On first day, new OU president cuts senior staff, reorganizes
Jim Gallogly spent his first morning as University of Oklahoma president streamlining the senior staff.
OU announced cuts to the executive staff and a reorganization just after noon. The plan reduces the number of executives who report to Gallogly from 25 to 17, nearly one-third. The executive staff includes all leaders at the Norman, Tulsa and Health Sciences campuses.
Among the executives who were let go are Nick Hathaway, vice president for administration and finance. That position was eliminated. Also gone are Chris Kuwitzky, chief financial officer, and Clive Mander, chief audit executive.
Gallogly reported last month that OU’s Norman campus has been losing $36 million a year the past five years, and said he would rework the new fiscal year budget to cut inefficiencies. At the same time, he is holding tuition flat and planning $5 million in targeted pay increases for faculty.
A number of executives are being reassigned and positions realigned.
“These first steps are needed to help maintain current tuition levels and work toward faculty pay raises,” Gallogly said Monday afternoon.
“It’s been a tough morning,” he said. “You don’t make that many changes without it being difficult.”
A news release announcing the reorganization stated, “We wish to thank Nick Hathaway, Chris Kuwitzky, Clive Mander, Rowdy Gilbert, Scott Mason and Jonathan Nichols for their service to our university and
wish them well in their future endeavors.”
Gilbert was senior associate vice president for public affairs, Mason was executive director of federal programs and Nichols was vice president of government relations.
Gallogly said he would spend the afternoon meeting with the senior staff about the future. As a team, they will work to find additional savings and begin preparing the new budget, he said.
“We have a lot of things that are very exciting moving forward,” Gallogly said. “It’s a bright new day for OU.”
OU announced it will conduct national searches for the following positions: vice president and chief financial officer, vice president for human resources, vice president for development, vice president for student affairs, vice president for public affairs, executive director for government relations and chief auditor. Various university executives have been appointed to fill these roles on an interim basis to ensure continuity.
“We view this as an excellent opportunity to hire new talent to bring fresh perspectives and improved diversity to our organization,” Gallogly said.
The areas of enrollment and student financial services, university community, OU Outreach and the Colleges of Business, Law and Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences will be part of the Norman provost’s office to better align those functions with student and academic needs, according to the news release.
Previously, each was headed by its own vice president.
The administration will focus on academic excellence, student success, employee engagement and efficiency, Gallogly said.
He has spent some time in the past few weeks with incoming freshmen who are visiting the campus.
“We are beginning a new journey together. By the time they graduate, it will be a changed university in some ways,” Gallogly said. “We have an ambitious plan.”