Departing UMass Chancellor May Land at Louisiana State

July 3, 2007

If university presidents can have nine lives, John V. Lombardi may be working on No. 3.

Mr. Lombardi, who was ousted as chancellor of the University of Massachusetts’ flagship campus at Amherst as part of a controversial restructuring plan a month ago, is now the leading candidate for president of the Louisiana State University system, The Advocate, a newspaper in Baton Rouge, La., reported.

The search committee, which has been seeking a successor to William L. Jenkins for more than a year, could recommend a new president as soon as Friday. Committee members would not comment officially on the selection of Mr. Lombardi, who announced in May that he would leave Amherst at the end of the 2007-8 academic year as part of a leadership shuffle that, at one point, would have combined the jobs of system president and flagship chancellor.

Although UMass officials publicly called Mr. Lombardi’s resignation a “mutual decision,” the chancellor, who is known for his hard-charging ways, apparently clashed with system administrators and trustees, who wanted him to be more of a team player. Faculty members, however, praised him for supporting scholarship and raising money — and the university’s profile.

The Louisiana State post would be Mr. Lombardi’s third act as a university president or chancellor. He was president of the University of Florida for nine years, resigning in 1999 after repeatedly clashing with state higher-education officials. In Florida, too, he earned praise for his vision and criticism for his interpersonal skills.

Mr. Jenkins announced in February 2006 that he was stepping down as Louisiana State’s president in order to devote more time to hurricane-recovery and fund-raising efforts, but many speculated he had been forced out because of his opposition to the immediate closure and consolidation of campuses in the system in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The Chronicle for Higher Education