The University of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ at Lafayette has named an interim provost and a dean of University College.
Dr. David Danahar is interim provost and vice president of Academic Affairs; Dr. Bobbie DeCuir is dean of University College.
The Board of Supervisors of the University of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ System approved their appointments retroactively earlier this month.
Danahar is filling the seat left vacant by Dr. Jim Henderson, who became vice president for Academic and Student Affairs for the University of Wisconsin System in March. A search for a permanent provost is underway.
Danahar has held high-level administrative posts at several universities.
From August 2014 to June 2016, he was interim dean of Arts and Sciences and senior adviser to the president at St. Bonaventure University in St. Bonaventure, N.Y. He served as interim provost of Valdosta State University in Georgia from August 2013 to June 2014 and president of Southwest Minnesota State University from 2001 to 2011.
Danahar was provost and vice president for Academic Affairs at Loyola University in New Orleans from 1992 to 2001. There, he was responsible for the overall administration of the university, with special emphasis on planning, budgeting, evaluation, sponsored research, and faculty recruitment and development. He was also a professor of history at Loyola during his tenure as president.
Danahar taught at several other universities. He was a visiting lecturer at the Institute of Contemporary History at the University of Parma in Parma, Italy.
Since 2012, DeCuir has been interim dean of University College, which was known as the College of General Studies until August 2014. She continued to serve as associate director of campus Trio Programs, which are federal efforts to identify and support students from first-generation or low-income backgrounds.
From 2008-11, DeCuir was director of the Poverty and Families division of the UL Lafayette Picard Center for Child Development and Lifelong Learning. In that role, she worked with state and local agencies to ensure the well-being of children and families living in poverty through technical assistance, research and public policy discussions. DeCuir collected and analyzed data about school and school district performances to inform policy and promote student advocacy. Also, she collaborated with other universities on several projects.
Over the past 25 years, she has obtained grants totaling more than $172 million to help fund the Trio programs and the Louis Stokes ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Alliance for Minority Participation program at UL Lafayette. LS-LAMP is a statewide program intended to substantially increase the number and academic quality of minority students enrolling in and completing baccalaureate degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and then pursuing graduate studies in STEM disciplines.