TUPELO Miss.
University of Mississippi Chancellor Robert Khayat said he hopes to use the remaining three years of his contract to help find and orient a successor.
“Unlike the private world, universities typically don’t have a plan of succession, and that’s probably a very bad thing,” Khayat said Monday in a meeting with the editorial board of the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.
Khayat said that his 1995 succession of Gerald Turner went smoothly because he’d been at Ole Miss for nearly 40 years in every position from student-athlete to law professor.
“You probably ought to have a provost or executive vice president or vice chancellor who’s going to be chancellor and who knows the culture and who can hit the ground running,” said Khayat, 69.
Ole Miss Provost Carolyn Staton, a longtime law professor who has held the post since 1999, announced plans to retire at the end of this academic year.
“That’s going to be a major-league hit for us,” Khayat said.
