New OU President To Attend Tulsa Meet And Greet

The University of Oklahoma is preparing to welcome a new president Monday. 

After leading the university for more than two decades, President David Boren is retiring. 

The new president will travel across the Sooner State to spend his or her evening in Tulsa and there's a few opportunities for you to meet whoever it is. 

3/22/2018 Related Story: OU Set To Name New President

It's the beginning of a new era for the University of Oklahoma. 

After the president is introduced at Evans Hall a trip to Oklahoma City is in order. 

Then, OU's 14th president will travel down the turnpike to Tulsa. 

"I think it shows that OU-Tulsa is just as much The University of Oklahoma as the Norman campus," said Public Administration Masters Student Zach Stoycoff. 

Like many, Stoycoff has mixed emotions about President David Boren leaving.

He served as president for more than 23 years. 

"It's very sad to see him go, but exciting to kind of move into a new generation," Stoycoff said. 

One highlight of Boren's career with the university was making Tulsa's Schusterman Center a reality.

Something Stoycoff wants to see from the new president is a continued focus on Tulsa and its value. 

"Both in pumping out medical students and postgraduates. That's something that we really need in the region, is more of those trained people to take those jobs," said Stoycoff. 

Monday at 5:00 p.m. there will be a chance to hear from whoever is taking over at a meet and greet event on the Schusterman campus.

"It does make it very exciting that we actually don't know," said OU-Tulsa Director of Communications Amanda Murphy. 

The new president will spend about an hour visiting not just with students and faculty, but anyone interested in meeting the new leader.

"I'm sure not every single person is going to shake the new president's hand," said Murphy. 

The new president will then head downtown to the Summit Club for a private reception at 7:00 p.m. with alumni and donors. 

"I wanna see who's gonna be our next leader. I want to see what they have to say," OU-Tulsa Medical Student Casey Fitzgerald. 

"Looking forward to a good celebration and honoring somebody who will lead OU into the next few decades, hopefully," said Stoycoff.