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PRESS RELEASE

Effective June 1, 2008, I will step down as the 7th Chancellor of the Louisiana State University. I will continue as Professor of Public Administration for the balance of this spring semester, but relinquish duties as Chancellor at the end of this month. The President has agreed to appoint an acting chancellor who will perform the duties of chancellor effective February 1.

The University system leadership clearly has the authority and deserves the prerogative to empower those who can take the University to the next level and I wish them every success in that quest. It is evident to me that LSU needs a campus leader who enjoys the full confidence of the Board and the President. I have no doubt they will be successful in that endeavor.

Over the last three years that I have been afforded the privilege to lead LSU, we have witnessed near unprecedented improvements. I was recruited to LSU to implement the National Flagship Agenda, an aggressive strategy to launch LSU into the competitive ranks of the very best public, flagship universities in the nation by 2010. LSU has met or made substantial progress toward each of the goals of this important strategic agenda. I have every confidence that by 2010 the university will meet or exceed each of the goals. But to sustain this effort, a concerted effort has been necessary to garner the resources to make the national flagship status a permanent condition.

University resources over the last two years have seen exceptional growth in state support. Last year the state appropriations reached the level of our southern regional competitors for the first time in three decades. This is substantial progress, but much more needs to be done for LSU to compete successfully with the national peers we are compared to. The next Chancellor has a strong foundation to build on, but much more needs to be done.

Three years ago we began planning the largest capital campaign in the university’s history. Nearly two years ago that campaign was aggressively launched with the goal of raising $750 million in private funding by 2010, the 150th anniversary of the university. We are well over half way toward this important goal. More money has been raised in this campaign than ever before – and in just the first year of the Forever LSU campaign, donations doubled to the highest annual level ever experienced in the university’s history. These resources will support students, faculty and facilities to sustain the flagship university. It is imperative that it be a success. Because of my love for my native state of Louisiana and my passionate enthusiasm for LSU, I will continue to do whatever I can to support this critical effort.

Research competitiveness has improved substantially to nearly $150 million in research grants and support from public and corporate entities. But more importantly, LSU has recruited and retained productive research faculty who are achieving greater success in the fierce competitive field of sponsored research. The caliber of faculty being drawn to LSU as a result of the multi-disciplinary hiring initiative assures a strong cadre of research capability which improves prospects for success for a generation to come.

The most uplifting prospect for future success at LSU and the state of Louisiana is in the next generation of leaders. The experience of so many students who volunteered to assist fellow Louisianans was forged in the crucible that is Katrina and Rita. Thousands of friends, family and members of our regional community came to LSU in search of help and assistance. Those who rose to the challenge and volunteered their time and labor were the students, faculty, and staff of this great university. And they volunteered not because they had to but because they knew it was the right thing to do. But in this tragedy, what we saw in our students the spirit of the next generation of leaders and they are certain to be extraordinary. The efforts of our new Governor to pave the way for their service to our communities is full of great hope and promise.

These and many more are all achievements unique to the LSU flagship campus. These are the priorities on the LSU campus owing to an aggressive, vigorous pursuit of the flagship agenda under my watch and achieved by the team I have helped assemble. Those may not be the highest priorities for the LSU system, but my charge was to implement these goals for the LSU campus. I have attempted to do so with all the energy, passion and management expertise I can muster. I have done my best and I have left everything I’ve got on the field. To the extent that my best can be improved upon by others, I welcome them as it is all about the advancement of LSU. I’ve encountered difficult challenges in my varied professional experiences, but none as exhilarating or sometimes as difficult as I have encountered at LSU.

But throughout my professional life, I have always drawn resolve from the immortal words of Teddy Roosevelt. This spirit best captures my resolve here at LSU.

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

My successor needs the complete support of the Board of Supervisors, the President, the LSU system staff, and the entire campus community. I wish every success in the effort to recruit someone who will rise to that necessary level of support.

It has been my honor and privilege to serve as Chancellor of Louisiana State University. When my ancestors first arrived in New Orleans over 100 years ago and settled in the Irish Channel, none dared imagine that over the generations, members of my family would be afforded the honor to serve the people of the state of Louisiana. We have been a most fortunate clan. I am just the latest of a long line of Louisianans in my family to be so blessed. My privilege to serve Louisiana began 30 years ago on the staff of the state legislature and it now ends at the state’s great flagship university. It has been an experience I will cherish for the rest of my life. And may thy spirit live in us, Forever LSU.

Geaux Tigers!