http://www.myfoxal.com/story/29273731/stuart-bell-to-be-recommended-as-new-ua-president
I like that he has a history in Engineering at UA, but isn’t LSU in bad financial shape? I hope Dr. Witt knows what he is doing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbhBduwF3R4 Here is a video of him talking about LSU, where he currently works.
I did a little research, and it seems that LSU is in bad shape financially, not due to any in house problems, but due to very deep cuts in state funding. LSU had a record freshman class last Fall, with higher admissions standards, so this might not be a bad choice at all. Dr. Bell has a PhD in Nuclear Engineering, with a BS from Texas A and M., so it seems that Dr Witt wants to continue to emphasize growing the Engineering program.
Yes, it is my understanding that the financial issues respecting LSU are based in large part due to a huge cut in state funding, not necessarily mismanagement in Baton Rouge. The University of Wisconsin is facing a similar issue. Both states’ governors are presidential candidates who probably want to ensure that that their respective state budgets are balanced.
http://www.nola.com/news/baton-rouge/index.ssf/2015/04/lsu_scaling_back_faculty_hires.html
In any event, its very interesting to see the continuing Texas connections with the University of Alabama system. Chancellor Witt was a former faculty member and dean at UT-Austin, and Dr. Bell is an alumnus of Texas A&M University. Texas is also the home state for an increasing number of the OOS student population at UA as Bama has 3-4 full-time recruiters dedicated to the Lone Star State.
There’s no way Louisiana can get a balanced budget with the current impasse over tax hikes. The shortfall is $1.7 billion and there just isn’t enough blood to be wrung from the stone, with oil revenue decreasing. In Wisconsin, the governor (who did not go to college) is proud of his effort to end tenure and transform UWM into a vocational school for industry. It’s a sad time for higher education in both states.
UA’s growth in enrollment and stature is mainly from the engineering and business schools. Wouldn’t that also be “vocational school for industry”?
@NoVADad99, I believe that Wisconsin’s legislature has alleviated some of the cuts; however, the debate respecting tenure has caused some real concern on UW’s campus. The faculty in Madison is among the best for a public university so it will be interesting to see if the proposal to roll back tenure gets any traction and what effect, if any, that has on UW’s ability to retain the stars on its faculty.
To relate this back to Bama, I think Dr. Witt’s decision to recruit a large number of OOS students has allowed UA to weather the trend in decreasing state funding very well. Although many of the OOS students (especially the children of parents on in this forum) are at UA on partial or full tuition scholarships, there’s likely even a larger number of OOS kids who are at UA without any significant scholarship funds. Those kids are paying tuition that’s three times the instate rate and that’s a source of revenue that can really help to sustain a university doing periods of decreasing state funding.
Alabama has cut higher education funding so much over the past decade that Troy State University dropped the “State” part of their name a few years ago. State money is a very tiny part of UA’s and other schools’ funding.
AL.com article. http://www.al.com/news/tuscaloosa/index.ssf/2015/06/lsu_administrator_tapped_for_u.html#incart_river
What!?!?!?! No drama?
:(( :(( :((
I wanted to see FSU level hysterics! Folks protesting! Dire warnings of a Koch brothers take over, complaints that the faculty doesn’t have enough input, complaints that the students didn’t have enough input, complaints about the process, complaints about the complaints, complaints, complaints…….but nooooo…
~X( ~X( ~X(
You guys just go ahead and pick a replacement. 
It’s now official: