NSU to name new president on Sept. 10

Nicholls State University’s next president will come from outside the university.

Mirta M. Martin, dean and professor of management at Virginia State University, and Bruce T. Murphy, vice president for academic affairs at Air University, were tabbed as finalists by the presidential search committee.

The University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors will interview Martin and Murphy back-to-back beginning at 9 a.m., Tuesday, Sept. 10 in Baton Rouge. Nicholls’ next president will be announced that day after the board’s deliberation.

“This was a very difficult deliberation process. There were six amazing candidates and each brought something special to the forefront,” said UL System President Sandra Woodley, also the chair of the search committee.

Martin holds a bachelor’s degree from Duke University, a master’s in business administration from the University of Richmond and a doctorate in strategic management and leadership from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Prior to her current post, Martin was special assistant to the chancellor of the Virginia College System and executive vice president and executive director of the Foundation for John Tyler Community College. She boasts experience in enrollment management, management consulting and banking, financial knowledge that she stressed in a time when Nicholls faces annual budgeting challenges.

“I am very comfortable in the classroom as well as the board room,” Martin said during an interview with the committee. “I don’t consider myself a workaholic, but I work a 100-hour week. I de-stress by walking the halls and talking with students.”

Nicholls has never had a female president.

Murphy has served in his current capacity for eight years. He was the founding dean of the school of business at Pittsburgh’s Point Park University and founding director of the graduate program in organizational leadership and chair of the Walker School of Business at Mercyhurst College in Pennsylvania.

He received a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of California at Berkeley, masters’ in business administration and systems management from the University of Southern California, a master’s in arts from Teachers College at Columbia University and a doctorate in education from Vanderbilt University.

Murphy, with 21 years of military service, has taught military science at Vanderbilt and leadership at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

“Anyone that calls itself a university has to provide a universe of opportunities,” said Murphy, who added that he would emphasize campus involvement. “My first priority is student opportunity and success, and that comes in many forms. The more successful students are the ones involved in activities.”

Stephen Hulbert, Nicholls’ president for 10 years, retired this summer. Hulbert, too, was an external hire. Larry Howell, the university’s executive vice president, has been the interim president but did not apply for the full-time job.

The search committee received a list of 17 candidates in mid-August from the search firm R. H. Perry and Associates. In total, the firm received 46 complete applications for the position. The committee named its six semifinalists on Aug. 19 and held on-campus interviews last week before naming its finalists.

The board of supervisors makes the ultimate choice on Tuesday. The special meeting will be held at the Claiborne Conference Center, 1201 N. Third St. It will also be webcasted live.