BATON ROUGE — Members of the Southern University presidential search committee said Thursday that they want to have a new president in place July 1. Its previous leader left the role in November.

Committee Chair Jason Hughes said he wants the panel to have made significant progress by the end of the week, and that it was finalizing its selection of a search firm to help it find potential candidates.

The committee expects to receive search team proposals by the end of this week and select a search firm next week. Once a search firm is in place, the panel hopes to hold at least six virtual "stakeholder sessions" and consider feedback from the public as it conducts the search.

The Southern University System includes campuses at Baton Rouge, New Orleans and Shreveport, a law school and an agricultural and research center. Chancellors preside over individual campuses.

"We need a leader who's leading the system," Hughes said. "We need a president who knows that clearly defined role." 

While the committee would prefer to select a president who holds a terminal degree, members said they would not close the search off to someone in a corporate role. Committee member Darrin Dixon said, the president of a university system acts similarly to a CEO in finding the right people to handle various tasks within an organization. 

A student member of the panel said whoever is selected should understand campus life.

"I do believe that for those who don't have that terminal degree, we do need to look for some type of experience with higher education," said Sean Inman, the Southern University Student Government Association president. "I do believe they need to have some type of experience, especially in the HBCU realm or within the state of Louisiana."

In hindsight, Inman said one of the flaws with the previous presidential administration was a lack of experience in Louisiana and HBCU education. Former President Dennis Shields served in leadership roles at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, the University of Iowa, the University of Michigan and Duke University before arriving at Southern.

The search started after the university parted ways with Shields in late 2025; Orlando McMeans was named as the interim president. After a break, Shields will join the Southern law faculty this fall.

No candidates were identified at Thursday's meeting. The committee's next meeting was scheduled for April 9.