Victor O. Ukpolo (born 1950 in Lagos, Nigeria) is the former Chancellor [1] of Southern University at New Orleans. [2]
Ukpolo is most known for his efforts in restoring SUNO to operation after Hurricane Katrina, specifically his role in obtaining funds for SUNO's recovery, including $44 million for student housing, $32 million for classroom buildings, and various grants for other academic purposes. [3] In 2012 the Carnegie Corporation selected Ukpolo as one of 45 naturalized citizens of the United States for Carnegie's Americans by Choice award. [4] )
Ukpolo came to the United States at age 23 as a student at the University of Maryland at College Park from which he received his bachelor's degree. To finance his education, he worked in a restaurant washing dishes and drove taxicabs in the District of Columbia. He received his master's degree and Ph.D. from American University in the nation's capital. From there he steadily climbed through various assignments and challenges to the chancellorship at SUNO. He is thought to be the first native-born Nigerian to head a university in the United States. [5]
Ukpolo's academic-administrative posts before becoming SUNO's seventh chancellor were in California and Tennessee. An economist, [6] Ukpolo serves on the American Association of State Colleges and Universities’ Committee on Economic and Workforce Development. [7]
At SUNO, Ukpolo has demonstrated a knack for working with various types of people, his name being frequently in the news in the Greater New Orleans Area because of his efforts to remedy the damage to SUNO's campus by Hurricane Katrina. [8] His efforts to rebuild included his leading a group of prominent local, state, and federal officials on a tour of the campus. [9] The Times-Picayune, in an editorial on 2009 March 19, praised Ukpolo and U.S. Representative Joseph Cao in their efforts to secure funding for restoration of SUNO's campus. [10] Ukpolo also sought to protect the jobs of up to 50 employees who would be laid off if SUNO had to accommodate a $3 million reduction in state appropriation amid the economic downturn in 2009. [11] Amid tough decisions Ukpolo can be counted on to do "the right thing for SUNO" according to Tony Clayton, chair of the Board of Supervisors for the Southern University System. [12]
As newly instituted standards for admission of students raised the expectations on new students, in 2011 SUNO successfully resisted efforts to merge with the nearby University of New Orleans. Early in 2012 Ukpolo continued to seek restoration of 13 remaining buildings rendered unusable by Katrina. He embarked on plans to recruit more students on an international basis. [13]
Ukpolo is married to Dr Fawn Teresa Ukpolo (born 1963), who served as director of the Laboratory School at Southeastern Louisiana University from 2006 to 2013 before becoming director of the doctoral program in executive leadership at Our Lady of the Lake College in Baton Rouge. [14] The couple has three children. [15]
Xavier University of Louisiana is a private, historically black (HBCU), Catholic university in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the only Catholic HBCU and, upon the canonization of Katharine Drexel in 2000, became the first Catholic university founded by a saint.
Clarence Raymond Joseph Nagin Jr. is an American former politician who was the 60th Mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana, from 2002 to 2010. A Democrat, Nagin became internationally known in 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate is an American newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana. Ancestral publications of other names date back to January 25, 1837. The current publication is the result of the 2019 acquisition of The Times-Picayune by the New Orleans edition of The Advocate in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
John Leigh "Jay" Dardenne, Jr. is an American lawyer and politician from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who served as commissioner of administration for Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards. A Republican, Dardenne previously served as the 53rd lieutenant governor of his state from 2010 to 2016. Running as a Republican, he won a special election for lieutenant governor held in conjunction with the regular November 2, 2010 general election. At the time, Dardenne was Louisiana secretary of state. Formerly, Dardenne was a member of the Louisiana State Senate for the Baton Rouge suburbs, a position he filled from 1992 until his election as secretary of state on September 30, 2006.
The Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB) governs the public school system that serves New Orleans, Louisiana. It includes the entirety of Orleans Parish, coterminous with New Orleans.
Ivor van Heerden is a South African-born American scientist, recognized for his work in the marine sciences and his significant contributions in the field of hurricane research. He was the deputy director of the Louisiana State University (LSU) Hurricane Center; however his tenure at LSU ended in 2010, when he was dismissed by the university under controversial circumstances following his criticism of the handling of Hurricane Katrina.
Southern University at New Orleans is a public historically black university in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is a member of the Southern University System and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.
Renée Gill Pratt is an American politician from New Orleans, Louisiana. She was also Director of the Center for Student Retention and Success in Southern University at New Orleans. On July 25, 2011, she was found guilty of racketeering. For this crime, she served a 4-year sentence.
Micheal Randolph Moffett, known as Randy Moffett, is a former president of the University of Louisiana System. He was appointed to the position on July 25, 2008. He retired on the last day of 2012 and was succeeded on the first day of 2013 by Sandra Woodley.
Ánh Quang "Joseph" Cao is a Vietnamese–American politician who was the U.S. representative for Louisiana's 2nd congressional district from 2009 to 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he is the first Vietnamese American and first native of Vietnam to serve in Congress.
Gerhard Maria Wagner is an Austrian Roman Catholic priest. He was appointed auxiliary bishop of Linz by Pope Benedict XVI on 31 January 2009, but amidst controversy over his views that sin caused Hurricane Katrina, Wagner turned the post down on 15 February 2009.
Stacy Aline Singleton Head is an American lawyer and former president of the New Orleans City Council.
Edward James Blakely, for most his career, was a professor of Urban Planning at the University of California at Berkeley. In 1994, he retired as a leading scholar in the field with award-winning books. He is known primarily for having been executive director of Recovery Management for the City of New Orleans.
Scott S. Cowen is president emeritus of Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he was also Seymour S. Goodman Memorial Professor in the A.B. Freeman School of Business and professor of economics in Tulane's School of Liberal Arts. He was interim president of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio from 2020 to 2021, and currently serves as Distinguished Presidential Visiting Professor of Leadership and Management at CWRU. He has written more than a hundred peer-reviewed journal articles and five books. His most recent book, Winnebagos on Wednesdays: How Visionary Leadership Can Transform Higher Education, was published by Princeton University Press in 2018. Cowen is the eponym of Tulane's Cowen Institute and chairs its board of advisors. Cowen served as Tulane's 14th president from July 1998 through June 2014.
Mose Oliver Jefferson was a member of the New Orleans family that includes his younger brother, former U.S. Representative William J. Jefferson. On 21 August 2009, Mose Jefferson was convicted on four felony counts of bribery.
Ted M. Jackson is an American photojournalist, writer and public speaker who has spent over three decades exploring the human condition while covering news, sports and features for the Times-Picayune in New Orleans, Louisiana. He contributes to the newspaper’s extensive gallery of photographs of the Greater New Orleans Area.
Marion Abramson Senior High was a high school in the New Orleans East area of New Orleans, United States. The former Abramson campus is adjacent to Greater St. Stephen Baptist Church. The school was operated by New Orleans Public Schools.
L. B. Landry College and Career Preparatory High School is a high school on the west bank of Orleans Parish in Algiers, New Orleans, Louisiana.
LaToya Cantrell is an American politician serving as the Mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana since May 7, 2018. A Democrat, Cantrell is the first woman to hold the office. Before becoming mayor, Cantrell represented District B on the New Orleans City Council from 2012 to 2018.