By Malcolm Butler
Current University of Louisiana System (ULS) President Dr. Jim Henderson will be on the Louisiana Tech campus Thursday to hold an open forum for faculty, staff, students and the public.
The public forum will be at 3:30 p.m. at Howard Auditorium.
News broke October 8 that Henderson was interested in the open Louisiana Tech president position that will be vacated at the end of the year when current University President Les Guice retires. The following day after the news broke the ULS Board of Directors went into executive session for three-plus hours where the 13 board members (out of 16) in attendance discussed Henderson’s interest in the Louisiana Tech opening.
When the executive session ended and the board reconvened into open session, the Board voted 12-1 to suspend board rule Chapter 3, Section 2, to move forward with interviewing Dr. Henderson to be the next president of Louisiana Tech University on October 25.
Chapter 3, Section 2 reads: for all appointments to vacancies in the chief executive position at any institution under the jurisdiction of the Board, three months’ written notice, or less at the option of the Board, shall be provided to the Board through the System President in order that all applicants who qualify may be given an official application and that the proper committee, after interviewing such applicants, may make recommendations to the Board for final selection.
With the October 25 interview in Baton Rouge a week away, Henderson will use this trip to Ruston as chance to share his vision and address questions from Louisiana Tech shareholders.
“I’ve spent a lot of time with faculty and staff from Louisiana Tech and our other eight member institutions the past seven years,” said Henderson Tuesday evening. “Many have had a chance to experience my leadership style and vision as their System leader, and I have benefited greatly from these open conversations.
“Thursday will be similar to those previous interactions but will also allow me to provide context to this unique circumstance and my interest in leading Louisiana Tech. Tonia and I look forward to being in Ruston and answering any questions about advancing this university into its next era of excellence.”
Louisiana Tech University Senate President Louis Reis sent a University-wide email Tuesday to let employees and students know about Henderson’s visit.
“As many of you are aware, last week the UL System Board has allowed current ULS President, Dr Jim Henderson, to apply for the position of University President at Louisiana Tech University,” the email read. “Dr. Henderson will be on campus this Thursday to speak with select groups and to present his vision for the university for anyone to hear.”
The email said that following Henderson’s presentation at Howard Auditorium, there would be an opportunity for questions and comments from those in attendance. He also said that the presentation and Q&A session will be recorded and then uploaded so individuals who aren’t able to attend can go back and watch and listen. More details on where to access this will be made available Thursday or Friday.
Reis said Henderson is scheduled to meet with the Student Government Association as well as a few other groups on campus Thursday prior to the 3:30 p.m. meeting at Howard Auditorium.
“We haven’t finalized his entire schedule but my executive committee within the senate wanted to have a more private conversation with him,” said Reis. “Right now it is just SGA on the books and then most likely the executive committee from the Senate, but we may have some other groups that request to meet with him.”
He said Henderson’s visit is extremely important to the campus population.
“With the process that has been altered to facilitate this, the board has removed some of the original events that would normally occur in this situation,” said Reis. “Usually at most president searches you would have a couple of names and then whittle it down to one or two finalists and then those finalists would come on the campus and do a presentation where the faculty, staff and students would have a chance to ask questions and get a feel for who the person is and their vision for Tech.
“Since that was not an event that was planned by the (ULS) Board, Dr. Henderson and I had a discussion that this type of event still needs to happen whether the Board plans it or not. So he has agreed to come to campus. This is an opportunity for people to have a voice in the process and to get to know the guy who is currently the only candidate that’s being considered for the position.”
