By Journal Staff

BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana State University Board of Supervisors Tuesday appointed Dr. Wade Rousse as the new President of the LSU System, marking a homecoming for the Louisiana native whose leadership career spans higher education, economics, and strategic growth initiatives.

Rousse, who most recently served as President of McNeese State University, will now oversee the LSU System’s network of campuses and research centers across the state. Under his leadership at McNeese, the university recorded its first overall enrollment increase in more than a decade and achieved full housing occupancy for the first time in 20 years.

A first-generation college graduate, Rousse earned his bachelor’s degree from Nicholls State University, an MBA from the University of New Orleans, and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Illinois at Chicago. His early career included policy research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago before entering university administration.

“It’s an honor to serve my home state and help LSU reach even greater heights,” Rousse said in LSU’s announcement.

The LSU Board also named Dr. James Dalton, formerly Executive Vice President and Provost at the University of Alabama, as the new Executive Vice President of the LSU System and Chancellor of the Baton Rouge campus. Together, Rousse and Dalton are expected to guide LSU through a new phase of academic and economic expansion.