Troy Blanchard was raised in Baton Rouge, graduated from LSU and stayed to serve the LSU community. Now, he has been promoted to one of the most respected positions on campus, Provost.

The Baton Rouge native earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate in Sociology at LSU. He joined the Department of Sociology faculty in 2007.

“Baton Rouge is home. This is where my heart is, and LSU is such a special place for me,’ Blanchard said, ‘There is no place like it.”

Blanchard served as dean of the LSU College of Humanities and Social Sciences from 2019 through 2025. During his time as dean, the CHSS experienced historic growth in enrollment and retention.

He will now be expected to do the same thing on a bigger platform. LSU currently has a retention rate of 86%, which is above the 77.5% national retention rate.

One of the Provost’s top priorities is keeping student’s academic goals efficient and linear.

“Moving through a college experience is not a series of disjointed experiences… we need our students to see the finish line from where they stand,” Blanchard said.

“We want to make sure our students are moving and making good progress towards a degree, so they can go on and do great things to reflect our students,” Blanchard said.

As Louisiana’s flagship university, LSU has an opportunity to impact more than just students, but also the Baton Rouge community. The university has a long-standing reputation for great research programs, and as a R1 research institution,  Blanchard believes  LSU’s resources have the potential to make a global impact.

“We have experts in almost every area that you can imagine here on campus,’ Blanchard said.

‘No matter what sort of challenge or question you have, there is probably somebody on this campus that can answer it.”

A resource that is great at answering questions is artificial intelligence, like ChatGPT or Grammarly. These programs are great tools to help students refine their work.

On the other hand, they can be easily abused and run the risk of stunting students’ growth in the classroom.

“Artificial Intelligence is not going away.”

“We just need to help our students understand how AI is a tool, within a broader skillset that’s really human focused.”

Blanchard is eager to serve as provost and concluded by giving a message to all future and current LSU students.

“You need to be focused on what you love…that is something that is ultimately going to drive you long term,’ Blanchard said, ‘You can find a degree program at LSU…and take it and do so many amazing things with it.”

Blanchard replaces Roy Haggerty, who left LSU for the same position at Oregon State University, where he was previously dean.