BATON ROUGE - The LSU Board of Supervisors has announced its decision to work with the Association of Governing Board of Universities and Colleges, or AGB, to conduct a study of LSU's administrative structure. 

The point of interest for the study is the school's dual position of president/chancellor. In 2012 the LSU Board of Supervisors worked with the AGB  to evaluate the university's administrative system. This resulted in the board's decision to unify the system presidency with the chancellorship of the flagship campus.

The school is now looking to review whether it should keep it that way.

Mary Werner, chair of the LSU Board of Supervisors, said, "The Board wants to evaluate the success of the unified leadership structure over the past six years and consider if the structure is congruent with the university’s goals for the future.” 

“LSU is a mission-oriented, public entity operating under market forces with a $5.1 billion impact on the state, so it’s critical that the Board be methodical and deliberate on decisions about leadership and structure.”

AGB selected a team of three to conduct the study: 

-Ellen Chaffee, an AGB senior fellow and past president of two universities and two national professional associations

-Rich Novak, an AGB senior fellow and former senior vice president of the Ingram Center for Public Trusteeship and Governance at AGB

-George G. Pernsteiner, former president of the State Higher Education Executive Officers, or SHEEO, and former chancellor of the Oregon University System.

AGB’s examination of the administrative structure of LSU will involve individual and group interviews with Board of Supervisors members, Interim President Tom Galligan, campus chancellors, senior administrators and other stakeholders to be conducted in Baton Rouge and Shreveport. Consultants will also examine several other public university systems to understand the perceived benefits of their administrative structures.

LSU has hired one university president and chancellor, F. King Alexander, since it adopted its current structure. Alexander left LSU in December to take on the role of president at Oregon State. Thomas Galligan, former dean of the LSU law school, is serving as interim president.

The study will begin in the next few weeks and will culminate in a presentation at the April 23, 2020, meeting of the Board of Supervisors.