Updated: 6:15 PM CDT May 6, 2021
WDSU Digital Team
William Tate IV was named as the next president of LSU on Thursday, LSU said. When he begins his term in July, he will becomes the first Black president of a university in the Southeastern Conference. Now the provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at University of South Carolina, Tate also holds the USC Education Foundation Distinguished Professorship. Tate earned his Ph.D. at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is a past president of the American Educational Research Association and was elected to the National Academy of Education.Tate will take the helm of the university as it deals with a public reckoning over the mishandling of sexual assault and violence allegations on campus. LSU law professor Tom Galligan has served as the university's president on an interim basis since January 2020. The last person to serve in the permanent role was F. King Alexander, who was president from 2013 to 2019. Alexander left LSU for a job as president at Oregon State University. He recently resigned from that job, however, amid critical backlash over his time in charge at LSU. King's leadership was repeatedly called into question in a study the LSU Board of Supervisors launched in November to determine how sexual assault and violence allegations were handled on campus and whether the university complied with federal civil rights law.The law firm Husch Blackwell was hired to conduct the study after a USA Today investigative report revealed multiple complaints against LSU football players Derrius Guice and Drake Davis were not directed as required to the university's Title IX office.Tate selected Thursday from three finalistsTate's background in education has focused on sociology and family and preventive medicine.Prior to University of South Carolina, he was dean of the graduate school & vice provost for graduate education at Washington University in St. Louis from 2002 to 2020. Tate also spent time at Texas Christian University and University of Wisconsin-Madison. Tate received his Ph.D. in mathematics education from the University of Maryland, Master of Arts in Teaching from the University of Texas at Dallas, Master of Psychiatric Epidemiology from Washington University School of Medicine, and Bachelor of Science in economics from Northern Illinois University.The presidential search narrowed a pool of 23 candidates for president to three finalists who were invited for campus interviews, held May 2-5. The other two finalists were University of Louisiana System President Jim Henderson and former director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Kelvin Droegemeier.The LSU Board of Supervisors vote to name Tate as next president was unanimous. Gov. John Bel Edwards issued the following statement on the hire: “Following a national search, Louisiana State University has selected Dr. William F. Tate IV to serve as its new president, and I congratulate and welcome him to this new role and to our state. This is a historic moment for the Louisiana State University system, as Dr. Tate will become the University’s first African American president and also the first African American university president in the Southeastern Conference. He has expressed a desire to ensure that more students have the opportunity for higher education at the schools in LSU’s system, including more minority students, those from rural areas and those who face financial challenges. He will also be charged with attracting first class researchers and research funding to our state as we seek to continue and expand LSU’s role as a national leader in innovation and discovery. I share this goal of making higher education more accessible to students from all walks of life and all areas of our state and beyond and in growing the system’s prominence and I welcome his experience, vision and insight. I congratulate Dr. Tate.Dr. Tate will lead Louisiana State University during a challenging time in its history. It is no secret that LSU is coming face to face with Title IX issues, including allegations that have been absolutely gut wrenching to hear. All students should be safe on this and every university campus in our state, period. Dr. Tate will have to tackle this very important issue and I am confident that he is the right person to lead LSU.I also want to thank Interim President Tom Galligan, who I came to know first when he was my law school professor and even more so over the past year as he has served admirably as the University’s interim president during a difficult time, for his continued service to the University and our state.”