Editor's note: The headline on this article was updated at 9:06 p.m. on March 12 to reflect that Andrea Miller is the fourth dean candidate, not the third. This article was updated at 10:20 a.m. on March 13 to reflect the proper spelling of Moira Kelly's name.
Andrea Miller, dean of Mayborn School of Journalism at the University of North Texas, described her qualifications and fundraising experience during a public forum with students, faculty and staff on Tuesday as part of her three-day interview process to be Gaylord College dean.
Miller began with her experience, noting her recent reappointment to her deanship at Mayborn School of Journalism for another five years. Miller said she wasn’t looking to leave her job at the University of North Texas, which she joined in 2019, but when she began to research Gaylord College and its deanship, she thought it would make a good fit.
Any new initiatives for Gaylord that she has in mind come from what she’s learned as an outsider, Miller said. Miller said she ultimately aims to learn about the hopes and aspirations of the college from students, faculty and staff.
If selected as dean, Miller’s first three priorities would be building relationships with students, staff and the Board of Visitors, listening to the findings of the incoming “Dispute Doctor” and evaluating the college’s strategic plan to begin building fundraising opportunities.
Gaylord College hired external consultant Moira Kelly, president of Kelly Consulting LLC and self-described “Dispute Doctor,” to survey the college’s workplace, including power imbalances, conflict, morale, climate perceptions and relationships.
Miller’s background consists of involvement in high school and college-level media and 10 years of working professionally in broadcast journalism. In 1990, Miller started at KAMU-TV in College Station, Texas, later working at two Dallas-Fort Worth market stations, WFAA-TV in 1993 and then KTVT-TV in 1994, where she later became a producer. She previously was a professor and associate dean for undergraduate studies at the Manship School of Mass Communication at Louisiana State University. There, she taught courses in crisis communications, broadcast news and multimedia reporting.
Professional, administrative experience
Miller said she has leadership experience in all academic areas that are currently taught at Gaylord College despite her career focusing mainly on journalism. Miller compared the college’s majors to the ones at the Mayborn School of Journalism — digital and print, broadcast, photojournalism, public relations, sports media and advertising — and talked about her time as Interim Chair of Media Arts and hosting a literary nonfiction conference.
“I say all this to show you that all the breadth of the areas in Gaylord are unique, and it is important that everyone in those areas feel celebrated and valued for their scholarship and their service, their diverse accomplishments and their diverse teaching,” Miller said. “And I have experience in all of those areas.”
On fundraising, Miller said creating a successful funding environment would be one of her priorities at OU. Miller said she manages a $10 million endowment at the Mayborn School of Journalism, raising about $1.3 million in additional money to aid students and faculty.
Miller said relationships play a vital role in fundraising. If selected as dean, Miller would aim to talk with alumni to know what they are passionate and excited about at Gaylord and then match that with the needs of the school.
Miller said she wants to support students and their success, noting her experience in starting about a dozen scholarships at the University of North Texas.
“We must create a successful funding environment,” Miller said. “That is key to everything that we want to do here in Gaylord and is more and more important as the years go by.”
As Gaylord nears its 25th anniversary in 2026, Miller said she sees an opportunity for a fundraising campaign promoting the success of the college and what could come in the next 25 years, similar to what she has conducted at the University of North Texas. Miller also presented the idea of a grant incentive program for faculty and questioned how to control “smart growth” for enrollment numbers.
In her 16 years at Louisiana State University, Miller said curriculum was often revamped. At the University of North Texas, Miller’s school recently launched a new advertising degree when it was advocated for by staff.
On expanding more degree options, Miller said she sees opportunities for interdisciplinary studies, including things like an accelerated law program, where students would leave with both a bachelor's and a law degree, and a three plus one master's program.
Currently, Gaylord offers an accelerated bachelor’s and master's program, where students can complete their master’s degree in one year beyond their bachelor's.
Miller said she would aim to create an associate dean of research for the college, adding to the college’s two associate deans currently on staff at Gaylord. This would align with the call to do so in every college in OU’s Lead On, University strategic plan. The plan’s first pillar details the vision of becoming a top-tier public research university.
“We can imagine what that looks like in a number of different ways, but that person would execute the grant incentive program,” Miller said. “That person would work on partnerships across campus, flag grants that we can apply for and maybe we add ‘and strategic initiatives’ to the title to again, think about ways that we can further our reputation and grow our research.”
At Miller’s current institution, large college-wide changes could happen as there are talks to allegedly demote the Mayborn School of Journalism to a department within the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at the University of North Texas.
Miller said she has often found herself doing her dean duties, along with doing tasks that a department chair and an associate dean would do.
Miller said she hopes the merger happens to continue fostering a relationship with other media majors at the University of North Texas, adding the two departments are better together. Even if the merger doesn’t happen, Miller said she suggested putting all student media organizations under one umbrella, something she said, could also be beneficial for the student media organizations housed in Gaylord College, such as Gaylord Hall Productions, Gaylord News, OU Nightly and more. OU Daily is independent from Gaylord College and the university and therefore would not be included.
Student interaction, navigating politics
Miller said she believes in prioritizing student relationships as dean, noting her monthly “doughnuts with the dean” events at the Mayborn School of Journalism. Miller said she misses being able to teach, so she said she makes it a point to visit classes, walk hallways and talk with student leaders when she gets the chance.
“Relationships with the students are key because it helps you gauge the pulse of what’s going on,” Miller said. “It helps promote that family atmosphere that you all are famous for and I’ve heard so much about in my short 12 hours or so here.”
Miller said diversity is a priority noting the impact of Texas Senate Bill 17, which banned diversity programs in public universities, on her diversity and strategic plan for the Mayborn School of Journalism.
In December, Gov. Kevin Stitt issued an executive order calling for the review of diversity, equity and inclusion programs in Oklahoma. Since the order, OU has renamed its Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to the Division of Access and Opportunity.
“That law doesn’t affect who we are. It doesn’t affect what we value. It doesn’t affect what we believe,” Miller said of the Texas law. “We know, we believe in having diverse faculty and diverse students in classes with us, walking side by side with us, at the table with us, having a voice. That is important.”
Miller also aims to create a positive work environment in Gaylord College, something she says begins with getting to know everyone and what they wish to do. Miller said this first begins with trust and ensuring the dean is well-known among faculty and staff.
Miller said a deanship starts with mutual respect and admiration, figuring out where a new dean would fit in the preexisting college collective.
“A deanship is not about me,” Miller said. “Its about putting the needs of the college above self, and then doing everything that I can to make sure that that is successful, that we are all successful.”
Gaylord dean search
The candidates for dean of Gaylord College. From left to right; Mike Boettcher, veteran network news correspondent and OU journalism professor; Texas Tech University professor and former dean of its journalism college David Perlmutter; Kent State University’s School of Media and Journalism director Emily Metzgar; University of North Texas Dean of the Mayborn School of Journalism Andrea Miller; and Chair of the Department of Communication at the University of Utah Avery Holton.
Miller will meet with Gaylord students at 4 p.m. Tuesday. She will later meet with the Gaylord Board of Visitors, OU President Joseph Harroz Jr. and Senior Vice President and Provost for OU André-Denis Wright.
The first candidate for the Gaylord College dean position, OU professor and distinguished veteran network news correspondent Mike Boettcher, does not hold a bachelor’s degree, but has extensive professional journalism experience that few could rival. Boettcher told OU Daily and OU Nightly reporters in an interview that he considers his years as a correspondent with CNN, NBC News and ABC as his Ph.D.
The second candidate, professor and former dean of Texas Tech University’s College of Media and Communication David Perlmutter, previously served as director of University of Iowa’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication. He’s also worked as associate dean for graduate studies at Louisiana State University and at University of Kansas. His career was mainly focused on academia over professional media experience. His interview was conducted last week.
The third candidate, director of Kent State University’s School of Media and Journalism Emily Metzgar, worked at Indiana University’s The Media School for 12 years as an associate professor, director of the honors program and of undergraduate studies. Metzgar’s experience is primarily in academia, research and writing about foreign affairs and its intersection with media and the role of media in society.
The final candidate Avery Holton, chair of the Department of Communication at the University of Utah, also serves as the co-coordinator of research for the university’s Utah Center of Excellence in ELSI Research, which focuses on genetics and communication. He previously worked in media as a freelance sports reporter with the Austin American-Statesman and as director of communications for the Round Rock Express, the Texas Rangers’ triple-A affiliate.
Wright told OU Daily in September that once the search committee made its selection of finalists, those would be made public. Some faculty and staff were notified Friday that Boettcher was one candidate, according to an interview schedule and email obtained by OU Daily that day.
At the time the dean candidate qualifications and requirements were announced, many faculty and staff questioned the composition of the search committee approved by the OU Board of Regents in September.
The search committee, chaired by Price College of Business Dean Corey Phelps, includes Gaylord College professors Robert Kerr, Doyle Yoon, Erin Kökdil, Jensen Moore, senior academic adviser Joshua Kahoe, Director of Student Services Kathy Sawyer and Gaylord Board of Visitors member Roger Frizzell.
Two students within the college, graduate student Alex Eschbach and public relations senior Acacia McDonald, are on the committee. Outside of the college, professor in the Department of Communication John Banas, classics and letters professor Daniela Garofalo, executive director of advancement for the OU Foundation Emily Reed and senior program officer at the Inasmuch Foundation Tyler Tokarczyk also joined the committee.
The five finalists were officially announced to faculty and staff last week on Sunday night. OU Daily’s report came out early last week Monday morning and the announcements for Perlmutter and Boettcher’s public forums were sent to the OU community last week on Monday afternoon.
Miller will be on campus until Wednesday, and the fifth candidate, Holton, will be on campus after spring break on March 24-26.
OU shared the qualifications and requirements for the position in October, stating that “candidates must have a record of accomplishments (academic or professional) to qualify for appointment at the rank of Professor. A Ph.D. is preferred.”
The qualifications and requirements for the position, as outlined in a document prepared by search firm Greenwood Asher & Associates, described the college’s ideal next dean as possessing “a vision that prioritizes community, educational rigor, traditional and applied scholarship, teaching, a global presence, and public service.”
This story was edited by Karoline Leonard and Ismael Lele.
