OU regents name presidential search committee

Staff Writer kmcnutt@oklahoman.com

An Oklahoma City banker and a college dean will lead the 17-member search committee charged with reviewing candidates for the University of Oklahoma’s 14th president.

The OU Board of Regents named the committee members in a special meeting Monday night on the OU Health Sciences Center campus.

“We commit that this will be an open and inclusive process. We have selected extraordinary individuals who are principled, honest, and whose objective is to recommend to the regents outstanding candidates for the board to consider,” Chairman Clay Bennett said.

David Rainbolt, executive chairman of BancFirst Corp., will chair the search committee. Vice Chair will be Gregg Garn, dean of OU’s Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education.

Additional at-large members are Barbara Braught, of Duncan; R. Marc Nuttle, of Norman; Russell M. Perry and Robert Ross, both of Oklahoma City; and Charles Stephenson Jr., of Tulsa.

Faculty on the committee are Mary Sue Backus, law professor; Sherri Irvin, philosophy professor; George RichterAddo, professor of chemistry and biochemistry; Michael Bronze, M.D., chairman of the department of medicine; and Kelly Standifer, chair of pharmaceutical sciences.

OU staff members selected are Matthew Rom, Norman campus facilities management, and Nancy Geiger, department of otolaryngology, head and neck surgery.

Student members are Cameron Burleson and Carrie Pavlowsky from the Norman campus and Krystal Mitchell from the Health Sciences Center.

The 17-member committee has 14 votes. Faculty and at-large members have one vote each, staff members have one-half vote each and students have one-third vote each.

Regents approve an initial budget of $250,000 for the presidential search.

Regents have requested the submission of nominations and applications by Dec. 6.

They will work with the search committee to establish a timeline to have a new president no later than June 30.