Six finalists have emerged to be the next president and chancellor of the Southern University System, with the system’s board of supervisors set to interview them at its next regular meeting on Thursday, May 28.
A 15-member search committee for the next president and chancellor led by chairman Albert Sam released the finalists’ names today. They are:
- Ray Belton, current chancellor for Southern University Shreveport.
- Barrett Hatches, president and CEO of the Chicago Family Health Center.
- Gilbert Rochon, former president and professor at Tuskegee University.
- Ivory Toldson, deputy director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities for the U.S. Department of Education.
- Victor Ukpolo, chancellor of Southern University New Orleans.
- Earl Yarbrough Sr., former president of Savannah State University.
“After the search committee interviews the six applicants, we hope to select three
finalists to submit to the SU Board of Supervisors,” says Sam in a prepared release.
The Southern board of supervisors voted earlier this year to merge the positions of system president and Baton Rouge campus chancellor, effective July 1. The next president and chancellor will replace Ronald Mason, whose contract to oversee Southern’s five campuses was not extended bythe board last year. Earlier this week, Mason was announced as the next president of the University of the District of Columbia, effective July 1.
