Oklahoma State University has big shoes and maybe a bright orange tie to fill in the president’s office.
The search began in February after former OSU President David Schmidly announced that he was accepting the chief position at the University of New Mexico. Schmidly, who came to Oklahoma State University in 2002, cited UNM’s status as a premiere research institution and personal ties to the state as reasons for leaving.
The Oklahoma State University A&M Board of Regents, which is responsible for finding Schmidly’s replacement, created a 33-member committee to find a new president, said Brent Gooden, a board spokesman.
The committee is composed of faculty, staff, administration, students, City of Stillwater, OSU Foundation, Cowboy Athletics, each of the branch campuses, OSU-Tulsa Trustees, regents and alumni who are leaders in business, agriculture and government.
“The Regents see the presidential search at OSU as an opportunity to assess where we are at OSU and consider what we must do to make sure we pave the way for even greater success in the future in carrying out our distinctive academic, research and extension mission as a land-grant university,” Gooden said.
The board is still accepting nominations and applications, he said. Advertisements seeking nominations and applications of potential candidates for consideration have run in national and state publications during the past six weeks, he added.
“We want to make sure we have a quality pool of candidates for the search committee to consider and that the process proceeds as smooth as possible,” Gooden said.
The board set up a Web site, http://osu.okstate.edu/presidentialsearch/, to keep students, faculty, administration and staff updated.
Gooden said the regents would like to name a new president before the end of the year, but there is no specific timeline in place.
He added that “it is paramount to the regents that the process be inclusive, deliberate and comprehensive in order to produce the best qualified person who can build upon the existing foundation of success.”
Until a new president is named, Provost Marlene Strathe is in charge.
“The OSU presidential search is running smoothly in some measure because of the excellent job Interim OSU President Dr. Marlene Strathe continues to do during this transitional period,” Gooden said. “Dr. Strathe is doing an outstanding job, and I know the regents deeply appreciate her dedication and leadership. She has made sure OSU continues forward in a viable and strong way.
“In other words, we haven’t missed a beat.”
An Oklahoma A&M Board of Regents member resigned July 2 to pursue the OSU presidency.
Regent Burns Hargis tendered his resignation in letters to Gov. Brad Henry and Lou Watkins, a chairman of the regents.
Hargis said he wanted to explore the possibility of the OSU presidency in his letter of resignation to Watkins.
“I simply believe it would be inappropriate for me to even consider the OSU presidential position while serving as a regent,” Hargis said.
Strathe said in a statement that Hargis contributed “important guidance” while serving as a regent.
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The O’Colly certainly is not ruling out the possibility of the new president being a woman. Most of the editors at the paper, including me, are women. But we liked the very visual orange tie.