The Louisiana State University Chancellor Search Committee today recommended that New Mexico State University President Michael Martin be the next leader of LSU’s main campus in
LSU President John V. Lombardi must now decide whether to recommend that the Board of Supervisors hire Martin, which he could formally do at their next meeting on June 5.
“We were handed a difficult task by President Lombardi,” the search committee’s chair, John Hamilton, said in a news release announcing today’s decision. “But I am confident that we found the best candidate for the job. Dr. Martin would be a fine choice to run this university.”
The members of the committee voted unanimously to recommend Martin, according to the news release.
Martin, who said last week that he would not decide whether to take the job – if offered – until after meeting with NMSU’s regents, said during an interview with faculty and staff at LSU on Wednesday that it “would be an honor to join the leadership team at a great university like LSU.”
“I understand how gratifying and rewarding it can be to work at an institution with the commitment to its students that LSU has,” he said at that meeting, according to the LSU release.
The release quoted Lombardi as saying the committee selected a “fine candidate.” Lombardi personally asked Martin to consider the job. The two worked together at the
“I know Dr. Martin well,” Lombardi said in the release. “He is an excellent person. We have a lot of work we want to accomplish and we want somebody who can help us do that.”
It sounds like there’s a good chance Martin will be offered the LSU job. Expect talks with the NMSU regents to include an offer of increased compensation to stay in
He would make significantly more than that at LSU. The NMSU regents will probably offer more to try to keep him here.