Biography
Dr. William L. Jenkins
President Emeritus,
Louisiana State University System
Acting Chancellor, Louisiana State University
Dr. William L. Jenkins assumed duties as Acting Chancellor of Louisiana State University on February 1, 2008. He served as the fourth President of the Louisiana State University System, from which he retired in August 2007.
A veterinary scholar, Dr. Jenkins has held virtually every major administrative position at LSU, including Provost and Chancellor, since coming to the University in 1988.
A native of South Africa, Dr. Jenkins received his veterinary medicine degree from the University of Pretoria in 1958. He practiced veterinary medicine for four years before joining the faculty at the University of Pretoria, advancing through the ranks to become professor and head of the Department of Veterinary Physiology, Pharmacology, and Toxicology. He obtained specialist credentials in 1968, and in 1970 received a Ph.D. from the University of Missouri in Columbia.
Dr. Jenkins became a member of the faculty in the Department of Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology at Texas A&M University in 1978. He was appointed dean of the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine in 1988 and was named Provost in 1993. In 1996, he was named Chancellor by the LSU Board of Supervisors. As chancellor, Dr. Jenkins led the strategic reorganization of the main campus administration to make it more efficient and responsive, efforts that were major factors in the later crafting of LSU’s Flagship Agenda.
In 1999, he was named President of the LSU System, which includes five academic campuses, a law center, state-wide agricultural research and extension services, a leading nutrition research center, two health sciences centers, and ten public hospitals. Jenkins’ tenure as System President was marked by unprecedented growth as well as challenges, including destruction of LSU institutions in New Orleans in the aftermath of hurricanes in the fall of 2005. Although faced with a fiscal crisis and deep budget cuts that disrupted academic programs and forced the furloughs of thousands of LSU employees, Jenkins pressed for calm and reflective responses to the calamities by System and state education officials, actions that led to the rapid reopening of the System’s urban research campus and its health care professional schools in New Orleans.
As a teacher and administrator, Dr. Jenkins has received numerous teaching and public service awards, among them Communicator of the Year awarded by the Public Relations Association of Louisiana, a Distinguished Alumnus given by the University of Missouri, and the regional chapter of Toastmasters International presented with its Communication and Leadership Award.
Other honors include the Vision of Excellence Award 2000 by the New Orleans Regional Chamber of Commerce and the New Orleans Chapter of MetroVision. In addition, his alma mater, the University of Pretoria, bestowed an Honorary Doctorate on Dr. Jenkins in September of 2000. He also was presented with the Volunteer of the Year Award by the Southern Economic Development Conference in 2004.
An active participant in national continuing education efforts, Dr. Jenkins has delivered more than 200 lectures and addresses to diverse groups in both the United States and abroad. The coauthor of a textbook on veterinary pharmacology, he also has taught extensively at both the professional and graduate levels, written more than 60 scientific articles and contributed 15 chapters to various collegiate textbooks.
Dr. Jenkins has been active in numerous professional and civic organizations as well as select national committees. He served on the National Institute of Health's Alcohol Abuse and Misuse on College Campuses Committee and on a special Steering Committee of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools that reviewed accreditation criteria for colleges and universities. Dr. Jenkins was also a member of the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges Committee on Food and Society and is a member of the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Coastal Restoration and Conservation.
In addition, he serves on a number of public boards such as the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, The Nature Conservancy of Louisiana, and Teach for America South Louisiana.
Dr. Jenkins and his wife, Peggy, have four children - Sharon, Gwynn, Anthea, and Warren - and ten grandchildren.
