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Limbaugh considered for Louisiana university

James M. Limbaugh, the chancellor of Montana State University-Northern, is one of the final candidates being considered for president of Nicholls State University in Louisiana.

“It’s an opportunity that I was nominated for, and an opportunity I need to explore,” Limbaugh said this morning.

At a Monday meeting in Baton Rouge, the search committee looking at the applicants for the position narrowed their search from 17 candidates to six.

The six candidates will be interviewed on campus starting Aug. 26. According to a Louisiana newspaper, the new president will be announced in early September.

“This is a great day for Nicholls,” search committee and board member Jimmie “Beau” Martin said in a press release. “We had a very strong pool of candidates, and I was impressed with the number of applicants who want this job and want to take this university forward.”

According to the press release, in the week after Aug. 26 each of the six candidates will spend a day on the Nicholls campus, where they will interact with the search committee and university groups such as faculty, staff, students, alumni and community members.

The other applicants are from universities in Kentucky, Virginia, Louisiana, Tennessee and Texas.

In the chancellor’s cover letter for his application to the Nicholls position, he wrote, “I am interested in this opportunity because, as a native Southerner, I have a long-standing awareness of the quality of the university’s programs and its commitment to meet the educational needs of southeast Louisiana.”

The board of supervisors for the University of Louisiana System will choose who of the six is to get the position at a meeting on Sept. 9 or Sept. 10 in Baton Rouge.

Limbaugh became Northern’s 11th chancellor in January 2012. He is a Texas native who has been in the higher education for more than 30 years. He has worked with many other universities in a variety of positions. He earned bachelor’s degrees in science and English from Texas A&M-Commerce and a doctorate of philosophy in educational policy and leadership from the University of Maryland.

If Limbaugh becomes Nicholls’ president and leaves Northern in 2013, it will be the shortest term ever served by any chancellor or president of the Montana university.

Limbaugh is also a member of the Northern Montana Health Care corporate board, the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Committee and the Chamber Business Development Committee.

 
 

Reader Comments(2)

Rick writes:

I would have to disagree with you Blessing. If you look back at past chacellors many of them are here for only 2-4 years, I know that is longer then Jim has been here, but I believe that is the nature of the job. In the 35+ years I have lived here I have not seen a chacellor as involved in the community as Jim. I wish him well.

blessing writes:

The community of Montana State University Northern and the Community in Havre will be better off without Limbaugh. It is obvious that he does not have the follow through that he claimed to pride himself in. He made a commitment to the Students, faculty, staff and community members and now he's looking for a way to escape those commitments he previously made. He made all of these decisions that will effect our students, faculty, staff and community but he isn't planning to see the ripple effects