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Dillard Trustees Pick First Woman to Lead University

By Shearon Roberts
Black College Wire

Dr. Bettye Parker Smith, Dillard University's provost/vice president for academic affairs, has been named interim president, succeeding Dr. Michael Lomax, who is leaving to become CEO and president of the United Negro College Fund.

Parker Smith

Because interim presidents are counted as presidents, according to Maureen Larkins, director of university relations, Parker Smith becomes the New Orleans university's eighth and first female president. She assumes her position June 1.

Parker Smith said she plans to return to her position as provost and stay there until the new president's administration is in order or as long as she is needed.

"I think a good criterion for being a good president is having been a provost," said Parker Smith, who turned down a previous opportunity to serve as a university president. She said she had moved off that track, describing the post of provost as the best match for her personality.

"I like having the power over learning and making sure that students have the very best we can give, staying abreast of what's going on in the world and bringing that world to our students," she said.

Parker Smith arrived at Dillard on Oct. 1, 1999. She previously served as vice president and top program officer for several national programs for minority doctoral students that focused on recruitment, retention and graduation, in addition to being an educator at several universities and colleges.

Parker Smith said there would be no need to bring in outside administrators during her term and that Dillard had all the faculty resources it needed to ensure a smooth transition.

She plans to continue to execute the Horizon 2008 strategic plan, a detailed four-year effort developed by the Lomax administration to ensure growth. The plan was adopted by the Board of Trustees this semester.

Lomax said at a recent board meeting that the board made the right decision in appointing Parker Smith, Larkin said.

All vice presidents in the Lomax administration agreed to stay on until the ninth president is appointed, Larkin said. New appointments usually do not occur during transition administrations, she added.

Parker Smith becomes the third president in Dillard's history to be named an interim president during a transition period. Rev. Will W. Alexander served as an acting/interim president from 1935 to 1936 before Dr. William Stuart Nelson was appointed, and Dr. Myron F. Wicke, Dillard's fifth president, served as an acting/ interim president for one year before Dr. Samuel Du Bois Cook was named in 1974.

Shearon Roberts, a student at Dillard University, is editor of The Courtbouillon.

Posted May 7, 2004