Understanding the Role of the Development Office in University Governance (Full Transcript)

Speaker 1: Okay, so how then does the Development Office fit within the overall governance structure of the university? First of all, President Boren is hired by the Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma. The Board of Regents are appointed by the governor of the state. They serve for a term and can be reappointed. President Boren, president, CEO, chief executive officer, whatever you want to call him, world's finest fundraiser, he then outlines sort of the mission of the university. He identifies opportunity and needs, and not just for giving, but for excellence in the classroom. What are the trends? What building needs do we have? Et cetera, et cetera. So he is truly the governor. So you talk about governance, he is the governor of the university. We work very closely then with the executive officers in the University of Oklahoma, of which I am one. And there we strategize and help the president ensure the mission and direction of the university. So we all work together, and that comes from the provost to other deans that are executive officers to myself, Guy Patton, president of the OU Foundation, is an executive officer on the board. And so we all work strategically together. But it's not a bureaucratic level. It's a family. That's what President and Mrs. Boren wanted when they came here to the University of Oklahoma. Both of them are products of the University of Oklahoma. They wanted the university to become a family. And how do you do that? You listen. You listen to the needs, the hopes, the dreams, and then you roll your sleeves up and get to work to preserve them, to invest in them, to care for them. So that is how the overall operation works. We have regents' meetings. At that time we talk about all things OU, not just the Norman campus, but the Oklahoma City campus, the Tulsa campus. And we talk about campus activities. We talk about projects and programs, levels of studying. We talk about curriculum change, all sorts of things, so that they help guide with the president the direction which we're going, which is up and up and up. And that is the overall structure of how it works.