Daniel Dugan Reneau | |
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President of Louisiana Tech University |
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In office July 1, 1987 – June 30, 2013 |
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Preceded by | F. Jay Taylor |
Succeeded by | Les Guice |
Interim President of the University of Louisiana System |
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Assumed office December 2015 |
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Preceded by | Sandra Woodley |
Personal details | |
Born |
Woodville, Wilkinson County Mississippi, USA |
June 11, 1940
Political party | Democrat |
Spouse(s) | Linda Digby Reneau |
Children | John Reneau Dana Reneau Shaw |
Residence |
Ruston, Lincoln Parish Louisiana |
Alma mater |
Louisiana Tech University (1963, 1964) Clemson University (Ph.D., 1966) |
Profession | University President |
Daniel Dugan Reneau, Jr. (born June 11, 1940) is the former president of Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, Louisiana, a position which he filled from July 1, 1987, until his retirement effective June 30, 2013. He was succeeded by Dr. Les Guice.
A native of Woodville in southwestern Mississippi, Reneau graduated from Louisiana Tech in 1963 with a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering. He earned a master's degree in 1964 from the same institution. He received his Ph.D. in 1966 from Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina. Reneau returned to Louisiana Tech in 1967 to serve as an assistant professor of chemical engineering. He became an associate professor in 1969 and was promoted to full professor in 1973. In 1972, Reneau established the Louisiana Tech biomedical engineering department, only the fifth undergraduate program of its kind, and was named its head. He founded the national biomedical engineering honor society Alpha Eta Mu Beta in 1979.
Reneau's research interests focused upon the application of engineering principles to living systems, the understanding of cerebral palsy, and the use of technology to help people with disabilities. He has published eighty technical papers in books and journals, edited five books, and attended more than one hundred international meetings and conferences.
In 1980, he was promoted to vice president of academic affairs at Louisiana Tech. He had served already for seven years as the university vice-president under President F. Jay Taylor.
On February 20, 1987, Reneau was selected to succeed the retiring Taylor as the 13th president of the institution and assumed the office on July 1 of that year.
In recent years Reneau has struggled with state-mandated cutbacks in higher education:
Louisiana Tech is now a state-assisted university rather than a state-supported university, and that is sad. Not only have we had to do away with programs like the school's dairy and beef herds , but we've had to shift the load to the students in the form of higher fees and tuition.