SHREVEPORT – Larry Clark may not have the official title of LSUS Chancellor after his retirement on June 30, but the LSU Board of Supervisors made sure he’ll be forever connected to the university he’s piloted for the last nine years.
Clark was named Chancellor Emeritus in a resolution issued by the board.
He supercharged LSUS’s efforts to become a national leader in online graduate education, which allowed the university to generate much needed revenue to overcome budget woes in 2014.
The school’s enrollment more than doubled to 8,700 students during his nine years, which included numerous on-campus renovations that positions the university for continued growth.
The LSU board honor is the latest in a string of recognitions, which includes from the Louisiana Senate and the City of Shreveport.
The full text of the LSU Board of Supervisors resolution is below:
WHEREAS, Chancellor Larry Clark served as Dean of LSU-Shreveport’s School of Business from 1985-1994; and
WHEREAS, he was one of only four to serve on LSUS’s first formal faculty leadership body; and
Whereas, in 2014, he returned to serve as Chancellor and upon return, used his business acumen and experience gained from leading business schools at Sonoma State University and the University of North Carolina Wilmington to deploy an aggressive, state-of-the-art online recruiting and enrollment strategy; and
WHEREAS, the strategic move to focus on online degrees doubled enrollment and changed the financial fate of the university, now celebrating a budget almost triple that of 2014; and
Whereas, Dr. Clark has never allowed silos to stand in the way of bettering the university, and with a vision for the future, cut across campus to create many important and distinguishing units, including but not limited to IdeaSpace, the Cyber Collaboratory, the Pilot Education Center, the Human Performance Lab and the LSUS Veterans Resource Center.
WHEREAS, he worked diligently and across campus boundaries to develop an MOU guaranteeing LSUS students guaranteed interviews at LSU Health Shreveport; and
WHEREAS, through tireless efforts and deep partnerships across the LSU family, Dr. Clark secured the purchase of Pilots Pointe Apartments and the acquisition of the Spring Street Historical Museum; and
WHEREAS, in 2023, he was awarded the 2023 Greater Shreveport Chamber of Commerce Business Person of the Year award; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Clark treasured his role within the community, serving on the boards of esteemed local organizations such as Step Forward, the Noel Foundation, the Strategic Action Council, the Greater Shreveport Chamber of Commerce, United Way, Committee of 100, Rotary Club, and the Military Affairs Council, among others;
WHEREAS, Chancellor Clark has worked tirelessly to embed LSUS within the fabric of not just the Shreveport-Bossier region but within the LSU family as a whole; and
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the LSU Board of Supervisors recognizes the singular work of Dr. Larry Clark with the title of LSU Shreveport Chancellor Emeritus.
