OU personnel changes include student affairs VP

NORMAN — Incoming President Jim Gallogly said Wednesday he will appoint an interim vice president for student affairs after discussing the job with potential candidates and the University of Oklahoma regents.

Clarke Stroud is leaving the office to become director of football operations in the OU athletics department July 1. The OU Board of Regents approved the move Tuesday along with an annual base salary of $155,000.

Since 2000, Stroud has been dean of students to OU’s 30,000 students systemwide. His current base salary is listed at $218,250.

Stroud did not return a phone call to his office Wednesday.

“I did not ask Clarke to step down. He indicated the football job was a dream job for him and that he wanted to take it, even if it meant a lower salary,” Gallogly said.

Yaseen Shurbaji, OU student body president, said Stroud knows how to make everyone feel welcome on campus.

“He’s a great man who has worked day in and day out to serve the student body,” Shurbaji said. “He’s going to be greatly missed, but I’m happy for his new opportunity. He’s still going to be there for students if they need him.”

Asked about his plans for other vice president positions at OU, Gallogly said, “I am discussing other potential personnel changes with the Regents but do not take office until July 1.”

Regents approved two other personnel items Tuesday that were requested by Gallogly.

They named professor, historian and author David Wrobel dean of the OU College of Arts and Sciences at an annual salary of $285,000.

Gallogly said he interviewed all candidates for the job and Wrobel was his choice.

The College of Arts and Sciences encompasses about half the university. It has an annual budget of $100 million, 31 academic and research units offering 60 degrees, nearly 600 faculty and almost 10,000 students.

Wrobel, who joined the OU faculty in 2011, has been serving as interim dean for the past year.

Regents also stripped the title “professor emeritus” from a retired OU engineering professor accused of sexual harassment and other misconduct over the past decade.

John F. Scamehorn, 64, resigned in 2007 and was banned in 2016 from ever working for OU again. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Gallogly said emeritus status is an honor.

“As soon as I learned about it, I gave instructions to have that revoked,” Gallogly said. “It is not appropriate that individual have that title and we revoked it.”

He said reports that complaints about Scamehorn were not handled properly are being investigated and may result in action being taken.

“We need to get these things right,” he said.