Chancellor search seeks applicants

• By JORDAN BLUM
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Apr 22, 2008 - Page: 1B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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The Texas Tech University president and the University of Florida provost are the only two LSU chancellor applicants to make the cut thus far.

The chancellor search committee met in closed, executive session Monday and voted to begin background checks on Texas Tech President Jon Whitmore and Florida Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Janie Fouke.

But committee chairman Jack Hamilton emphasized that more applications are expected in the coming weeks, and that the other seven qualified applicants reviewed on Monday are not necessarily out of the running either.

“We’re not at a stage where we’re going to invite anyone in,” said Hamilton, dean of the Manship School of Communication.

LSU Board of Supervisors member Alvin Kimble, who was working as the committee’s liaison to the board, said Whitmore and Fouke “absolutely” stood “head and shoulders above” the rest of the pack.

Dallas-based search consultant Bill Funk said he is continuing to recruit additional sitting chancellors, presidents and provosts to apply for the LSU job. But most do not want to publicly put their names in the hat this early in the process, he said.

Funk would only say he is still talking to an “impressive group” of other potential candidates.

The applicants are vying to replace former Chancellor Sean O’Keefe, who resigned in January after losing the support of LSU System President John Lombardi and much of the LSU board. Lombardi, who was not present Monday, will eventually recommend his chancellor choices to the board, which will have the final say.

Former LSU president William Jenkins is serving as the interim chancellor, who oversees the main Baton Rouge campus.

Lombardi has said it is important for LSU to have a new chancellor before the fall semester begins. But Lombardi has said someone could be picked as soon as late May.

Hamilton said it will be several weeks before the search committee meets again to allow Funk to increase the candidate pool.

Whitmore, 63, and Fouke, 57, were able to apply early because they are both in the process of leaving their jobs.

Whitmore 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.