Second presidential candidate seeks to tell OCU’s story

Editor’s Note: This article was update to add new information about the presidential candidate forums.

The second presidential candidate forum revealed Dr. Michael Austin as the second of four finalist candidates.

Austin works as the current executive vice president for academic affairs and provost at the University of Evansville in Indiana and has worked in higher education for over 20 years, 12 of which he worked at small, private, religious universities. Austin holds a Ph.D in English literature from the University at Santa Barbara. He started his career in higher education as a professor of English at Shepherd University.  From that position, he was promoted to chair of the English and Modern Studies department and eventually became dean of graduate studies.

Austin was later hired at Newman University, where he served as provost and vice president of academic from 2008-2016 until moving to his current position as provost at Evansville.

Some of Austin’s achievements in his previous position include creating an Office of International Studies for study abroad programs, strengthening relationships with universities in China and India, creating degree-completion programs to help adults finish their degree, and strengthening online programs.

Austin said he enjoys working in administrative roles.

“I actually liked writing accreditation reports for the higher institutions,” Austin said. “This is the first year that I thought that I would be interested in a presidency. It’s not because I want to be a president. The ceremony and glamor and glitz is actually not something that attracts me. But I want to do president.”

Austin said OCU is in a great position for future success because of OCU’s international reach and location in an area without a lot of other private universities Austin also said he thought OCU had a good story that he could share with others.

“I looked for institutions with a story that I felt very comfortable telling because that’s what presidents do. Presidents tell the institution’s story to the community, to donors, to students, to parents, and there is a wonderful story here to tell and I would be very honored to tell it,” Austin said.

Austin said he would measure the success of his presidency by the impact the university had on students

“How many lives were changed? How many people discovered what they were good at? How many students came in unsure of themselves and left with confidence, left with good jobs, left with lives that had been fundamentally altered by education. That’s the only major that counts. Everything else is a proxy for that,” Austin said.

Several attendants at the forums asked if Austin would commit to creating an office of sustainability and work to shift OCU to relying on renewable energies. Austin said it would not be a good idea for him to commit to that shift at this moment with the information currently available to him.

“I think that is an excellent idea and would be very interested in doing it. I think making that commitment right now without looking at what’s involved and what the cost would be would not be wise,” Austin said.

One attendant asked Austin if he would consider cutting smaller programs on campus. He said if the university isn’t making a profit, cutting non-profitable programs is something he would consider, but the entire campus community would make those decisions together as a last option

“We’re in a very precarious time for small, private, higher education right now. It is likely–and COVID has been a huge accelerator in this–it is likely that 25-50% of universities like University of Evansville, like Oklahoma City University are not going to survive in the next 20 years. So you have to decide what we are not going to do. It is an essential part of deciding what we are going to do,” Austin said. “As we try to do everything, we stop doing anything well.”

Austin said he would be willing to look into ways to grow smaller programs and make them profitable before deciding whether or not to cut them, such as fundraising and improved marketing and branding.

Another attendant asked Austin if he would look into the cost of living adjustments for staff and faculty, stating that they have not received one for several years. Austin said raising compensation can only be achieved when it is made a priority by the university.

“It does have to happen. It has to be a priority. We stand to lose a lot of faculty when we don’t have the cost of living adjustments,” Austin said. “If you make everything a priority, salaries will always fall last because universities generally react to emergencies and salary increases are rarely emergencies.”

Several attendants also asked Austin how he would strengthen the relationship with the United Methodist Conference. The university Austin currently works for, the University of Evansville, is also a Methodist affiliated university like OCU. Austin said the UMC’s decision on LGBTQ+ marriage and clergy might cause a schism within the denomination, and he will have to wait until after a decision is made before the university could do anything to strengthen the relationship.

Loren Matrone, cell and molecular biology senior, said she was impressed by Austin’s transparency and level-headedness.

“What I was able to see is even when he thought he couldn’t answer the question, he was able to say this is why or this is what I think the role of the president is, or this is what I think my role would be in assuming the presidency,” Matrone said. “And so I really appreciated that he didn’t try to fulfill and answer these questions that maybe couldn’t be answered or maybe weren’t in his role, and I think I appreciated that he was very honest about that.”

OCU President Martha Burger declined to comment on the presidential search since it is a Board of Trustees matter, but she sent Student Publications a statement about the process.

“I care very deeply about ensuring the next president of our University represents and supports our full student body. However, it’s important for me to allow the search committee to independently complete its work. I have absolute faith the search committee and our Board of Trustees will choose a leader who respects our students and our mission, and who is committed to honoring diverse opinions and uplifting our community,” Burger wrote.

The last finalist candidate to host a forum with the campus community was on March 11. The Presidential Search Committee have not stated a date for when the new president will be chosen.

To see information about the first presidential candidate, visit this link.

To see information about the third presidential candidate, visit this link.

To see information about the fourth presidential candidate, visit this link.