By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Staff
BATON ROUGE — Incoming Northwestern State University President Jimmy Genovese doesn’t have a background in higher education, but may have what it takes to revitalize an institution that has suffered a 22 percent enrollment dip this decade.
A search that began with the late May announcement by outgoing president Dr. Marcus Jones ended Thursday in Baton Rouge when Genovese was hired by unanimous vote to take over at his alma mater. The 21st president at Northwestern will be introduced Tuesday in an 11 a.m. public event in the Friedman Student Union ballroom on the Natchitoches campus.
The unconventional hire was an outcome that seemed destined since late last month, when new Governor Jeff Landry went on the record in remarks to media that he believed Genovese, an Opelousas native who is a 1971 NSU graduate, was the right person to steer Northwestern forward.
That’s a vital consideration, said former state Senator Louis Bernard of Natchitoches, among several alumni who attended Thursday’s University of Louisiana Board of Supervisors meeting in the state Capitol complex in Baton Rouge.
“It’s absolutely critical,” said Bernard, who was a pivotal figure in obtaining state approval for nearly $50 million of construction funding for two major on-campus projects during his four-year term in the Senate.
“People say they don’t like politics, but look, that’s reality. He is good at that. He’s got good relationships having been a Supreme Court justice for eight years, not only with the legislature, but he certainly has a relationship with the governor. That can’t do anything but help Northwestern and I hope he seizes that opportunity,” said Bernard.
Leah Sherman Middlebrook, president of the NSU Alumni Association, served on the NSU Presidential Search Committee that made Genovese the only recommendation Tuesday after a series of forums and interviews on the university’s main campus in Natchitoches. She traveled from her Bossier City home early Thursday to deliver a resolution from the Alumni Association, passed Wednesday night, that strongly endorsed Genovese.
“The alumni are in support because he will bring enthusiasm and excitement to the university, work on enrollment, and help us attain the funds we need for success,” said Middlebrook, who read most of the resolution to the ULS Board members prior to Genovese’s final round of interview questions in a public session.
From the initial applicant pool, the UL System office recommended eight semifinalists in early July. The selection committee pared down the field to three, and one withdrew, leaving Texas native and Colorado educator Dr. Jose Cantu and Genovese as the only remaining candidates to be interviewed on campus earlier this week.
NSU Faculty Senate president Dr. Frank Serio, who has taught mathematics at the university for over 30 years, also served on the selection committee.
“I’m firmly convinced that at the end of this process that we came out with the absolute best person we had to choose from, and you can’t ask for better than that,” said Serio. “I think we made the best possible choice.
“I’ve told all the faculty this: the best thing I’ve heard from him in the whole process is that he understands he does not know a lot about the nuts and bolts of running a university, and he’s going to listen to the people who do. I believe also he’s the sort of person that if he tries something and it obviously doesn’t work, he’s going to change course. He’s not going to be stuck on one idea and it has to be his way. He wants what’s best for Northwestern, what’s going to work for Northwestern.”
Bernard said Genovese’s obvious charisma and energy, and engaging personality, will serve Northwestern well.
“He is a real people person. He has a connection with people. I think he’ll be prioritizing talking not only to students, but to parents,” said the former senator, a 2023 inductee in NSU’s Long Purple Line alumni hall of distinction.
“I believe he’s going to attack everything from a head-on perspective, meeting it face-to-face, being a people person. We’ll get a good dose of that and it will be beneficial for Northwestern,” said Bernard.
Genovese has a network of contacts around the state established during his long career on the bench, including 20 years sitting at the appellate or supreme court levels.
“The pipelines to students and getting them to Northwestern go through a lot of different places. They go through people he’s met around Louisiana, teachers he’s known in different communities, through judges, district attorneys, and government leaders across the state,” said Bernard. “It’s an advantage he can leverage, to use his contacts around the state for the benefit of Northwestern.”