President's Corner

Original Article: http://www.thenewsstar.com/story/opinion/columnists/2016/08/01/rick-gallot-get-work-gsu/87917282/

Rick Gallot, Guest columnist
12:35 p.m. CDT August 1, 2016

Editor’s note: Rick Gallot was appointed by the University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors as the 10th president of Grambling State University on July 26. Gallot is a graduate of GSU and Southern University’s law school and attended the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Gallot is a former Grambling city council member, state representative and state senator. He lives in Grambling and plans to start as president Monday.

Grambling State University is The Place Where Everybody is Somebody, and I am grateful to GSU for preparing me for a time such as this.

I had offers to attend other universities, including Dartmouth, an Ivy League school. However, knew I wanted to go to law school and fulfill a childhood dream of being a member of the Grambling State University World Famed Tiger Marching Band. GSU was my choice.

As the incoming GSU president, I am humbled and I am grateful to the University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors and Interim ULS President Dan Reneau for the trust they have put in me. I was not thinking about being a politician or a college president when I walked the campus as a student.

A lot has happened since I was a student Tiger. I’ve known – and supported – each GSU president since I met and got to know President Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones as a kid. Jones was our much beloved second president, serving after founder Charles Adams. We all knew him as “Prez,” and he was our president from 1936 until 1977.

Like Prez, I want to be a long-serving Grambling State University Tiger-in-Chief.

First and foremost, Grambling State University is an academic institution. Without a strong academic foundation at GSU, I would not have become as successful as I have been as an attorney or as a legislator. That academic foundation will help me be successful as president.

My lifelong roots in the Grambling community, combined with my record of serving our university and community give me a head start in my new job. As an attorney based in Ruston, a Grambling city councilman, state representative and state senator, I have the community, government and leadership the institution needs at this critical time.

The core GSU brand remains strong. People know and respect Grambling State University, largely because of our football legacy with the internationally famous Eddie G. Robinson and our fabulous marching band. We are not going to run away from something that makes us strong, and better. We will build on that foundation, emphasis our academic strengths and shore up areas where we are weak.

Higher education in Louisiana faces challenges unlike any time in our past. The relationships I’ve built over the past 15 years with the Gov. John Bel Edwards, the legislature, congressional leaders and the corporate sector will serve Grambling State University well.

What might be most in my favor, and to the university’s benefit, is that I know the Grambling community and the community knows me.

My wife, Christy, joined me when I interviewed for the job with the ULS board in Baton Rouge on Tuesday. Like me, Christy is a Grambling State University graduate. Both my parents are Grambling graduates. The four of us are life members of the Grambling University National Alumni Association.

Throughout my years of public service, I have developed a skill set and reputation for being a consensus and coalition builder. I will engage all of our various stakeholders to harness our energy, ideas, love and commitment to our university. Our focus on recruitment, retention and graduation must be unlike any other time in our history. Our students must know that they are our number one priority.

My record of service to our university has been visible. During my years of service in the legislature, capital improvements totaled more than $100 million. The Eddie Robinson Museum, Fred Hobdy Assembly Center, Conrad Hutchinson Performing Arts Center, campus wide student housing replacement, and Tiger Express, the campus food court, are a few of the state budget, capital outlay and third-party financing projects I have been directly or indirectly involved with seeing through to fruition.

I got my academic foundation at Grambling State, and we will strengthen our academic offerings and standing. My school, our school, needs a leader, a smart, savvy, down-to-earth, roll-up-his-sleeves and get-to-work-on-the-first-day leader.

I am that leader, and I’m ready to get to work to make the place Where Everybody is Somebody even better. Let’s get to work.