With the ushering of a new semester the University may be losing one of its most important leaders.
Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Daniel Fogel recently has been nominated for candidacy of president at the University of Vermont.
Fogel, who has been part of the LSU faculty for more than 25 years, is one of four finalists for the position out of approximately 150 candidates.
“Folks in positions like mine get solicited by other institutions and by search firms all the time,” Fogel said.
Most of the time Fogel said he tells those interested he does not wish to leave LSU.
“I felt, however, that I needed to consider the University of Vermont for its academic quality, its great potential [and] its similarity to LSU in being not just the state flagship but also the only national research university in its state,” he said.
Other nominees for the position are Executive Vice President of the University of Pennsylvania John A. Fry, interim President of the State University of New York Steven G. Poskanzer and Ralph W. Muller, a faculty member of the King’s Fund in London.
Fogel is scheduled to visit UVM Jan. 24 and 25 where he will meet with the current president and provost as well as campus committees and Gov. Howard Dean.
Although Fogel said he is happy to be part of LSU, he noted one of his main reasons for considering UVM is its closeness to his hometown of Ithaca, N.Y., where he and his wife have three surviving parents.
“I am honored to be under consideration by a school of the caliber of the University of Vermont, just as I am honored that I have had the opportunity to teach and to play a leadership role at our wonderful university,” said Fogel.
Neil Mathews, vice chancellor for Student Life and Academic Services, said he feels Fogel will be missed if he accepts a position at UVM.
“This would be a terrible loss for LSU,” Mathews said. “However, I can certainly understand why he is one of the University of Vermont’s leading candidates given his outstanding credentials.”
Mathews said the reason Fogel has risen as one of the top candidates lies in the many accomplishments he has made at LSU.
“Fogel has worked very hard to improve LSU during his tenure,” Mathews said.
According to a biography of Fogel on the UVM Web site, Fogel became a professor of English at LSU in 1984 after being an assistant professor in 1976.
Since then, he has moved up the ranks to his current position, where he has allocated millions of dollars in funding to different campus programs as well as expanding and cultivating the learning environment of the University.
“I have been at LSU for 25-and-a-half years, will always deeply love LSU and will be pleased and excited to continue my work as provost at LSU if I don’t end up going to Vermont,” Fogel said.
The Board of Trustees at UVM is scheduled to begin final deliberations Jan. 26 before choosing a new president.