Dr. E. Joseph Savoie, president of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, joins Discover Lafayette to share his life story and dedication to improving our state’s educational climate.

Dr. Savoie has served as president of UL-Lafayette since 2008. Before serving at UL, Dr. Savoie served as Louisiana’s commissioner of higher education for 12 years.

He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education from UL Lafayette, and thereafter earned a doctor of education degree in educational leadership and administration from Columbia University’s Teachers College in New York City.

He has served in leadership positions for Louisiana governors Mike Foster, Kathleen Blanco, Bobby Jindal and John Bel Edwards.

Under Dr. Savoie’s leadership, the university has made incredible strides, significantly of note in 2021 when it achieved its designation as a Carnegie R1 university. This is the highest designation bestowed by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, The Carnegie Classification’s 2021 update includes nearly 3,900 institutions. Only 137 of them, or 3%, attained R1 status. Colleges and universities are reviewed after three years to maintain this prestigious ranking.

This is a heartwarming interview of Dr. Savoie as he shares growing up in Sulphur, LA, meeting his late wife, Gail, while still in high school, and his memories of his own college days at USL.

We thank Dr. Savoie for taking the time to visit and for his service to our community. UL-Lafayette is a bedrock of our community, having been founded in 1898, and is our best asset for culturing upcoming leaders who can stay in Lafayette and build their own success stories.