1994 was a year of monumental change for David Boren and his wife, Molly.
After 16 years in Washington, D.C., the couple decided to leave the U.S. Senate and return home to Oklahoma.
It was also a year of monumental change for the University of Oklahoma, which had been facing administrative turmoil and a lack of continuity in leadership.
Many believed Oklahoma-native David Boren was the answer to the university’s problems. On April 27, 1994 the OU Board of Regents unanimously approved him as OU’s 13th president.
Today, Boren becomes OU’s second longest-serving president, behind only George Lynn Cross, who was president for 25 years, from 1943 to 1968.
Many of Boren’s friends and colleagues credit the university’s successes over the last 16 years to his vision and goals.
“I think this is a time period people know is a special time,” said Joe Harroz, College of Law dean. “After he’s left, I think this time period will be known as one of the most transformational times in the history of OU.”
Boren said his decision to leave Washington, D.C., was not an easy one, but he felt he could make a difference in Oklahoma, the state that selected him to serve as a Rhodes Scholar, in the Legislature, as Governor and as U.S. Senator.
“Oklahoma’s given me everything in my life, and there comes a season when you want to give back in a different way,” Boren said.
OU Provost Nancy Mergler was Honors Program director when Boren decided to return to Oklahoma.
“To have someone of his caliber ... come and help the university was very exciting to all of us,” Mergler said. “We thought it may be scary because we knew that he would expect the very best from us and set a high standard.”
From Boren’s first day as president on Nov. 17, 1994, he set out to establish students as the center of the university.
“I love our students, and that’s the reason I’m here,” Boren said. “It’s central to everything. I have to deal with budgets and raising money, the Legislature and public officials, but I’m really here because I want to invest my life in the next generation.”
Though he wasn’t always employed as a teacher, Boren always found ways to impart knowledge to younger generations.
During his years on Capitol Hill, Boren’s summer interns attended weekly lectures and discussions, met with powerful leaders and wrote papers.
Harroz was one of Boren’s summer interns and said it was an invaluable experience, one that helped him change from medical school to law school.
Since coming to OU, Boren has taught American federal government to undergraduate students. This semester marks the first time during his tenure at OU that Boren is not teaching, a sabbatical he is using to redo his lesson plans.
“I don’t want to be some distant figure, I want to be part of the family and I want to be in the classroom,” Boren said.
Upon his arrival, Boren said he was faced with a “daunting challenge” due to “deterioration of the university over time because we had not had continuity of leadership.”
He said the campus morale was low and the university felt divided. There had been divisions amongst the OU Board of Regents and no one had pride in the university. He wanted people to believe OU was a great place. One of his first initiatives was meant to highlight OU’s past with the addition of historic markers and photographs in campus buildings and the rebirth of traditions like the OU Chant, homecoming and Sooner Yearbook.
Another of Boren’s most notable contributions is the transformation of the landscape and campus community.
For people to thrive and succeed it is important for students, faculty and staff to have beautiful spaces to be proud of and feel comfortable in, the Borens have said.
They transformed the landscaping, placed benches throughout campus and added statues. They restored buildings to their original architecture and have continued to build in the Cherokee Gothic style. Inside buildings they created conversation nooks, making it easy for students to sit and talk and restored fixtures and furniture to their original state.
One of the largest renovation projects occurred at the Oklahoma Memorial Union, which had been taken over by administrative offices and was rarely frequented by students.
Harroz said the Borens’ focus on landscaping and campus beauty is a prime example of the potential OU had, but hadn’t harvested prior to 1994.
“[When the Borens came] there were existing buildings with potential, and we had grass, but they transformed it. If you look at it now, things are flourishing,” Harroz said. “The landscaping impacts ... every area of the university.”
Creating a comfortable space was only one part of creating a community, something David and Molly Boren focused on.
“I thought we were losing our sense community as a country and ... the best way to create this is to start with the next generation,” Boren said.
He stopped allowing students to self-select suitemates and hallmates in the residence halls and encouraged diversity.
“I wanted people to live with those unlike themselves,” he said.
He established the 15,000-foot ConocoPhilips Student Leadership Wing to allow all student organizations to work together and encourage collaboration in programming.
“There was not a sense of community at OU before the Borens got here ... The sense of community is one of the most important legacies he’s brought to OU,” said Clarke Stroud, vice president for Student Affairs, who credits Boren with all of his success at OU.
One of Boren’s initial goals was to help OU come alive intellectually by creating centers of discourse such as the Honors College, Writing Center and the Center for the Creation of Economic Wealth. These programs, in addition to increased abilities to study abroad, discussion-based book clubs and the creation of degree programs such as religious studies, are reasons Boren thinks students are so successful.
“I think it’s safe to say the caliber of the student has increased exponentially in terms of preparedness and their level of intellect,” said Stroud, a 1990 graduate.
Boren’s colleagues believe he has taught them invaluable leadership skills and serves as a good role model for students.
“I hope that, having watched his leadership style, we have learned many, many lessons that will sustain us into the future,” Mergler said. “No one of us is essential to the university. But the collective whole, we are never going to stop.”
Although Boren has eight years to go before he’ll surpass George Lynn Cross, today’s milestone encourages him to keep dreaming and executing new projects, he said.
As long as he is healthy mentally and physically — Boren rides his stationary bike 10 miles every day and does pilates — he’ll come to work.
“My intention is to stay,” he said. “... I always laugh and say they’ll have to carry me out someday.”
He has no intention of retiring soon, he said.
“I will know that President Boren is ready to retire the morning he wakes up and doesn’t talk to me about a new project that he’s thought up overnight,” Molly Boren said. “He still has so many projects he wants to accomplish.”
More:
» Quotes from those close to Boren
» It pays for Boren to stay
» Boren roots himself in country music
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SoonerTexan88 1 year, 4 months ago
Boren has done such a wonderful job. As a recent grad, I am so proud of where I went to school and it is the collective pride and improvements he has made that made the difference.