GRAMBLING, La. – The Grambling State University Presidential Search Committee has narrowed the search for Grambling’s top post down to two.

The next president of Grambling will be either Gilbert Rochon, who serves on the President’s Council at the University of New Orleans and was the former president of Tuskegee University, or Willie Larkin, chief of staff for the Office of the President at Morgan State University.

The University of Louisiana System Board will hold a public meeting at 11 a.m. in the Betty Smith Nursing Building Auditorium where they will conduct final interviews with Rochon and Larkin. The board is expected to announce the new president around noon today. The meeting will be broadcast live at https://www.youtube.com/user/GramblingStateUniv.

Rochon has a bachelor’s degree in English from Xavier University, a master’s degree of public health in health services administration from Yale University and a doctoral degree in urban and regional planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Rochon has a long career in higher education. He served as president of Tuskegee University from 2010-2013, where he increased enrollment from 2,800 to 3,100. He has worked as a lecturer at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, as associate professor in the Urban Studies and Public Policy Institute at Dillard University, an adjunct associate professor in environmental health sciences at the Indiana University School of Medicine and an adjunct professor in natural resources and environmental management at Mae Fah Luang University in Thailand.

Rochon has also served in a number of positions at Purdue University, including associate vice president for Collaborative Research and Engagement, director of Pursue Terrestrial Observatory, a senior scientist with the Rosen Center for Advanced Computing and project director for a peace grant project with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Larkin received his bachelor’s degree in agricultural education from Tuskegee University in 1973 and his master’s degree in extension education from Tuskegee University in 1974. He completed his doctoral studies in agricultural education/extension at Ohio State University in 1980.

Larkin has served as chief of staff to leaders of Morgan State University and the University of Wisconsin Colleges, where he worked directly with the chancellor, and the president at Morgan State University, to provide oversight of nearly 3,000 employees and an operating budget of more than $300 million.

He also served as the faculty advisor to the Auburn University Board of Trustees and chaired a 90-member University Senate at Auburn University. Prior to that, Larkin spent more than 20 years working as a leadership and organizational development specialist at the Alabama Cooperative Extension System.

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