'Somebody who cared'

Les Guice’s experience at Louisiana Tech University began as a freshman in 1972.

“When I came here I was very shy,” he said. “And then I started connecting with faculty members who gave a lot of their time. There’s a special culture of caring that I reflect back on.”

He said it was that environment of personal engagement that made him realize what was special about the university nestled in the piney hills of north Louisiana.

Over the next four decades, Guice would take on a myriad of roles at Tech — graduate student, student teacher, every level of professor, department head, academic director, college dean, vice president.

Now the lifelong Bulldog is in the final months of a 10-year tenure as university president, after announcing Tuesday that he will retire at the end of 2023.

With a life and career so deeply intertwined with Louisiana Tech, that culture of individual connection that first drew him in has become a hallmark of Guice’s time at the helm. He’s well known for constantly being out among the study body, whether at events or simply walking campus.

That’s not an accident.

“I just know what that means to the students, so I feel like I need to be out and connected, hearing what’s going on with them,” he said. “Letting them know we care about them. I have to get out there every day and get a little bit of that, if I can.”

End of an era

Guice, 68, said his ability and desire to be out in the midst of campus life hasn’t diminished, but after seeing the university through some rough times in recent years, he feels Tech is now in a stable place to undergo a leadership transition.

He said he’s had conversations with University of Louisiana System President Jim Henderson for the past few years about eventually stepping away, but hardships like the 2019 tornado, the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic uncertainty that followed needed to be weathered first.

“I indicated that I’d like to get us through the tornado and COVID and then kind of began to look at other things after that,” Guice said.

Last week, he sent a letter to Henderson requesting a retirement date at the end of 2023.

The selection of a new president will come from the UL System, but Guice said it’s his goal to ensure a smooth transition that would hopefully preclude the need to name an interim leader and allow the next president to hit the ground running.

‘Unparalleled educational experiences’

For the time that he’s still an occupant of Wyly Tower’s 16th floor, Guice’s office displays a picture of him with the late Jack Painter, a former civil engineering professor who Guice said influenced him to pursue education in that field.

It was Painter’s open-door policy and genuine connection with his students that Guice said was foremost in his later making that a priority as a Tech administrator.

But the friendliness and welcoming atmosphere would all be for naught if the university didn’t offer quality education and opportunities for its students along the way, which is why Guice said his tenure has focused on providing and expanding “unparalleled education experiences.”

“That’s the bar for us to step up to,” he said.

He cited the transformation in learning methods in the engineering program as classes did fewer lectures and more hands-on, problems-based and project-based learning.

That’s was the vision that drove the design of the Integrated Engineering and Science Building that opened in late 2019 — one of the biggest projects of Guice’s tenure.

“And as we go through the renovations of George T. Madison and Carson-Taylor Hall, you’ll see those kind of spaces,” he said.

Guice highlighted other projects that have and will elevate the student experience, such as the development and expansion of the Enterprise Campus, with structures like Tech Pointe and the soon-to-open Tech Pointe II that house corporate tenants who allow students to get real-world experience in their fields.

“So you get a young computer science major that comes here, and they go to work with some of the companies doing software development here on campus while they’re taking classes,” he said. “All of a sudden, they’re just so much more mature and really know what they want to do by the time they graduate.”

Becoming an economic driver

Guice’s time at the helm has seen the university move toward more industry partnerships that are aimed as much at boosting the local and regional economy as providing more opportunities for students.

“A lot of our focus has been on not just having Louisiana Tech here as a place to come get an education, but how does Tech drive economic prosperity, jobs and opportunities for people to remain here and work in Louisiana and have a good quality of life,” he said.

That’s accomplished through the Enterprise Campus, but also through the Louisiana Tech Research Institute and Bossier City and the accompanying partnerships with industry and government sponsors like Barksdale Air Force Base.

The upcoming Forestry Products Innovation Center on Tech’s South Campus in Ruston is aimed at having a similar effect in the timber industry.

Weaving Tech into the fabric of how industries are pushed forward in the region is one of the foremost things Guice said he takes pride in from his time as president.

Ever Loyal Be

Even as the personal nature of Louisiana Tech would be insufficient without excellent programs and projects, the opposite would also be true.

When asked to recount any memories that define the years of his presidency at Tech, Guice turned aside from the new buildings and innovative programs and recounted a personal experience that many Ruston and Tech residents remember well.

“The one that strikes me the most was when the tornado came through,” he said. “In the ensuing days, I saw how this campus and community responded to that — students and everybody committing their time and effort. That really said a lot about Louisiana Tech and these people. I think that had a big cultural impact to our campus.”

Over the next few months Guice plans to focus on installing deans and making sure leadership positions are filled for the next president, as well as continuing fundraising efforts for some of Tech’s ongoing capital projects.

But he won’t stop walking the campus and interacting with students anytime soon.

When asked how he hopes he’ll be remembered as president, Guice took a long pause.

“I guess, just somebody that cared.”