On one foot, William “Bill” Jenkins wears the shoe of the University’s interim chancellor. On the other, he wears that of the LSU System president.

His view on the LSU System is that it cannot continue to operate in the manner it has in the past. If the University doesn’t begin adapting to problems, it won’t be able to succeed — or even survive — he said. A sudden mass exodus of a handful of administrators has led LSU to examine its organizational structure and why important figures are leaving.

The University’s former model of organization consisted of the Baton Rouge campus headed by former Chancellor Michael Martin. Other LSU campuses — LSU-Alexandria, Eunice and Shreveport; LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center; LSU AgCenter; LSU medical schools in Shreveport and New Orleans; and the Pennington Biomedical Research Center — possessed their own leaders.

Combined, they answered to former LSU System President John Lombardi.

But this hierarchy shattered in May 2012 when the Board of Supervisors fired Lombardi, and Jenkins was chosen as interim system president. Organizational fragility heightened further when Martin announced he would trade one chancellor position for another at Colorado State University.

Jenkins now juggles Martin’s role as well, spending some days in the chancellor’s office and others at the LSU System’s building.

LSU system changes

Jenkins’ split time will change, said Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Stuart Bell. The University and its Transition Advisory Committee, a 10-person team created to assist with reorganization, have melded the chancellor and president positions into one permanent title — president of LSU.

A search for the president, a permanent leader for LSU, has commenced, Bell said.

“The change we are going through now is that we’re going to still have one person, but physically they don’t have two hats,” he said.

Now that the chancellor at the main campus will also be the president of other LSU chancellors, questions involving a redefined chain of command arise, Bell added.

For example, when Martin was chancellor, he possessed equal authority as the Law Center’s chancellor, and they both answered to Lombardi, Bell said.

But now that the chancellor of the Baton Rouge campus is president, will the law school chancellor and other chancellors be subordinate to that person?

The Transition Advisory Committee will aim to resolve kinks like this in time, Bell said. A decision concerning a chain of command should be clear by March and will likely stir debate in the LSU community, he said. Then the committee will continue fine-tuning and reach a conclusion for most of the reorganization efforts by the end of the spring 2013 semester.

Administration lacking

There are still other administrative positions to be filled.

The position held by Eric Monday, the University’s CFO and vice chancellor for Finance and Administrative Services, is vacant after his decision to take a job as the University of Kentucky’s executive vice president for Finance and Administration. This position will not be filled until after reorganization is complete, Bell said.

Katrice Albert, vice provost for Equity, Diversity and Community Outreach, will soon be departing for a position at the University of Minnesota.

Replacement searches for Thomas Klei, interim vice chancellor for Research and Economic Development, and Kevin Carman, dean of the College of Science, are under way, Bell said. Klei’s successor should be chosen by the spring.

But why are these necessary leaders flocking the University for greener pastures?

Faculty pay raises

Bell said administrators leaving the University fits in with a lack of pay raises. Faculty have not received a pay raise in the past four years, which shocks Bell, he said.

Robert Kuhn, vice provost and associate vice chancellor, echoes his colleagues’ notion.

“Why are [administrators] leaving? I’m not going to tell you the only reason is they haven’t had a pay increase in four years, but it’s got to have an impact,” Kuhn said.

Faculty members question their future at the University as a potential fifth year without salary increases approaches, Kuhn said. This trend, which Kuhn added isn’t happening everywhere, also causes difficulty in attracting faculty to the University.

“What you want to see is a university that’s able to hang on to the best and brightest and recruit the best and brightest faculty and staff to serve you,” Bell said. “Some portion of their decision [to leave] is based on [pay]. If you continue to have years of this, it’ll become a really big part of it. We’re at risk, and we need to turn this around.”

Faculty members are at the University because they “love LSU,” Bell said, but if someone is constantly being offered a position — possibly with higher pay — by colleagues at another university, he or she could eventually be inclined to leave.

The University puts itself at risk for losing key faculty and staff by being stingy with pay raises, Bell said.

But Bell assured that open positions are “not unusual” and shouldn’t be seen as “symptomatic of something awry.” A silver lining exists, he said. As new hires come in simultaneously, they will be enduring the visioning process for the University at the same time, he added.

“We have 99.9 percent of the same people next fall as we have today. The people who are going to impact research and teaching the most are here,” Bell said. “It’s natural when there’s a change to be concerned, but we are going to end up in a great place because we have great people that we’re going to involve in the process to get there.”

Principles of reorganization

Efficiency, low costs, global expansion and educational appeal will drive LSU’s reorganization and search for a new president. These are things the University has not strived for enough in recent times, Bell said.

A major talking point in the reorganization is how the LSU campuses work together, Bell said.

“Can we do things at a more productive manner and at a lower cost?” Bell asked. “Can faculty and students work together across these campuses that are being reorganized and reshaped to enhance education, research and community engagement?”

The Transition Advisory Committee’s recently formed subcommittees will collect information from members of each LSU campus to determine their needs and ambitions, Bell said.

“We spend way too much time trying to figure out how we do things on this campus and how they do things on other campuses,” Bell said.“Reorganization will allow us to communicate more effectively.”

The University is looking for a president who will push for more online and hybrid courses, Bell said. A hybrid course involves students using online resources provided by instructors to enhance conversation in the classroom. If a student has an idea of what the day’s discussion will be about, time can be used more efficiently, Bell said.

The University approved four online master’s degree programs last semester and is looking to add more, Bell said. These courses are strictly online, taught in seven-week modules, and allow the University to enroll students from around the United States and abroad.

Finally, the University needs a leader who will “plant some attractive things about LSU” to draw students and faculty in and keep them here, Bell said. There is room to expand in size and quality, he added.

“A year ago, I was looking into coming to LSU,” Bell said. “And what brought me here is a great university that has potential to be an even greater university.”