News release Public Information Office   SLU 10880   Hammond, LA 70402   phone: 985-549-2341   fax: 985-549-2061 publicinfo@selu.edu Summer  2005 news releases Public Information home News archive Contact: Rene Abadie Date: 8/18/05   Click on image for publication quality photo  MARVIN L. YATES TO BE NAMED SOUTHEASTERN INTERIM VICE PRESIDENT FOR STUDENT AFFAIRS        HAMMOND – Marvin L. Yates, executive vice president of Paine College in Augusta,Ga., and former chancellor of Southern University in Baton Rouge, will assume the duties of vice president for student affairs at Southeastern Louisiana University on an interim basis, pending approval of the University of Louisiana System.         President Randy Moffett said Yates’ interim appointment is part of a university reorganization that will include a refinement of duties to allow the current vice president for student and public affairs, Brad O’Hara, to focus more on marketing and public affairs. O’Hara has served in Southeastern’s administration since 2001, and has also headed university marketing and public relations efforts for the past year.         Moffett said, “Consistent with board policy, we will conduct a national search for the position of vice president for student affairs.”        “Dr. Yates’ more than three decades of teaching, consulting and academic administrative experience makes his interim appointment a plus for Southeastern,” Moffett said. “He has a strong record of accomplishments at various levels in higher education and has proven himself to be a student-focused educator and administrator.”        Yates, a native of Memphis, Tenn., has a doctoral degree from the University of Pittsburgh and master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Southern University. He worked in various capacities at Southern University and with the Southern University System from 1962 to 1997, including serving as a professor in the College of Education, vice chancellor for student affairs, and vice president for student affairs and community services for the system office. Early in his tenure at Southern, he filled several roles designed to enhance student success efforts at the university.        For the past year, he has served as executive vice president at Paine College, where he was responsible for the institution’s daily operations. Previously, as vice president of programs for the United Negro College Fund, he was responsible for two-thirds of the UNCF’s annual budget of approximately $90 million.         While at UNCF, Yates also provided leadership and direction for a $42 million grant for The Lilly Endowment/UNCF Historically Black Colleges and Universities Program, managed a $1.4 million grant for the Ford Service Learning Network and a $2 million grant for the Annenberg/UNCF HBCU School Linkage Program. In addition, Yates was responsible for the Gates Millennium Scholars Program, a $1 billion grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; and the Corporate Scholars Program, a diversity strategy which expands the workforce applicant pool of 22 major corporations throughout the United States. He also presided over 450 other scholarship programs administered through the United Negro College Fund and directed the UNCF’s Fiscal and Strategic Technical Assistance Program, which provides technical assistance to UNCF schools in institutional effectiveness, financial management and financial aid administration.         Yates’ higher education experience also includes serving as interim dean of the School of Education at Jackson State University and vice president for student affairs at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.