McNeese State University President Wade Rousse was named the 29th president of Louisiana State University Tuesday following a vote by the LSU Board of Supervisors.
McNeese officials have not yet announced plans for interim leadership. However, Rousse said that he will be working with the university and the UL System leadership to ensure a smooth transition.
Rousse was selected from a finalist pool that included James Dalton, provost at the University of Alabama, and Dr. Robert Robbins, former president of the University of Arizona. Dalton was later named chancellor of LSU Baton Rouge, reinstating the university’s dual-leadership structure for the first time since 2012.
“This is truly the honor of my life,” Rousse said after the vote. “Although I am overjoyed and honored by this role I have been entrusted with, it is also a little bittersweet, as I will be leaving my McNeese family.”
A few minutes after Rousse was announced as president of Louisiana State University, McNeese released an official statement regarding the change.
In it, senior vice president Dr. Kedrick Nicholas commended Rousse’s years of service and leadership.
“On behalf of the McNeese community, we are extremely proud of Dr. Rousse’s accomplishment,” Nicholas said. “He has given his all to our institution for the last six years and deserves an opportunity to flourish at a higher level. I have no doubt he will have monumental success in his new role just as he has had at McNeese. I also have no doubt that McNeese will continue its momentum that we have seen for the last year and a half.”
This was followed by the release of a statement from the Student Government Association, where they extended “heartfelt congratulations and full support” to Rousse as he begins a new chapter at LSU.
SGA President Lianne Montelibano said Rousse expressed difficulty with the reactions he got from some McNeese students during the application process.
She said he was “at the verge of tears” and described going back to the Burton Dorm and seeing students upset with him as “the worst thing in the world.”
“Rousse loves our students, that’s one of the biggest things about him, he loves students,” Montelibano said. “At the end of the day, Dr. Rousse is passionate about making a difference in higher education, and when that opportunity presented itself, it was hard to say no.”
