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July 22, 2014
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July 22, 2014
Just months after steering Nicholls State University through a change in leadership, veteran administrator Larry Howell, the school’s executive vice president, has retired.
Howell’s last day was Friday (July 18), two days after the university issued a public announcement. He said his decision to retire was made easy after he discovered the retirement benefits he’s scheduled to receive from the state’s teacher system would have declined had he worked another year.
“I didn’t see any reason to keep working and have my retirement go down,” Howell said, noting dryly he had been considering retirement since the first day he worked. “It was kind of a no-brainer after I found that out. I still love the place, but everybody can be replaced, and I’ll just move on.”
Beginning last August, Howell served four-plus months as the university’s interim president, bridging the gap between Dr. Stephen Hulbert and current President Dr. Bruce Murphy. Over his roughly 39-year tenure at Nicholls, Howell worked under four of the university’s five presidents and served in several administrative capacities.
Murphy has known of Howell’s retirement plans for about a month, he said.
“Forty years is a long, long time,” the president said. “We were talking about the future, and he decided it was time to step down.”
Nicholls will likely advertise the vacancy nationally, though a job description and list of desired qualifications have not yet been put to paper, the president said.
Murphy envisions the future of the roughly 2-year-old executive vice presidency to resemble a “chief of staff,” where the primary role is to act as an “integrator of senior staff … to make sure we’re going in the same direction.”
“We’re going to do a little reshuffling,” Murphy said. “I’m very sensitive to cost. I’m very sensitive to overhead.”
The search will not be limited to educational administrators, Murphy stressed, adding that senior-level coordinators from business and government would also be considered.
Although Howell served as Hulbert’s right-hand man, he did not apply to become the school’s fifth president. His wide-ranging administrative experience, however, made Howell “a natural choice” to lead the university during the transition, Murphy said.
“I admire that tremendously,” Murphy said of his taking what he described as a “thankless job.” Howell was “a driving force here at Nicholls for many years,” he added.
Howell became the university’s first executive vice president when Nicholls consolidated two VP positions at the end of 2011. He has managed Nicholls’ financial and technological sectors, government relations, institutional-sponsored research and planning.
The outgoing administrator played a key role in Nicholls’ financial planning and in dialogue with state officials over a period in which state universities were stricken with budget cuts on a yearly basis. Nicholls cut positions and programs and its enrollment dipped as admission standards were tightened during the tumultuous period that saw state support to the university cut in half, by $17.9 million, over four years.
“Budget,” Howell said when asked the top challenge facing his replacement. “If the budget was good, then you wouldn’t have facilities issues or staffing issues. That’s going to be the biggest issue. The last several years have been really demanding on everyone here, but most of us have kept our nose to the ground and worked together, almost worked like family for the most part, and got through it.”
Howell said he would not make a recommendation as to who should replace him.
Howell will seek re-election in November to the Assumption Parish School Board, on which he has held a seat since 1981, he said.
A Paris, Ill., native, Howell achieved a bachelor’s degree from Nicholls in computer science, with minors in mathematics and business, in 1972. He later received a master’s degree in applied mathematics from the University of Clemson.
He taught one year at McNeese State University before returning to Nicholls to teach computer science, giving him 40 years total in the University of Louisiana System. He went on to act as Nicholls’ director of institutional research, assistant vice president for academic affairs, interim vice president for academic affairs and associate provost.
“One of the biggest things that has happened is the change in the facilities of this campus,” Howell said. “The look of the campus has improved so much. With the advent of admission standards, the quality of the students has greatly increased. Our graduation rates are going up, and we’re headed in the right direction. I like to think I had a hand in moving that in some direction, and that’s a source of pride. Nicholls has greatly improved its stature, not only in this region but in the state. I’m proud of that.”
The Napoleonville resident was a member of the governor’s task force for technology in K-12 schools for nine years under Gov. Mike Foster.
Howell will maintain his memberships with the Thibodaux Rotary Club, the Assumption, Thibodaux and Houma-Terrebonne chambers of commerce and the South Central Industrial Association, he said.
He lives with his wife, Tina, and they have two children and six grandchildren, three living in Pierre Part and three in Thibodaux.
Aside from spending time with his family, Howell plans to travel around the country. He will also stay involved with the Nicholls community, he said.
“My fears are, ‘What am I going to really do what all of my time?’” Howell said. “Everybody that I know that has retired wonders how they did it all when they were working. They just seem to fill it. I do have that in the back of my mind, an apprehension, but I’m very joyful that I’ve had a good career.
“I’m almost tongue-tied with it because it has been my life for a long, long time, and when you make that major change, it’s a little frightening. But I know an awful lot of people who have done it, and almost everyone loves it. So I’m sure I’m going to be fine.”
