LSU E.J. Ourso College of Business Dean Richard White Jr. announced on Wednesday that he will retire in June.
White has served as the College of Business’ dean since April 2014. He has overseen a number of improvements to the College of Business, including the introduction of several new minors and various fundraising efforts. White said the accomplishment he’s most proud of is the installation of the Office of Business Student Success.
“It’s a one-stop shop for all of our students to get all their support activities taken care of,” said White.
White, who will soon turn 74, said he decided to retire because he and his wife want to travel and spend more time with their family while they are still in good health. White said his deanship has run its course and that the college needs a new dean to steer its course.
“I’ve really felt good after (deciding to retire),” White said. “When I retired from the Coast Guard, I didn’t look over my shoulder, and I don’t expect to do so with this job. There are challenges ahead and some great times ahead.”
Being a dean is tough and the job is more physical than one might think, White said. He traveled often for fundraising and other events. He said football games were usually more work than pleasure because he had to entertain donors.
Not only is the job physically demanding, White said, but he also often has to go back and forth between the extremes of being a dean.
“It’s a very schizophrenic job. One minute you’re giving out awards to students and really positive, uplifting events,” White said, “and then the next hour I’m having to fire somebody or kick somebody out of school. You’ve got to put on many faces.”
White said the most disappointing part of his tenure as dean is the effect that Louisiana state politics has had on the University. He said state politicians have made it difficult to balance the budget by continually taking away state funding.
“There have been nights over the last eight years where I’d wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat thinking how am I going to make it through this year,” White said. “Am I going to have to lay off people? Am I going to have to cancel classes?”
One thing White repeatedly mentioned in his interview with the Reveille was his belief in the quality of business students at the University. He said the College of Business’ biggest strength is its students.
However, the number of students combined with inadequate funding is the college’s biggest weakness, according to White.
“Our student-faculty ratio in the college is 42 to 1. The rest of the University is 22 to 1,” White said. “Our students pay the price of our financial difficulty by being in classes that are twice as filled as the rest of the University.”
Despite these difficulties, White said he believes the College of Business is ultimately in a good place, and that business students are in a position to succeed if they work hard and apply themselves.
White said he wants business students to have a thirst for knowledge. He advises them to travel and experience other cultures, which he said will help them get better internships and jobs.
“I’m always critical of universities just piling on so many prerequisites and technical courses and not giving you the ability to really broaden your stay here,” White said. “People are not fired for their technical skills, they’re fired for their people skills.”