Search committee named for GSU president

A search committee to find Grambling State University’s next president has been formed.

The University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors on Tuesday announced the group that will be responsible for vetting candidates to be the 11th president of the 123-year-old HBCU (Historically Black College and University) when Richard “Rick” Gallot, Jr. vacates the position on Jan. 1, 2024.

Two weeks ago, the board appointed Gallot as the next president of the UL System, replacing Jim Henderson, who is set to become Louisiana Tech’s next leader.

Now the board will begin its typical process to seek Gallot’s successor, starting with a search committee tasked with seeking feedback from Grambling State stakeholders and vetting candidate qualifications.

The committee includes eight of the 16 members on the UL System board, as well as GSU Faculty Senate President Gary Poe, as its voting members.

Henderson will chair the search committee as a non-voting member. Gallot will be co-chair, also as a nonvoting member.

The committee’s first meeting is set for Nov. 17 at 10 a.m. on GSU campus in the Betty E. Smith Nursing Building Auditorium, Room 104. It will also be streamed live on the UL System YouTube channel.

“I look forward to working with President Gallot and the search committee members during the coming weeks,” Henderson said in a press release. “Together, we will find the ideal president to lead Grambling State University into its next era. We encourage members of the community to get involved. We will be accepting feedback from the public during next Friday’s committee meeting and throughout the process.”

During that first meeting, the committee will vote to accept their charge and the search timeline after hearing desired leadership qualities from the university’s constituencies, according to the press release.

The search committee also includes eight non-voting “community representatives.” Those include city of Grambling mayor Alvin Bradley and legendary former GSU baseball coach Wilbert Ellis.

“What I would love to see is that we continue the process of getting a person who will bring great things to Grambling, where Grambling can continue to grow,” Ellis told the Leader Tuesday. “Just looking for the best person we can get to fulfill that mission and position Grambling to keep on going to higher grounds and make sure we are in good standing with higher education.”

Ellis said he would wait until the Nov. 17 meeting before discussing specific qualities he would like to see in the next president.

The UL System’s internal rules require a presidential search committee to include at least six system board members and one faculty representative of the university. This committee has eight system board members.

Poe, an associate professor in computer information systems at GSU, is the president of the university’s Faculty Senate, a governing body that serves as the faculty’s collective voice. He is the university's sole voting representative on the panel.

Questions for GSU administrators about the presidential search relayed to the university’s communications office have gone unanswered since Gallot’s appointment was announced.

Ultimately the search committee will review applications, interview candidates and recommend finalists for the presidency to the full UL System board. The full board will interview the finalists and select the next GSU president.

Other than Henderson sharing co-chair duties with his successor, this is the typical search process for university presidents across the nine-member system — a process the board recently departed from when naming Henderson the next Tech president without a search.

Here is the full list of search committee members:

• Dr. Jim Henderson, Search Committee Chair, non-voting

• Rick Gallot, Search Committee Co-Chair, non-voting

• Liz Pierre, UL System Board Chair

• Dr. Jimmy Clarke, UL System Board Vice Chair

• Barry Busada, UL System Board Member

• Steve Davison, UL System Board Member

• Lola Dunahoe, UL System Board Member

• Al Perkins, UL System Board Member

• Virgil Robinson, UL System Board Member

• Bailey Willis, UL System Student Board Member

• Dr. Gary Poe, Faculty Senate President

• David Aubrey, Community Representative, non-voting

• Alvin Bradley, Community Representative, non-voting

• James Bradford, Community Representative, non-voting

• Wilbert “Coach” Ellis, Community Representative, nonvoting

• Alexa Johnson, SGA President, non-voting

• Dr. Frederick L. Pinkney, Community Representative, non-voting

• Dr. Tammy Richardson, Community Representative, non-voting

• Rodney Welch, Community Representative, non-voting