Thursday, 4:30 PM
LSU wants UMass-Amherst leader as president
(Globe file photo)
Chancellor John Lombardi, shown above in his office at University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 2002, has been named as the only finalist in LSU’s search for a new president.
By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff
University of Massachusetts leaders are gearing up for a national search for a new leader of UMass-Amherst now that Louisiana State University has announced John Lombardi as its sole finalist for president.
Lombardi, chancellor of UMass-Amherst since 2002, was unanimously recommended today as the sole finalist for the presidency of LSU, and could be named president as early as next Friday, an LSU system spokesman said.
UMass system leaders, meanwhile, are vowing to conduct an open search over the next year to replace Lombardi, a combative but popular figure. Jack M. Wilson, the president of the UMass system, will likely name an interim chancellor in the coming weeks from the university system who would assume the post in September, when Lombardi is expected to start his new job, UMass system officials said.
The search for a replacement for Lombardi will represent a pivotal test for Wilson and the trustees, who drew a no-confidence vote in their leadership in May from UMass-Amherst faculty. Faculty members have lambasted Wilson and the trustees for coming out with a restructuring plan, which included Lombardi's departure at the end of the next school year, without consulting the campus at large.
"There's a lot of fear on campus that they will hand-pick a chancellor and install them as an interim, then viola, he's the permanent choice," said Mishy Leiblum, a UMass-Amherst graduate student and former student representative to the trustees.
Stephen Tocco, chairman of the UMass board of trustees, said the board had begun assembling a search committee to find a permanent chancellor, and he will not serve on the committee. A spokesman for Governor Deval Patrick said this week that the governor would not be involved in the search process.
The search committee will be chaired by trustee Jennifer Braceras, a 1989 UMass-Amherst graduate who Governor Mitt Romney appointed to the board last September and will include a broad cross-section of faculty members, business leaders, and legislators, Tocco said.
"They had their fingers burned and I think they'll be very sensitive to adhering to a more open process this time around," said trustee Lawrence Boyle, who had denounced Wilson and some trustees for devising the reorganization plan in secret.
Amherst faculty leaders have requested a meeting with Tocco and Wilson next week to discuss the appointment of an interim chancellor.
"The ball's in the president's court, but we're hoping he extends an olive branch," said Ernest May, secretary of the UMass-Amherst Faculty Senate. Unless the process is open, faculty will view candidates as "someone the president is planting to further his agenda," he added.
Faculty members have called for a national search and passed a resolution opposing any interim chancellor being named permanently.
UMass system spokesman Robert Connolly said he anticipated the search would draw "candidates of all-star caliber from across the country." The search committee will welcome outside suggestions, he said.
"Openness has been a hallmark of all the searches we've done over the past decade," he said.
Connolly said university officials had not discussed interim candidates because they expected Lombardi to remain as chancellor until next year. Several faculty members speculated that UMass senior vice president Marcellette G. Williams, a former interim chancellor working in the president's office, and provost Charlene Seymour were potential candidates for the interim post.
Lombardi, 64, has received favorable reviews for his leadership since becoming chancellor at UMass-Amherst in 2002. But he consistently opposed plans to centralize the five-campus system, a priority of Tocco and Wilson.
"He just wasn't going to do that," Tocco said. "I will guarantee that will be part of the job description this time."
Maria Sacchetti of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
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