The Chancellor search committee seeking to find a permanentreplacement for the position left vacant by Sean O’Keefe’s resignation Jan. 16 will meet for the second time Monday.
The committee meeting will be held at 2 p.m. in the EmergingTechnology Center. According to the meeting’s agenda, “the committee may vote to go into executive session” during the discussion and distillation of candidates, although “no final or binding action will be taken during an executive session.”
On the day of O’Keefe’s resignation, LSU System President JohnLombardi said he hopes to have a new chancellor in place by the start of the fall 2008 semester. He said he hopes to speak with a finalized list of candidate by the end of the spring 2008 semester.
At least eight of the 21 members on the committee have a science or research based background, which System Vice President for Communications and External Affairs Charles Zewe said reflects Lombardi’s intent to hire a chancellor who is familiar with university research.
“I think what Dr. Lombardi is trying to do is send a message that we want the next chancellor to be heavily interested and familiar with a research intensive university,” Zewe told The Daily Reveille on Feb. 19.
The committee will narrow a pool of applicants to three or fourfinalists. These candidate will be invited to LSU for interviews, and the committee will submit their recommendation to Lombardi. He then will recommend to the Board of Supervisors who should be hired. The Board ultimately hires the chancellor.
Although Lombardi may reject the committee’s recommendations, Zewe said it is “highly unlikely” Lombardi would do so.
During the committee’s first meeting on March 4, Lombardi said he wants the university to became a “high-powered American institution” under the new chancellor.
“One of the things we expect from a chancellor is to help theinstitution increase its revenue stream,” Lombardi told the committee during the first meeting. “You want to have a chancellor who can figure out how to take advantage of what the institution has to leverage every-increasing revenue to re-invest back into the quality of the place.”
—-Contact Nicholas Persac at [email protected]