UL System to meet Monday on Louisiana Tech presidency

The University of Louisiana System is set to take its first action Monday on the upcoming vacancy for Louisiana Tech University president, but officials have not indicated what kind of action that might be.

The UL System Board of Supervisors on Friday called a special meeting for Monday morning to discuss the Louisiana Tech presidency for the first time since current President Les Guice announced nearly a month ago that he would be retiring at the end of 2023.

The board’s rules require the appointment of a search committee to review candidates and make a recommendation to the board for final selection.

But Monday’s agenda doesn’t mention a search. The first item is “discussion and deliberation” regarding Tech’s “president, transition and related action.”

Then the next item is discussion of a “transition and related matters” regarding the UL System itself.

UL System President Jim Henderson is reportedly the frontrunner for the Tech job. He could not be reached for comment Friday.

Tech will be the third UL System institution to undergo a presidential transition in the past year, following Southeastern Louisiana University and the University of New Orleans.

In both of those cases, the appointed search committee conducted months-long searches. The UNO search committee was formed in May, and a new president was named in September.

Guice’s retirement is 12 weeks away.

The UL System’s rules require the chair of the board to appoint a search committee that is tasked with visiting the campus and obtaining input from faculty, students and alumni of the university.

No committee has yet been announced. When asked about the status of the search, board chair Elizabeth Pierre only said “information will be forthcoming” following Monday’s meeting.

Earlier this week, Louis Reis, president of Louisiana Tech’s Faculty-Staff Senate, said faculty were “eagerly awaiting to hear from the UL System about the formation of the search committee to identify the best individual to serve as the university’s new president.”

The system board’s rules require faculty to have at least one seat at the search committee table.

“After reviewing the process recently conducted at University of New Orleans to select their newest president, and after having a short, informative talk with UL System President, Dr. Jim Henderson, we are content to see that the Louisiana Tech faculty and staff should be able to contribute to the process of searching and selecting the next president,” Reis said.

Reis, a senior lecturer in biomedical engineering, said faculty and staff were working to put together a climate survey to gauge the campus community’s priorities when it comes to a new president.

When UNO was conducting its search, Faculty Senate President Chris Broadhurst was on the committee.

“At a minimum, we’re expecting having that much say,” Reis said.

The UL System Board will convene its special meeting Monday at 11 a.m. in the Claiborne Building Conference Center in Baton Rouge.

The meeting will be live streamed on the UL System’s YouTube channel, though both agenda items are marked with a note that the board may enter executive session, which would not be open to the public.