The LPJ sat down with Dr. Jim Henderson this week to discuss his first year as Louisiana Tech’s president. Henderson discussed academics, athletics, and the local community from this past year and moving forward. This is the first of a series of articles highlighting his first year.
By Judith Roberts
Change seemed to be the word of the winter 2024 season for Louisiana Tech with the hiring of a new provost, new athletics director and new president — all within less than a couple of months. This past year under Dr. Jim Henderson, however, has seen permanence in top leadership as well as increased communication across campus.
Henderson, who is known to have breakfasts and luncheons with faculty and staff, said bringing them together helps everyone realize moving the university forward is a team effort in which everyone wants to contribute.
“It has this effect of everyone starting to believe in the potential of this institution,” Henderson said. “That is great in the abstract, but you also have to have some finite work associated.”
Part of the work accomplished this year, he said, was some restructuring of units.
“We’ve brought together the Innovation Enterprise and University Advancement to create the Division of Innovation and Advancement,” he said. “We know that the resources necessary to help this institution reach its potential are not going to come from the state. It’s not going to come solely from students. It’s not going to come from general philanthropy. It’s going to come from leveraging the assets we have to develop revenue streams. And so that was that was a key.”
Another development during the last half of the calendar year was creating a strategic framework that would continue through 2030. Henderson said university leadership asked opinions from individuals who had worked at Tech for many years as well as fresh eyes to determine what Tech’s vision should be.
“It’s really built around the students, (determining) how to create the optimum environment where students can realize their greatest dreams and aspirations and, most importantly, their potential,” he said. “How do we create an environment where faculty and staff feel personally and professionally fulfilled by their work here and encourage them to pursue scholarship and research at levels we’ve never seen before? How do we leverage our assets with public and private partnerships to generate the revenues, the resources necessary to operate this institution? Fourth is how do we create the environment, the physical environment — from the aesthetic to the functional — that leads to optimum performance?”
Now the plan is to determine metrics to ensure success, Henderson said.
“When we develop those metrics, you’ll be able to look on our website and see how you can measure them over time,” he said. “Some of them are going to see demonstrable progress in short order. Some of them are going to be years long. And that’s the importance of an institution that’s been here for 130 years. You have to be able to think short term and deal with challenges, but you also have to address the chronic and the emerging challenges.”
Solving those challenges and problems is something Henderson looks forward to and one of the reasons why he pursued the position as Tech president in the first place.
“What drew me to this job at Tech was the promise of this institution and its rich history,” Henderson said. “I’m following F.J. Taylor and Dan Reneau and Les Guice with 60-plus years of consistency in the president’s office. That lays the foundation for success. When you have those two things, reputation and such a sound foundation, it’s real. It’s concrete. It’s bedrock. That raises the possibilities, but it also raises the stakes. But if anything over this year, I’ve found that assumption about the condition here has only been affirmed ever as I’ve had conversations with faculty and staff around campus…We have a collective interest in the future.”
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