TSU President John Rudley to Step Down Following 2015-2016 Academic School Year

[Nelson]

Dr. John Rudley Announces That He Will Step Down as President

Texas Southern University president Dr. John M. Rudley announced during the university’s Winter Commencement ceremony December 4 that he will step down as president at the conclusion of the 2015-2016 academic year.

During his announcement, Rudley thanked former Board Chairman Glenn O. Lewis for providing an opportunity for him to return to TSU in 2008 and for spearheading change and improvement. He also thanked his wife Docia for the support she has given him throughout his life and career as well as the Board of Regents who supported his decision making during contentious times. He plans to address the faculty, students, staff, and community partners in the coming months.

“When I arrived eight years ago, I always felt that I would come in with Obama and go out with him,” Rudley said. “Today, I know that my instincts were correct. I thank you all for your support during my time as president of Texas Southern University.”

In the interim, Rudley will continue to tackle urgent issues affecting the University and push for a few needed changes in preparation for his successor.

“On behalf of the TSU Board of Regents, I thank President Rudley for leading TSU for more than eight years,” said Board Chairman Derrick Mitchell. “He has served the University well.”
Over the coming weeks Chairman Mitchell will appoint a transition team and the University will hire a national search firm to work with Rudley in identifying his replacement.

 

[TXSUDFWTIGER]

I say good riddance.

I should preference this by saying I've met Rudley on several occasions and he's been nothing but kind to me so my critique isn't personal but "business"

Rudley did well but TSU was so low to the ground when he came that everything he did look amazing compared to the previous prezs. I give credit to Rudley and his administration for improving the campus, establishing an engineering school (smarter students will boost our ACT avg), and cleaning up the athletic program. Outside of that, he ain't do much and I'm glad he's gone.

1) Our admission standards are not up to par still. Rudley claimed to have increased the admission standard but always fail to mention how marginally they increased. It's almost as if they were not increased in the first place. So I'm hoping our new president increases it even more because we will never be taken seriously unless we do a better job of recruiting and retaining a higher number of quality students. If I was president, I would require at least 19 on the ACT (SAT equivalent), if not a 3.0 GPA is required ... to me that's all what we need to increase our graduation rates.
2) Our ranking has really gone no where since he's been in office. Rankings are a big deal when it comes to colleges and we are no where to be found in any one of them. At the very least I think we should make the top 10 public HBCUs list by US News & World Report but we're not even listed in the top 20 which is disappointing considering we should be. We haven't won any special noteworthy national awards as a university outside of the Forbes distinction which we're no longer on.
3) The Honors College has shrunk not grown under Rudley. Recruiting top students should be a priority of every president and it's not a good sign when the creme of the crop is dwindling in number. Also they closed membership to continuing students which I don't think is fair, it's only open to first time freshman.

I can go on but needless to say I'm glad he's gone. Rudley to me lack the vision, tenacity, and altitude to get us where we need to go. I realized I was done with Rudley earlier this year when he did this bullshit interview that exposed him as being ill-equipped to bring TSU to national prominence for academics. He kept talking about TSU being a premier "regional school" such as SHSU and Lamar but why stop there, why can't we be better them, why can't we be among nationally recognized schools which is viable considering we have more out of state students than SHSU and Lamar combined so he definitely lacked vision. I look forward to meeting the new president and a brighter future for TSU.