The University of Louisiana System has revealed a list of applicants for the permanent Grambling State University presidency.
The names, which will be considered and likely voted upon during a July 26 board meeting, includes Rick Gallot, a veteran state legislator and Grambling alumnus who has been widely speculated as the front-runner since the resignation of former president Willie Larkin.
Paul A. Bryant (Ed.D. — Nova Southeastern University, Ft. Lauderdale, FL)
Associate Provost, Enrollment Management, Albany State University
Audrey M. Freeman (Ed.D. — Southeastern University, Ft. Lauderdale, FL)
Principal/Executive Director, Bluford Drew Jemison STEM Academy, Middle-High School
Richard J. Gallot, Jr. (J.D. — Southern University School of Law, Baton Rouge, LA)
Attorney, Gallot Law Office
Donnovon L. Outten (Ed.D. — Nova Southeastern University, Ft. Lauderdale, FL)
Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs, Webster University
Jerald Jones Woolfolk (Ph.D. — Jackson State University, Jackson, MS)
Vice President for Student Affairs, Enrollment Management, State University of New York at Oswego
UL System President Dan Reneau told the Monroe News Star that the board had no intention of conducting a search despite alumni discontent and criticism from other higher education leaders, including Dillard University President Walter Kimbrough.
In this period of crisis the University of Louisiana System has just made it worse. The board announced they are accepting applications for the presidency now with hopes of naming a new president by July 26, as in one month away. Either the board already has someone lined up, which in that case they should dispense with the charade and announce today, or they are brazenly showing a lack of concern for Grambling, reinforcing a commonly held belief that it is the stepchild of the system. No other school has had a one month search, but somehow that is good enough for Grambling.
Reneau said that previous searches have not worked, and that the problems facing Grambling are too great to wait for a formal process.
“There’s been a carousel of presidents that has to stop,” Reneau said. “There is an urgent need for leadership at the institution. In the past there have been six-month to year-long searches. We just went through that (in hiring Larkin) and it hasn’t worked out for Grambling.”
