Nicholls names Barrilleaux VP of academic affairs

Allayne “Laynie” Barrilleaux has been tabbed as Nicholls State University’s choice for vice president of academic affairs. Barrilleaux has held the position in an interim role since last year, when she was appointed after the retirement of Carroll Falcon.

The appointment needs confirmation from the University of Louisiana System. Nicholls President Stephen Hulbert will submit the recommendation before the board of supervisors at its next meeting on Oct. 28.

“While the campus had the opportunity to consider four talented finalists, from this president’s perspective, Laynie brings the greater balance of professional experience, understanding of the complex and challenging accountability agenda of government, and enthusiasm for the hard work that lies ahead for Nicholls,” Hulbert said.

Barrilleaux has 30 years of experience in higher education and served as assistant vice president of academic affairs from 2005 until Falcon retired.

The university’s former liaison to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, an accreditation organization, Barrilleaux said it was her work in the background with SACS, discovering more about the processes of financing, planning and operations, that prepared her for the executive post.

“Although academics has always been my love and I feel like I am very strong academically, and academics is the dog, so to speak, the tail is very important,” Barrilleaux said. “Everything that comes along with academics is important, and if the academic VP doesn’t see how it all fits together, I think the university won’t be as rich.”

Barrilleaux said she plans to hit the ground running and will immediately begin the search to make permanent appointments for the university’s two dean positions currently occupied on an interim basis.

She also said she would work to create a “niche” master’s program for English so the university would breed instructors who are qualified to teach the growing-in-popularity high school early starter program.

Perhaps her most noteworthy immediate goal, however, is determining whether or not the university could sustain a master’s level program for graduates of nursing.

“We’ve had a nursing program now that has graduated quite a bit of students,” Barrilleaux said. “Once you put that many undergraduates out there, the area becomes thirsty for more.”

In January, Barrilleaux told the Tri-Parish Times that becoming vice president of academic affairs has always been a goal of hers, but she hadn’t ruled out the greater ambition of serving as a university president.

On Monday, she said she feels like the permanent post in academic affairs could give her a “clear direction in what I want to do,” and that she still hasn’t given up on the hope of running a school, whether it is Nicholls or another university.

“I think it would depend on what the university needs at the time, whether it needs a real strong change agent to come in and shake things up and change things around, or if it’s ready for growth in the areas that we’re in and maybe growing not so much the programs but the quality, and our relationship with the community,” Barrilleaux said. “I think I’m very strong with that through my connections to the region.

“I don’t rule anything out, but I also don’t count my chickens before they hatch.”

Barrilleaux has published numerous journal articles, ranging from topics of human resources, management and ethics. “My most recent presentation was on what to expect when the SACS team comes to visit,” Barrilleaux said. “{My writing is} a little bit all over. It has spanned 25 years.”

The interim vice president of academic affairs has also written several successful grants, including the first collaborative grant within the college of business at Nicholls. “Through this grant, we developed a behavioral classroom, where the atmosphere of the classroom could be changed to mimic whatever setting you were trying to portray,” Barrilleaux said. “For example, you could move a desk and chairs around to have a boardroom meeting, or a training session or group discussions, and it’s really kind of neat. That really launched the beginning of the writings of many more collaborative grants in the college of business, so I’m really proud of that one.”

A Houma native and graduate of Vandebilt Catholic High School, Barrilleaux received a bachelor’s degree in education and doctoral degree in management from LSU. She received a master’s degree in business from Nicholls.

Barrilleaux was a professor of management for 24 years, and is a distinguished service professor of management.

Her civic involvement includes serving on the board for the regional Council for a Better Louisiana, Thibodaux Chamber of Commerce and United Way for South Louisiana, and is a past president of the Thibodaux Rotary Club.