By Lisa Addison
laddison@americanpress .com
The meeting to select the next president of McNeese State University will be streamed live and held at 9 a.m. Thursday, April 20, at the Claiborne Conference Center in Baton Rouge.
Three finalists for president will be interviewed at the meeting by the Board of Supervisors for the University of Louisiana System and Mc-Neese should have a new president by the end of the day.
Finalists were selected last week and one semi-finalist eliminated after a full day of public interviews followed with deliberation by the McNeese State University Search Committee.
The candidates for the next president of the university are Neil Aspinwall, chancellor, Sowela Technical Community College; Daryl Burckel, accounting professor, McNeese State University; and Jeanne Daboval, provost and vice president for academic and student affairs, McNeese State University.
UL System President and CEO Jim Henderson told the American Press during a phone interview this week: “It’s critical that we find the right person for this job. Lake Charles is in the midst of an economic boom and Mc-Neese’s next leader is charged with meeting the community’s rapidly changing needs.”
Henderson said the demands for the next president will be even stronger “because the stakes are so high.”
McNeese President Philip Williams, who has served since July 1, 2010, will retire on June 30. Williams is the sixth president in the university’s 78-year history.
Thursday’s meeting will be in Room 100 of the Claiborne building, 1201 N. Third St.
To register to watch the live stream of the meeting, click on the link: http://streaming2.louisiana.gov/home, look for Thursday’s meeting notice, and simply click on the word “register.”