LSU president William Tate resigns, accepts position at Rutgers
05/19/2025
By Matt Moscona
BATON ROUGE, La. — William Tate has resigned as the president of the Louisiana State University System. He has held the position since 2021.
According to multiple reports, he will accept the same position at Rutgers.
Someone on the Rutgers Board of Governors call right before they went to closed session.
“The LSU President is the new Rutgers President.”
Did they mean current LSU President William F. Tate IV or Alabama President Stuart R. Bell, who was previously LSU’s Executive VP and…
— Richie O’Leary (@RivalsRichie) May 19, 2025
William F. Tate is the next Rutgers president. He currently holds the same job at LSU. Should be good news for athletics, one would think.
— Steve Politi (@StevePoliti) May 19, 2025
Matt Lee, the Vice President for Agriculture and Dean of the LSU College of Agriculture, will serve as the interim president.
Tate came to LSU from the University of South Carolina, where he served as Executive Vice President for Academic Affair and Provost. He has previously worked at Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
According to the LSU website, the LSU system has more than 55,000 students, including 12,000 graduate students and 2,000 professional students in the Health Centers. There are 3,000 full-time-equivalent faculty members, including 1,340 tenured or tenure-track. The LSU system has an endowment with a market value larger than $900M, about $350M in annual research expenditures, and more than 200 active licenses.
Tate became the first African American president at LSU when he was appointed by Gov. John Bel Edwards. He was also the first African American president in the Southeastern Conference.
Governor Jeff Landry will appoint a new leader, who will be subject to approval from the LSU Board of Supervisors.
This story will be updated.