Despite numerous criticisms about the search process, the Chancellor Search Committee unanimously voted today to recommend Michael Martin as the University’s next chancellor.
LSU System President John Lombardi said he must now take Martin under consideration with help and advice from the administration.
The University may have a new chancellor as early as June 5, when the LSU Board of Supervisors will meet and discuss Martin.
Kevin Cope, Faculty Senate president, issued a report following Martin’s May 20 interview with the Faculty Senate Executive Committee.
The report said the search process conducted by the Chancellor Search Committee “lacked transparency and due deliberation.” It also said the search firm, led by Bill Funk, head of the Dallas-based search firm R. William Funk and Associates, “failed to generate a list of candidates for the committees’ consideration.”
The Committee had nine applications, but in the end, voted to only pursue Martin.
“This Committee did an extraordinary, effective and detailed job,” Lombardi said. “People think this is a screening committee, but actually it is a recruiting committee.”
Lombardi said the Committee had to find candidates who it considered qualified for the job as the University’s chancellor and then persuade them to take the risk of being involved in a public application process.
“People underestimate the risk,” Lombardi said. “Many people will not participate in an open search.”
Lombardi said Martin’s qualifications and experience for the University’s particular environment are unique.
He said Martin has a strong land-grant background to continue the state’s investment in natural resources. He said Martin has operated a university with a major athletic program and has been in a state that is not particularly rich and has dealt with the problems of a financially constrained environment.
“You’ve got somebody that everybody would hope we could find for LSU main campus chancellor,” Lombardi said.
—-Contact J.J. Alcantara at [email protected]