Meet the candidates: Presidential finalists meet, talk with community

Three presidential candidates were announced March 13 and are getting to know the campus community.

The candidates are trustee Martha Burger, Dr. Myron L. Pope and Dr. Thom Chesney. They now are spending time on campus to talk to staff, faculty, deans, and students.

A survey link for candidate feedback will be distributed via email the day each candidate is on campus, and it will close at the following day. A candidate will be recommended for confirmation by the board of trustees April 25.

President Robert Henry announced in June that he will retire in June after eight years as the university’s president. The new president will start in July.

“I’m actually pretty excited about the people they selected,” said Beatrize Martinez, second-year law.

Martinez said students should be involved and go to events to learn more about the candidates. She said she is attending these events because the office of the president is important to her.

“Either way, I don’t think OCU can lose,” Martinez said.

Burger was on campus Monday. Pope was scheduled to be on campus Tuesday, and Chesney was scheduled to be on campus Wednesday.

Martha A. Burger

Burger originally was on the presidential search committee, but stepped down after she was nominated as a candidate and accepted the nomination.

“Burger participated in the same vetting and interview process as the other semi-finalist candidates  and emerged as a finalist,” wrote Ron Norick, search committee chairman and president of the board of trustees, in a March 13 email.

Burger has been a university trustee since 2008 and is chairwoman of the audit and finance committee. She received her master’s in business administration from OCU and her bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond.

Burger discussed her vision for the university at a general session Monday, which includes building revenue by initiating a capital campaign, expanding an online education experience for students and creating more partnership with the United Methodist Church.

“My vision overlaps what you already have going on here,” Burger said.

Burger also addressed her leadership style, which focuses on trust.

“It’s not a one-way thing,” she said. “It goes a multitude of ways. It’s fairness. It’s respect. It’s transparency.”

Martinez said Burger is qualified because of her involvement on campus and her participation on the board of trustees.

Martinez is a former Student Government Association president, and she served on the board of trustees, which is how she connected with Burger. She said Burger has a stake in the university and will be able to preserve goals and initiatives.

“I think she’s an excellent role model in terms of the fact that she’s a university trustee, a woman in business and just someone who’s been a part of the university for so long,” Martinez said.

Dr. Myron L. Pope

Pope has been the vice president of student affairs at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond since 2013.

In this position, he supervises many areas of campus and serves as “officer in charge” in the absence of the president and provost.

He has a bachelor’s in history with a minor in English and a master’s and doctorate in higher education administration from University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Pope was the director of the Boys & Girls Club of Tuscaloosa County.

He has worked at various universities in teaching and administrative positions, including the University of Alabama, the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Walden University in Minneapolis, and Alabama Southern Community College in Monroeville.

His academic research spans several topics related to higher education, such as faculty governance and resilience in students from undeserved backgrounds.

Pope also is involved in initiatives dedicated to increasing college admission, retention and graduation in the Oklahoma City area, particularly for youth in low-performing high schools.

He serves on various boards including the Edmond YMCA, the Oklahoma Blood Institute and the advisory board for the Foundation for Oklahoma City Public Schools.

Pope seems qualified because of his credentials and because he is from the Oklahoma City area, Martinez said. She also said she feels like he has a presence on campus because his wife, Shanna Pope, works at the university in the registrar’s office.

“I was really excited to see his name,” Martinez said.

Pope was unavailable for comment Monday.

Dr. Thom Chesney

Chesney has been president of Brookhaven College in Farmers Branch, Texas, since 2011. He has a doctorate of philosophy in English literature from Florida State University in Tallahassee, a master’s in creative writing from Minnesota State University in Mankato and a bachelor’s in Spanish with a minor in business administration from Washington University in St. Louis.

Chesney served as associate provost and professor for the University of Texas in Dallas from 2008-11. Before that, he was the vice president of academic affairs and provost at Collin College in Plano.

Chesney has taught at Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth, East Tenessee State University in Johnson City, Whitman College in Walla Walla and Florida State University.

He serves on various board including the American Council on Education Spectrum Aspiring Leaders Program, and the American Association of Community College’s Commission on Economic and Workforce Development.

Chesney seems qualified because of his history as a university president, Martinez said.

“I was kind of surprised, but I was also kind of excited that it was somebody different, somebody from a different state,” she said. “He’s currently the president of a university, so that shows that he’s already had experience and knows what it’s going to take.”

Chesney was unavailable for comment Monday.

Contributing: Zoe Travers, editor-in-chief