Following President Hulbert’s retirement announcement on April 15, the search is on for the next president of Nicholls State University.
The selection process for the next University president began with the selection of the search committee on Tuesday.  
According to the University of Louisiana System, the search committee consists of nine members from the UL system board and one member from the University, voted on by the faculty senate on campus. The president of the UL system will serve as the chair of the search committee, but he will not vote. The system board members who will serve on the committee will be the board members who have the strongest ties to the University.
The search committee consists of fifteen members. The nine members from the board are:

Andre Coudrain of Hammond
Student Member:
William Dearmon of Ruston
David Guidry of Harvey
Board vice-chair:
E. Gerald “T-Boy” Herbert of Kenner
Jimmie “Beau” Martin Jr. of Cut Off
Board of Supervisors Chair: Wayne Parker of Choudrant
Robert Shreve of Baton Rouge
Gary Solomon of New Orleans
Winfred Sibille of Sunset

The faculty member from the University that was voted on by the faculty senate and who will also serve on the committee is Stephen Michot, faculty senate president.
Each of the nine members from the board and the one member from the University will be able to vote for the presidential candidates.  These selections will then be sent to the full UL board.
The other five members on the committee will have no voting rights. They are as follows:

Community member:
Donald T. “Boysie” Bollinger
Former University Student Government Association President: Matthew Jewell
Fletcher Technical Community College Chancellor:
F. Travis Lavigne Jr.
Nicholls Director Emeritus of Alumni Affairs:
Deborah “Raz” Raziano
UL System President:
Sandra Woodley

Following the senate committee appointments, the group will have their first meeting on May 3. The search committee will meet at 10:30 a.m. and the public forum will be at 1 p.m. The public forum is hosted to gather input from the campus community on desired qualifications for the new president. The committee meeting and the forum are open to the public.
Following the meeting, the position will be advertised, and candidates can then send in their applications. The search committee will then select semifinal candidates.
“I am giving applying for the presidency a serious consideration,” Laynie Barrilleaux, vice president of academic affairs, said. “I have been here for a while and feel like I know the University, but I think it is important that I listen to the open forum where the community will state what they are looking for.”
Eugene Dial, vice president for student affairs, said he is not sure if he is applying for the presidency, but agrees that he will wait until the open forum to see what are the desired characteristics.
“There will be several days where presidential candidates will be on campus meeting with different groups. Following the meetings the search committee will interview the candidates, with the interviews being public on campus,” Jackie Tisdell, assistant vice president for communications in the UL system, said.
The search committee will then vote on the few finalists they want to send to the full UL system board. The board will then hold interviews in Baton Rouge and will make the final selection for the position.
“The University of Louisiana System has a thorough and open presidential search process that calls for campus representation on the committee and gathering input early in the process to help frame the committee’s work,” Sandra Woodley, UL system president and committee chair, said in a press release on Tuesday.
The UL system requires that each candidate for the presidency possess a doctorate from an accredited institution and successful experience in an institution of higher education.  These are the basic requirements, with other characteristics to be decided when the committee meets.  
When the search began for a new University president following Donald Ayo’s retirement in 2003, the search committee was appointed on Oct. 25, 2002, and selected President Stephen Hulbert on March 28, 2003.  It took only five months to make a decision.
In the first meeting, the committee will employ a time table that will be followed throughout the process.
The UL system website has a special section, ulsystem.edu/NichollsSearch, that is devoted to the search for the new University president. The website has information on the University and will also include information on the search and the search committee meetings.