NEW ORLEANS — Outgoing Southern University System President Dennis Shields said Friday that he is stepping down after discovering that the school's board was looking to make a change at the top after nearly four years.

Shields said that over recent weeks the Board of Supervisors had indicated a desire to move on. After a standing ovation from the board, he thanked its members for their support since he arrived in Baton Rouge in 2022.

"I didn’t get here by myself," Shields said. "I got here because people who had no vested interest in my succeeding had seen something more and helped me along the path."

The board had planned to name an interim replacement Friday but an agenda item wasn't prepared with sufficient time. It plans to select someone at its Dec. 19 meeting. Shields will take a

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