From a press release
The University of Louisiana System (ULS) Board of Supervisors announced Tuesday (July 26, 2016) that the 10th president of Grambling State University (GSU) will be Richard J. Gallot, Jr., a former Louisiana state senator and state representative.
The ULS Board met today in Baton Rouge and interviewed both Gallot and Dr. Gilbert Rochon, former president of Tuskegee University.
Gallot is a 1987 GSU graduate where he received a bachelor of arts degree. He earned his juris doctorate from Southern University in 1990. From 2000 to 2012, Gallot held the District 11 seat in the Louisiana House of Representatives. He served three terms in the house before winning his first term in the senate in 2011. Gallot did not seek re-election in the October 2015 election.
Gallot will assume leadership of the historically Black university at a challenging time for public colleges and universities across the state face cuts in state funding that have forced many of them to consider and implement any number of solutions from evaluate and eliminate programs to raising tuition to laying off faculty and staff. These challenges are heightened for state-funded HBCUs, which also often find themselves at the center of a constant debate over their relevance.
After less than a year in the office, GSU’s immediate past president Willie Larkin resigned under pressure last month after a meeting with the ULS Board, prompting the search for a new leader.
Still, Gallot says he is ready for the job.
“My lifelong roots in the Grambling community, combined with my record of serving this university and community as an attorney, city councilman, state representative, and state senator provide the type of leadership needed at this critical time,” he says. “I do believe the core and “brand” of GSU remain strong and with the right leadership, we can achieve the stability and growth that we all know is possible.”
Gallot is married to the former Christy Cox, and is the father of four sons. He is the son of former Grambling mayor, Richard Gallot, Sr., and Dr. Mildred Gallot, a former GSU department head and a former member of the ULS Board of Supervisors.
