University announces new personnel, promotions

Published

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette recently hired four key administrative personnel and promoted two others.

Dean Domingue is director of the Office of Innovation Management. A registered patent attorney, he helps guide the transition of academic discoveries into the marketplace. Domingue has over 25 years of experience in intellectual property law. He was formerly special counsel in the Business and Commercial Litigation Practice Group of Jones Walker in Lafayette. He was founding chair of the Louisiana State Bar Association’s Intellectual Property Section and was president of the Lafayette Bar Association in 2000.Domingue helped the University protect its unique nickname, the Ragin’ Cajuns by registering it with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 1996.

Director of Purchasing Marie Frank is in charge of setting the vision and strategy for procurement and sourcing for the university to achieve the highest value at the lowest cost while complying with state policies, procedures, regulations and laws. A certified professional public buyer, she has over 20 years of experience in higher education procurement and over 10 years in state government contracting. Frank was executive director for Procurement and Property Management at Louisiana State University and statewide assistant grants/contracts administrator for Louisiana’s Division of Administration.

As director of commercial real estate, Gray Bekurs focuses on the development and management of some University property. He’s also responsible for oversight of the business operations of student housing, parking and transportation, the Student Union, conference and event services, and dining services. The position is in the Office of Auxiliary Services. Bekurs has almost 20 years of experience managing auxiliary units on college campuses. He was previously vice president of operations for Capstone On-Campus Management, where he handled fiscal and operational facets of 22 on-campus student housing and commercial properties throughout the nation.

Alise Hagan is director of the University’s new Office of Institutional Assessment, which is part of the Academic Affairs division. She is in charge of data collection, analysis and interpretation for certain University projects. And, she will help respond to state, federal and other externally mandated reporting requirements, and to accrediting agencies. Hagan was previously the University’s first instructional designer in the Office of Distance Learning. In that post, she helped faculty members prepare online courses, managed training and certification options for faculty who teach online, and managed course review and certification.

Also, Dr. Fabrice Leroy has been named assistant vice president for Academic Affairs, Academic Programs. He served as interim assistant vice president for the past six months and is former associate dean of UL Lafayette’s College of Liberal Arts.

Andy Benoit, director of Admissions and Recruitment for the past three years, is now assistant vice president for Enrollment Management.