Nicholls fills 2 high-level positions

Nicholls State University announced the filling of two high-level positions recently.

Dr. Todd Keller is the interim Vice President of Academic Affairs, and Alex Arceneaux will serve as the university’s chief of staff.

Keller fills a position vacated by Allayne “Laynie” Barrilleaux, who left the university in August. After previously serving as the university’s director for the College of Nursing and Allied Health’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree program, Keller began work in his new position Oct. 13.

“I came to Nicholls State University for the first time in 1987 to begin an undergraduate career, and since 1987 Nicholls has been very good to me,” Keller said. “It’s done a lot for me. So to have the ability to affect the campus on a more global level by working at the level of academic affairs, it’s pretty exciting to be able to have a positive impact on a university that’s had such a positive impact on me.”

A huge part of Keller’s duty will be working to develop the university’s strategic plan for its next accreditation report, he said.

“The next couple of months will be filled with looking at lots of data that supports what we actually do here at Nicholls and so far the review of that data tells me that we’re doing a pretty good job on all levels of all programs,” said Keller.

Nicholls President Dr. Bruce Murphy indicated in a release that he will search for a permanent provost while Keller serves in an interim basis.

Keller, a Morgan City native, earned his bachelor’s degree in nursing from Nicholls, his master’s in nursing from the University of Phoenix New Orleans and his doctorate in nursing science from the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center. He returned to Nicholls in 1999 as an assistant professor of nursing.

Arceneaux, a fellow south Louisiana native, returns to his home state after being named the university’s new chief of staff.

Arceneaux will leave his post as the registrar for Saint Martin’s University, a private Catholic Benedictine university in Lacey, Washington.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in general studies and a master’s in education leadership from the University of New Orleans and served as interim registrar, associate registrar for operations, executive assistant to the registrar and assistant to the registrar at the University of New Orleans from 2006-2012.

Arceneaux is currently perusing a doctorate in education leadership specializing in higher education administration at the University of New Orleans. He expects to finish in fall 2016.

“The anticipation is building, and I am looking forward to getting on the plane on Saturday and making an adjustment back to life in southeast Louisiana,” Arceneaux said. “There’s a lot of things to sort out, and I’ll do that once I’m there. My experience of being a registrar has provided me a unique experience of working with students and faculty and staff and administration.”

Shortly after moving to Washington, Arceneaux realized there’s no place like south Louisiana.

“We realized how much we missed this home and how special family is and how special Louisiana was and how much south Louisiana was a part of our lives, so I started looking for things,” Arceneaux explained. “When this position came up it kid of checked all the boxes you could say where I saw my career going, being south Louisiana, it’s the type of school I envisioned myself at.”

Arceneaux begins at Nicholls Nov. 3.