As the year comes to an end, LSU is rolling full steam ahead on consolidation, The Associated Press reports. Since mid-2013, the university has filled deanships at the main campus level, given out faculty pay raises that have helped restore morale, privatized its hospitals and given life to a plethora of projects that will impact students, staff and the Baton Rouge community.
LSU recently received re-accreditation for the next decade, after undergoing a two-year reaffirmation process that mainly scrutinized LSU’s decision to combine its president’s and chancellor’s positions. There were concerns that a system president would not have enough time to be a full-time chancellor on a main campus, but the university proved to The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, or SACSCOC, that such a job could be done efficiently.
The individual to do the job was F. King Alexander, who celebrated his first year as LSU president and main campus chancellor in July. The LSU Faculty Senate, often critical of university policies, has been supportive of Alexander’s moves so far. Before the start of the current academic year, the president announced that faculty members would be receiving a 3% pay raise.
Along with the president position being merged, the university also consolidated its chief financial officer and its vice president of communications positions. All those moves were part of LSU’s goal to create the “one LSU” concept, which brings all parts of the university system under one umbrella. Read the full story.Â
