Astrid E. Merget, former Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, died Monday, Oct. 13 after a battle with cancer.
She was a leader who authored articles on public finance, administration and non-profit management.
Stacia Haynie, Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, was with Merget at the time of death.
“Her legacy is the devotion she engendered with the people she worked with,” said John McDermott, member of the LSU Foundation Advisory Council and Merget’s attorney. “They were completely devoted to her and assisted her to her last days. It was remarkable how much they took care of her.”
Her legacy reached students as well. Former Student Government President Stuart L. Watkins and Vice President Martina Scheuermann, who both served from 2009 to 2010, wrote in a Letter to the Editor that her legacy would be “ingrained with the academic integrity and excellence of the university.”
Watkins and Scheuermann said she held the University to a high standard and believed in its students.
“We are grateful she [Merget] believed in us,” their letter said.
Originally from the northeast, Merget made Louisiana her home and embraced the state’s culture, declining the notion of moving back, the letter said.
Merget served as a professor in the E.J. Ourso College of Business after stepping down as Executive Vice Chancellor.
She worked in academia as well as public policy. After graduating magna cum laude from Mount Holyoke College, she earned a master’s degree and doctorate from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University.
At the Maxwell School, she held many positions including associate dean, Louis A. Bantle Chair in Business and Government Policy and public administration department chair. She also served her alma mater as a Mount Holyoke College trustee from 1998 to 2003.
Prior to her work at the University, she served as the dean of the School of Public and Environmental Affairs and chaired the Independent Sector’s Committee on Leadership and Management at Indiana University.
She was appointed twice by U.S. Comptroller General to the Research and Education Advisory Panel and Educator’s panel.
Outside academia, she co-chaired a task force on outcomes with United Way and was a founding member of the National Council for Science and Environment’s Council of Environmental Deans and Directors.
She was senior adviser to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services and assisted policy development and research with the Department of Housing and Urban Development. She was also a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.
McDermott described Merget as a “professional, gracious and competent lady” who devoted her life to education.
The family has yet to determine details regarding a memorial service, but will do so within the coming weeks.