Chancellor Search Temporarily Suspended, Provost Named Acting Chancellor
February 15, 2011
LSU System President John Lombardi, acting on a recommendation from the University of New Orleans' national recruiting consultant, and after consultation with the chairman of the search committee, temporarily suspended the search for a new chancellor at UNO. Lombardi also announced that Joe King would serve as both Acting Chancellor and Provost until a permanent chancellor can be selected.
“After reviewing the status of the search process for the Chancellor of UNO, the consultantshave indicated that we probably will not be able to identify a satisfactory pool of candidates until some of the uncertainties surrounding the future status, mission, and governance of UNO are resolved,” Lombardi wrote in an e-mail memo to Search Committee Chairman Gary N. Solomon Sr. and his fellow committee members.
“The search consultants remain very optimistic about the ability of UNO to attract excellent candidates once the uncertainties are resolved,” Lombardi noted. “As a result, we will temporarily suspend the search process, but keep both the committee and the consultants on stand-by for the first moment it becomes possible to recommence. Although we would have preferred to move more expeditiously, the long-term interests of UNO are paramount and we believe this is the most prudent action.”
The 21-member search committee includes faculty, administrators, students and community representatives. The group initiated efforts in November to recruit a new leader for the 11,000-student lakefront campus.
Governor Bobby Jindal last month proposed merging UNO and Southern University at New Orleans (SUNO) and placing the merged institution in the University of Louisiana System where the combined school would share resources with nearby Delgado Community College.
UNO, a member of the LSU System, opened in 1958 while SUNO, which began offering classes a year later, is in the Southern University System. New Orleans has in Delgado, a public, two-year institution with morethan 18,000 students that is the largest school in the region and is part of the Louisiana Community and Technical College System.
A study of the merger proposal is underway. Recommendations are due to be submitted to the Louisiana Board of Regents by March 1 with expected legislation drafted for the legislative session that begins in April.
“After conversations with the search consultants and the chair of the search committee for the UNO Chancellor, it appears prudent to suspend the activities associated with the search until the end of the legislative session,” Lombardi wrote.