BOREN HONORED BY OU REGENTS
“I love the state so much. It’s given me everything I’ve ever had,” President David Boren said Thursday after the University of Oklahoma Board of Regents honored him for 50 years of public service to the state.
University of Oklahoma officials, faculty and students honored President David Boren for 50 years of public service Thursday during a meeting of the OU Board of Regents in Oklahoma City.
In front of a crowd of students holding signs of support, the regents approved a resolution honoring Boren as the first person in state history to serve as governor, U.S. senator, OU president and as a member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives.
The resolution listed numerous reforms and programs Boren championed and achieved while serving in those offices.
“Thank you for this expression and I feel so blessed,” Boren told the crowd. “When you’re given an opportunity to give back to the place you love so much — I mean both the university and the state — there’s nothing that could be better in life.
“I love the state so much. It’s given me everything I’ve ever had.”
To the students he said, “I hope you will find causes and institutions — like the University of Oklahoma, like the government and Constitution of this nation — in which you can invest your lives and find such happiness and fulfillment.”
Raife Johnson, a premed major from Stillwater, said he wouldn’t miss the opportunity to honor a man he finds “so inspiring.”
“Honestly, this is a historic moment for the university and for Oklahoma,” Johnson said. “All the things he has done go beyond what someone can say.”
As an elected official, Boren led efforts to pass open meetings laws for public bodies, campaign finance disclosure and reform of competitive bidding procedures. He started the first educational programs for gifted and talented students and co-authored bills to establish the state vocational-technical system and state-funded community colleges.
He was the founding governor of the Oklahoma Arts Institute. He continues to serve as chairman of the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence, which was established under his leadership.
He served 16 years in the U.S. Senate, where he established the largest overseas scholarship program for American students since the Fulbright Program and was the longest-serving chairman of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee.
At OU, Boren has initiated more than 35 new programs and has led the effort to raise $2.5 billion in private gifts for the university. OU’s three campuses have increased endowed faculty positions from 94 to 562, and private scholarships for students have quadrupled.
During his tenure, OU has repeatedly had the highest academically ranked student body in state history.
Boren said his wife, Molly Shi Boren, deserves credit for much of the work and ideas.
Other developments
On Thursday, the Board of Regents also:
• Renamed the University Outreach administration building the James Pappas University Outreach Administration Building in honor of the longest-serving dean in the history of OU who retired in December. As vice president for University Outreach, Pappas oversaw programs that serve more than 100,000 participants, have 55,000 credit enrollments and provide 1,000 distance and online courses. He also administered master’s and doctoral programs at more than 50 military bases throughout the world and oversees federal and state grants that provide education and training for government employees.
• Named Chief of Surgery Russell Postier, M.D., interim executive dean of the OU College of Medicine. Dr. Dewayne Andrews is retiring from the post.
Postier joined the OU Health Sciences Center faculty in 1981. “He is one of the most respected physicians at the College of Medicine and has a well-deserved “nation al reputation for excellence,” Boren said.
• Named award-winning architect Hans Butzer dean of the OU College of Architecture. Butzer stepped in as interim dean following the death of Dean Charles Graham last year.