The Chancellor Search Committee has begun running background checks on two candidates after Monday’s meeting. The Committee unanimously agreed to begin checks on President Jon Whitmore of Texas Tech University and Provost Janie Fouke of the University of Florida. Six members of the Committee – Gaines Foster, Lee Griffin, Elaine Abell, Dorothy Prowell, Kelly Rusch and Bill Grimes – were chosen to run the checks on Whitmore and Fouke. Three additional candidates were also added to the list – Stephen Jones, chancellor of the University of Alaska in Fairbanks; Amit Chakma, vice president and provost of the University of Waterloo; and Jeffrey Vitter, dean of the College of Science at Purdue University. Jack Hamilton, chairman of the Committee, said the Committee is at a stage of doing reference checks, not invitations. Hamilton said Whitmore and Fouke have been at universities, which suggests they have the experience, training and academic credentials to be LSU’s chancellor. Hamilton said Whitmore and Fouke are the first two candidates being looked at. He said the other candidates were not taken out of consideration but are “not being looked at at the moment.” “These two are not bad,” Hamilton said. “They’re a good start.” Bill Funk, head of the private, Dallas-based search firm R. William Funk and Associates, said he is continuing to recruit additional candidates. “There are a number of individuals who have engaged in some dialogue with us but have not decided to become a candidate,” Funk said. “It’s an impressive group of people.” Funk said a number of them are sitting presidents, chancellors and provosts at other universities. “We’re going to continue to engage those individuals and see if we can’t get them to become active candidates,” Funk said. “We look forward to a more increased size of a pool.”
—-Contact J.J. Alcantara at [email protected]