University of Louisiana at Lafayette President Joseph Savoie will retire at the end of the week.

Savoie’s retirement was announced Wednesday by University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors Chairman Mark Romero at a special board meeting. Its members voted unanimously to name Savoie ULL’s president emeritus.

Savoie has served as president since 2008 and oversaw the university’s transformation into a major research institution. In 2022, ULL received the prestigious R1 status in the Carnegie Classifications of Institutions, meaning it has very high levels of research activity. The other R1 universities in Louisiana are LSU and Tulane.

ULL Provost Jaimie Hebert will serve as interim president while a search is conducted. No timeline to choose Savoie’s replacement has been announced.

“I reached the decision to transition to this new position after months of careful consideration,” Savoie said in a news release. “Higher education has changed immensely in the past two decades. The expectations on colleges and universities are as great as they have ever been and meeting those responsibilities to our community today – and to generations that follow – requires new ideas and fresh approaches.”

Savoie’s decision to retire early — his employment agreement was slated to expire June 30, 2026 — came after an unfavorable state audit earlier this year that found repeat findings from the previous year, which earned Savoie sharp questions from the board in April.

Romero said Savoie was not asked to step down due to the audit.

Savoie will stay on at the university as president emeritus. In an interview after the board meeting Wednesday, Savoie said he intends to take an active role in the administration over the next year, primarily working on external relations, before returning to his faculty position in education.

Before becoming president of ULL, Savoie was the state’s commissioner of higher education, a role in which he oversaw all of the state’s university and college systems.

Romero said the board has not yet decided on a search timeline for Savoie’s replacement, but one would likely be announced at its August meeting.

The UL System board also announced that University of New Orleans chief financial officer Edwin Litolff will assume the same position at ULL. Before moving to UNO to aid in their financial crisis, Litolff held the same position at Grambling State University.

Savoie’s departure means Louisiana’s two largest universities – ULL and LSU – are without permanent presidents. Former LSU President William Tate announced his departure in May. Matt Lee, vice president for agriculture and dean of LSU’s College of Agriculture, is currently serving as interim president.