Pierre to take over as Southern University’s chancellor; plans to expand educational programs [Video]

BATON ROUGE — Change is coming to Southern University’s leadership. John K. Pierre will no longer be chancellor of the law center. Starting July 1, Pierre will serve as chancellor of the university’s entire campus.

This is the first time since 2015 that the role of president-chancellor will be separate.

Pierre said he hopes to expand numerous programs, specifically in the realms of agriculture and STEM.

Incoming freshmen will receive a scholarship from the United States Department of Agriculture if they are majoring in agricultural science, Pierre said.

He also said the university will partner with IBM to provide cybersecurity courses to freshmen.

“We’ve got to give students more experiential learning opportunities. That means we have to get them out to get real-world experiences, and if we can continue to do that we will draw those students that we know will be transformational leaders,” Pierre said when he spoke to …