentally, former LSU Chancellor Sean O’Keefe said the same thing after his January resignation when he lost the support of Lombardi and much of the LSU board.

Whitmore, a Seattle native, also is a finalist for the Portland State University presidency.

Previously, Whitmore was a University of Iowa provost and University of Texas College of Fine Arts dean.

Fouke, 57, is resigning at Florida because of budget cuts and an administrative shake-up, which is moving the provost position under the purview of the university’s chief financial officer.

A provost typically is a school’s second-in-charge after the president or chancellor.