Regents accept Oklahoma chancellor's resignation, form plans to search for her replacement

The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education formally accepted Chancellor Allison Garrett’s resignation during a special meeting this week and formed a committee to begin searching for her successor.

Garrett, the first woman to serve as state chancellor , said earlier this month that she plans to retire in January 2025, after a little more than three years of service as the chancellor, who leads the state higher education system. Under the proposal unanimously accepted by the nine-member regents’ board, Garrett’s resignation will be effective “no later than Jan. 2, 2025, with the specific date to be determined by the board at a future meeting.”

Regent Chair Dennis Casey of Morrison said the search committee will consist of him and fellow regents Jeff Hickman, of Fairview; Courtney Warmington, of Edmond; and Stephen Taylor, of McAlester.

“While a search committee will be used, I want to emphasize that there will be plenty of opportunity for the entire board to provide input and participate in the process,” Casey said.

Kylie Smith, the regents’ vice chancellor for administration, told regents the search for Garrett’s successor would be national. The job posting will appear in five major higher education publications, including the Chronicle of Higher Education and Inside Higher Ed. She said the ideal candidate would have an earned advanced degree and at least 10 years of experience in higher education administration or comparative executive experience, among other qualities.

Under a proposed search timeline Smith presented, the open position would be posted on Aug. 1 and candidates would be recruited throughout August. At the next scheduled regents’ meeting on Sept. 4-5, regents would discuss candidates during a closed session, with the first round of interviews set for mid-September. Background checks would follow into early October, with the finalists to be interviewed again once the checks are completed.

The goal is to announce a new chancellor sometime between mid-October and early November at a regents’ meeting. The regents presently have meetings scheduled to be held Oct. 16-17 and Nov. 7.

“This is a very rough timeline,” Smith said. “It needs to be flexible, based on how the search process actually goes. Factors could include number of applicants (and) applicant availability for interviews.”

Ken Levit, the newest regent ― having taken office in June ― asked if consideration was given to using an outside search agency, either national or local, to assist in the search. After a brief discussion involving him, Taylor and Casey, he was asked by Casey to work with Smith to look into whether or not that would be a good idea.

“I think there would be some value in at least considering some level of third-party assistance,” said Levit, who’s also the executive director of the George Kaiser Family Foundation in Tulsa.

Smith said regents used a search firm during the search that ended up with the selection of Garrett. She said the only advantages of using a search firm would be that the firm could reach out to potential candidates and suggest they apply or make cold calls to candidates.

“Other than that, I think we can run everything on our own internally, given what we did the last time,” Smith said.

Regents reconsider tuition, fee increase requests from Langston, Rogers State

In other business, regents approved a 1.9% increase in Rogers State University’s tuition rate for the 2024-25 academic year and a proposal by Langston University that would increase mandatory student fees to an average of $66.32 over an academic year. Regents initially had rejected those two proposals during a June meeting.

Regents did reiterate they initially didn’t appreciate the two universities asking for direct funding from the Oklahoma Legislature for campus projects ― money that isn’t controlled by the regents.

“That’s something that kind of has a little heartburn with this board, because we govern 25 institutions, not one, two or three that (are) going to the Legislature,” regent Dustin Hilliary of Lawton said. “I just wanted to point that out.”

Warmington expressed similar sentiments, but she said she, like Hilliary, had reconsidered.

“I say that with a caveat, that I still have a lot of serious concerns about the long-term impact of institutions lobbying for direct funding, and overall, what that will do to the system, if we don’t have a handle on when that’s right and when it’s not, and sort of what our philosophy is on it,” Warmington said.

Both joined unanimous votes to approve the requests from Langston and Rogers State.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Regents accept Oklahoma chancellor's resignation, form plans to search for her replacement