Lawrence (Larry) Clark, dean of the Cameron School of Business at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, is one of four finalists for the chancellor position of Louisiana State University Shreveport, the school announced this week.

Clark has headed the Cameron School since 2000, coming to Wilmington from California’s Sonoma State University, where he was dean of the business school and professor of business law for six years. Previous to that, he spent 13 years at LSU Shreveport, first as a professor of business law and later as dean of the university’s business school.

“I love UNCW and always will,” Clark said in an interview Wednesday. “But this is an opportunity to go back to a university I was quite involved with, to lead the campus in a number of new initiatives.”

Clark’s was one of four names the LSU Shreveport’s search committee submitted to LSU president F. King Alexander, after holding a series of face-to-face interviews with a group of semi-finalists, an announcement from the university stated.

“We are one step closer to naming the next Chancellor of LSU Shreveport, and we are extremely pleased with the quality of candidates that have applied for the position,” Alexander said in the announcement. “I am looking forward to meeting each one of them and finding the right candidate to lead LSUS.” 

All four candidates will meet with Alexander and other campus and community leaders on separate days next week on the LSUS campus, the announcement stated.

Betsy Vogel Boze, president of the College of the Bahamas; Brian McGee, chief of staff and senior vice president for executive administration at the College of Charleston; and Robert Mock, vice president for student affairs at the University of Kentucky are the other finalists, according to the university’s announcement.

Clark said that LSU Shreveport was at a crossroads 18 months ago, narrowly escaping being merged into Louisiana Tech University, about 60 miles east of LSU Shreveport.

“They dodged that bullet and have some pretty exciting plans to take themselves from where they’ve fallen to a very positive future,” Clark said. “It’s a community I know, a school I know, and there are faculty members there that I hired. I think there is a role and opportunity for me.”

The university, a regional campus of LSU located in the northwest corner of the state, was founded in 1967 and has about 4,500 undergraduate and graduate students. The campus offers 25 undergraduate degree programs and 11 master’s degree programs, according to its website.