October 15, 2014

The committee charged with selecting a new Grambling State University president will meet in Baton Rouge at 3:45 p.m. on Thursday, October 23, to discuss the revised tentative timeline, advertisement schedule, and search firm.  We will webcast the meeting live at http://streaming.louisiana.gov. 

As I shared with you previously, the original goal to name a new president in October will be extended into Spring 2015 in order to comply with the state’s Request for Proposals (RFP) process. Following the May 8, 2014, inaugural meeting and public hearing of the Grambling Presidential Search Committee, UL System staff immediately initiated an RFP process to select a search firm.  Proposals were submitted, reviewed and scored in July; a contract was negotiated in August; and the contract is pending final approval from the state’s Office of Contractual Review. 

The new proposed timeline under consideration will include a February preferred application date, semi-finalist interviews in March, and finalist interviews and selection in April 2015.  We will share with you the specific dates for the updated timeline as soon as they are approved by the search committee.  In the interim I encourage you to click on the links below to visit the special search website and provide input to the search committee members. 

From the start we discussed the need to seek out a firm with particular experience in HBCU searches because this kind of experience should provide the highest quality pool of potential candidates.  It will be worth the extra time it takes to find the best possible fit for Grambling at this crucial point in its history.

Dr. Sandra K. Woodley, President
University of Louisiana System