This story was updated at 4:45 p.m. Monday to verify that the fourth candidate, Andrea Miller, is the dean of Mayborn School of Journalism at the University of North Texas.
Mike Boettcher, a nationally distinguished veteran network news correspondent and OU journalism professor, is the first in a series of five finalists who’ll interview to be the next dean of Gaylord College, according to an interview schedule sent to faculty members late Friday and Sunday night and further reporting by OU Daily on Sunday.
On Sunday night, Price College of Business dean and search committee chair Corey Phelps shared an itinerary and the names of the five finalists as well as dates for their on-campus interviews.
Boettcher will undergo his interview starting Monday through Wednesday. An email obtained by the Daily late Sunday indicates the second candidate, Texas Tech University professor and former dean of its journalism college David Perlmutter, will be on campus on Wednesday through Friday. The third candidate, Kent State University’s School of Media and Journalism director Emily Metzgar, will interview on March 10-12. The fourth candidate, Dean of Mayborn School of Journalism at the University of North Texas Andrea Miller, will be on campus from March 11-13, and the fifth candidate, Chair of the Department of Communication at the University of Utah Avery Holton, will be on campus after spring break on March 24-26.
According to an email sent to Gaylord students Monday morning, the public forum and Q&A for Mike Boettcher will be held March 5 from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. in Gaylord Hall Room 2500, and his student meet and greet will be held from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in the Inasmuch Commons in Gaylord Hall.
The public forum and Q&A for David Perlmutter will be held March 7 from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. in Gaylord Hall Room 2500. Perlmutter's student meet and greet will be held from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in the Inasmuch Commons in Gaylord Hall.
Metzgar's public forum and Q&A will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on March 11 in the Gaylord Auditorium. Miller's public forum and Q&A will be held at the same time on March 12 in the Edith Kinney Gaylord Library. Holton's public forum and Q&A is at the same time on March 25 in the Gaylord Auditorium.
All members of the university community are invited, according to an email shared by Phelps Monday afternoon.
As of publication time late Sunday, the Daily could not confirm which Miller is the fourth candidate. There are professors specializing in media or media adjacent fields by that name at both the University of North Texas and Penn State.
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.”
An OU colleague and a student of Boettcher's told the Daily on Sunday that he does not hold a bachelor's degree and has told people, including themselves, that directly in the past. His faculty biography lists his education as OU, but does not specify a degree, which veers from the norm of other faculty and staff with degrees listed next to their education.
He attended OU from 1972-76, according to his LinkedIn, but left before graduating, per the information OU Daily obtained. The Daily has reached out to OU records to verify whether Boettcher has subsequently finished his degree but was unable to receive a response over the weekend.
If he did not, that would differ from the college’s precedence in its prior deans as well as potentially pose an issue with the university’s aspirations to join the Association of American Universities, a group of the nation’s leading research institutions.
All of the Norman campus deans hold at least a master’s, with 12 holding a doctorate and one holding a juris doctorate.
OU Daily called and texted Boettcher, whose biography lists his title as visiting professional professor, once Saturday and twice Sunday to inquire about his vision for Gaylord’s future as well as how he would address questions that might arise about potentially leading a college despite seemingly not graduating from one.
He never answered.
In an August 2022 video about the value of education in his life produced by the Oklahoma State Department of Education, Boettcher said he felt education and teaching has been ingrained in him his whole life. He said he took inspiration to always be accessible in and out of the classroom to students from a childhood teacher in Ponca City.
“We have nothing as a state and a nation without good teachers because that’s where the rubber meets the road in the classroom, and that is the next generation that’s gonna lead us hopefully to new heights,” Boettcher said in the video.
Perlmutter is currently a journalism and creative media industries professor at Texas Tech University’s College of Media and Communication. He formerly served as the dean of the college from July 2013 until July 2023. His Texas Tech biography reads that he sees academia as his “family business” as the son of two professors. He helped design several Ph.D. and master’s programs and helped lead the college into a new age of increased enrollment, retention and graduation rates. In 2018, Perlmutter received the Texas Tech President’s Excellence in Gender Equity Award. He has written several books and has spent most of his career in academia, serving as director for University of Iowa’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication and associate dean for graduate studies at Louisiana State University and the University of Kansas. He holds a Ph.D.
Metzgar has served as director of Kent State University’s School of Media and Journalism since 2020. She previously was director of undergraduate studies at Indiana University’s Media School. There, she served as director of the school’s honors program and chair of its journalism advisory board, according to her Kent State biography. Her research and writing focuses on foreign affairs, its intersection with media and the role of media in society. Much of her career has also been focused in academics and research. She has a Ph.D.
Andrea Miller joined the University of North Texas in 2019. According to a news release from the university, she worked as a broadcast journalist starting in 1990 at KAMU-TV, at WFAA-TV in 1993 and then KTVT-TV in 1994, where she later became a producer. Miller received the Dallas Press Club Katie Award in 1993 and an Associated Press Spot News Award in 1992. She also won an Emmy in 1996. She wrote a book about the media’s response in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill. 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. She has a Ph.D.
Holton, along with being chair of the Department of Communication at the University of Utah, is also co-coordinator of research for the university’s UCEER Center, which focuses on genetic communication and is funded by the National Institutes of Health, according to his university biography. His research looks at digital and social media, mental health and well-being in the media and constructs of health, identity and ability. His career has also been focused on academia and research. He has a Ph.D.
Gaylord College dean position
OU President Joseph Harroz Jr. has started raising questions in interviews, galas and OU Board of Regents meetings about nationwide decreasing confidence in higher education. Generation Z, which are those born between 1997 and 2012, sees less value in pursuing higher education compared to other generations, with universities across the nation witnessing decreasing enrollments amid rapidly rising rates in tuition and fees.
“I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about this question. … How many students nationwide are not going to college out of high school right now? And the drop is really concerning,” Harroz told OU Daily in September. “It's a real concern, and not just for the individuals whose life will not be changed by having a college degree, but for the country and its supply of a truly educated workforce.”
Since its founding in 2001, Gaylord College’s three deans have all had bachelor’s degrees, with two having doctorates.
Charles Self was hired in 2001 as Gaylord’s founding dean when the H.H. Herbert School of Journalism was elevated to college status following a $22 million gift by the Gaylord family. The family owned The Oklahoman since before statehood until it sold The Oklahoma Publishing Company in 2011. At the time he was hired, Self held a doctorate, was an associate dean of liberal arts and a journalism professor at Texas A&M University and national president of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication. He served in the role through summer 2005, before stepping aside to return to teaching.
Self was succeeded by Joe Foote, who also held a doctorate, and had returned to OU in 2004 after serving as director of Arizona State’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication and previously as the founding dean of Southern Illinois University’s College of Mass Communication and Media Arts. He stepped down as Gaylord dean to return to teaching in summer 2015.
Foote was succeeded by Ed Kelley, who served in an interim capacity before being named dean in March 2016 as selected by former OU President David Boren. Kelley, who holds a bachelor’s degree but not a master’s or doctorate, had previously led news organizations such as the Deseret News in Salt Lake City, The Washington Times and The Oklahoman, where he worked for decades and was named National Press Foundation Editor of the Year in 1996 after shepherding his staff through the coverage of the Oklahoma City bombing.
In what is a pivotal and evolving age of media, with economic upheaval and a growing focus on more digitally-focused content, Gaylord College’s status as a nationally-ranked and leading journalism college hangs in the balance as it finds its next leader.
Boettcher is scheduled to meet Monday night through Wednesday afternoon with various search committees, university and Gaylord College leaders as well as faculty, staff and students. The schedule the Daily obtained indicates on Tuesday he will hold a public forum with a question-and-answer session at 10:30 a.m. in Gaylord Hall, Room 2500 and meet privately with faculty and staff at 3 p.m. He will then meet with students at 4 p.m. in Gaylord Room 1165.
Boettcher meets with the Board of Visitors on Wednesday morning, however, two members of the board told the Daily on Sunday evening they were unaware of a meeting and were unaware of Boettcher’s possible candidacy. A member of the board later told OU Daily at 9:30 p.m. that they had gotten confirmation Boettcher was a candidate.
After a meeting with the Board of Visitors, Boettcher meets with Harroz and Wright.
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.”
Harroz told OU Daily on Oct. 16 the university is still seeking to become a member of the Association of American Universities, an invitation-only association of leading research universities. He said achieving this status will factor into the decision-making process for Gaylord College’s next dean.
According to the organization, 69 American universities have membership. The most recent membership in 2023 was given to Arizona State University, University of South Florida, George Washington University, University of Miami, University of Notre Dame and University of California, Riverside.
ASU Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication’s dean holds a doctorate. University of South Florida’s director of graduate studies for journalism and digital communication holds a master’s degree and a veterinary degree. George Washington University’s director of its School of Media and Public Affairs holds a master’s degree. University of Miami’s dean of its school of communication holds a doctorate. University of Notre Dame’s director of its Journalism, Ethics and Democracy program holds a bachelor’s degree. University of California, Riverside does not have a journalism college, but reports to its College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences dean, who holds a doctorate.
To become a member, AAU has a set of indicators and assessments a university must achieve to be considered for membership. How faculty hiring factors into the decision is not laid out by AAU.
“We’re making really good progress toward being able to apply. We haven’t set a date to apply,” Harroz said. “We’re doing a strategic plan refresh this summer and fall, and a big part of that, or an important part that, will be are we on our path to being able to apply for (Association of American Universities) status.”
OU professor Mike Boettcher.
Mike Boettcher and Gaylord College
Ahead of his 70th birthday, Kelley announced in March 2023 that he would be stepping down from his role as dean, saying Gaylord College deserved younger leadership.
“Should Gaylord College — an institution devoted to serving the needs of a constantly changing, 24/7 media environment that soon will be dominated by Generation Z — be overseen by a white-haired dean who is 70 years old? I think not,” Kelley wrote in the letter announcing his departure from the university.
Boettcher, who is 69, attended OU around the same time as Kelley. While at OU, Boettcher was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon before leaving the university and starting his career in his hometown of Ponca City at WBBZ Radio, according to the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame.
According to Boettcher’s OU faculty page, he helped launch the era of 24-hour live news coverage in 1980 while working at CNN. Former Executive Vice President Ed Turner, who graduated from OU in 1957, hired Boettcher and many OU graduates. While working as a multimedia journalist, Boettcher investigated terrorist groups across the world. He won a Peabody, six national Emmys and a National Headliner award while working as the chief correspondent for CNN’s terrorism investigation unit, which he created in 2001, according to the biography sent out by Phelps.
Boettcher covered world conflict for NBC News and CNN, witnessing, investigating and being a victim of terrorism while working in El Salvador, Baghdad and Lebanon. He covered and investigated the Pan Am 103 flight crash in Lockerbie, Scotland, and the Oklahoma City bombing. He has investigated almost every Al Qaeda attack against American targets since 1998. He worked extensively in Iraq and Afghanistan, covering Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Desert Storm and the Kurdish refugee crisis. He later worked for ABC News.
Boettcher started his career at OU through guest lectures over satellite while working as a correspondent. He later shifted full time to teaching, overseeing some of Gaylord College’s broadcast and multimedia journalism classes, according to his LinkedIn, acting as an important conduit to connect students with industry professionals. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame in 2010. He holds a professorship position in Gaylord College.
In the fall, many Gaylord College faculty and staff expressed concern about the next dean possibly having extensive academic experience over professional journalism experience. They told two consultants from Greenwood Asher & Associates that they favored a candidate from a professional journalism space — which Boettcher would deliver in a manner few could rival — as Gaylord is one of the leading journalism schools in the country.
Gaylord College Interim Dean David Craig announced to faculty and staff Wednesday that the college has hired an external consultant to assess its workplace climate and conflict ahead of the hiring of its new dean.
The email, obtained by OU Daily, outlined that Craig has invited Moira Kelly, president of Kelly Consulting LLC and self-described “Dispute Doctor,” to survey Gaylord College’s workplace, including power imbalances, conflict, morale, climate perceptions and relationships.
Craig told OU Daily on Thursday that in preparation for accreditation, degree-granting institutions have to take inventory of its workplace and climate. Craig said he wanted to make Gaylord College a better place.
As of fall 2023, Gaylord College had 66 members of faculty and 108 staff members, according to data available through OU’s Institutional Research and Reporting website, which subsequently breaks it down by gender, male or female, and minority/IPEDS race.
Of the faculty, 15 are minorities and 30 are female. Of the staff, 30 are minorities and 65 are female.
Of the 17 tenured faculty, six are minorities and eight are female. There are six faculty members on a tenure track, with them evenly split by gender and minorities. Of the 11 faculty members on a renewable term, four are minorities and five are female. Of the 32 faculty who are not tenure-eligible, two are minorities and 14 are female.
Early questions in dean search
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 Phelps, includes Gaylord College Professor Robert Kerr, Associate Professor Doyle Yoon, Assistant Professor Erin Kökdil, Associate Professor 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, associate 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.
Edith Kinney Gaylord established the Inasmuch Foundation in 1982. The Gaylord family and foundation later donated to the university to establish Gaylord College as a degree-granting institution in 2001. Inasmuch Foundation has awarded Gaylord College 43 grants totaling over $13 million from 2003, as of spring 2021. Included in this, according to a Gaylord College Alumni Association newsletter, is the funding for the construction of both phases of Gaylord Hall and several programs within the college, such as the Gaylord in Washington program, which Boettcher helped create in 2018, the Oklahoma Institute for Diversity in Journalism and the Oklahoma Scholastic Media Initiative. Bob Ross, president and CEO of the Inasmuch Foundation, sits on the OU Board of Regents.
The OU Board of Regents approves all hires, including dean and leadership positions.
OU currently has five of its 15 Norman dean positions filled by interim leaders, with a sixth opening at the end of this academic year with the departure of College of Law Dean Katheleen Guzman.
André-Denis Wright, senior vice president and provost for OU, announced in February that OU’s Board of Regents will consider reorganizing University College, which oversees the first-year experience and is currently led by Acting Dean Ken Petersen. The reorganization would remove its status as a college and place it within the provost’s office as a new Academic Success Center. University College hasn’t had an official dean since 2022.
In addition to Gaylord, OU’s College of Law and Honors College have active dean searches under way.
Of the 16 currently listed deans for OU’s Norman campus, which still includes the University College dean, three are minorities and four are women, according to OU’s Institutional Research and Reporting website.
Wright met with Gaylord College faculty and staff in September to discuss the dean search. An OU Daily reporter attempted to attend the meeting but was turned away by the provost.
Wright told OU Daily after the meeting that while the search will have a decent level of confidentiality, meaning that the nominations and the candidates who applied will not be made public, the finalists would be made public ahead of their campus visits.
On Monday night, that process begins when Boettcher is set to meet with the chair of the search committee and two top leaders from the OU Foundation at a steakhouse in downtown Oklahoma City.
This story was edited by Anusha Fathepure, Ismael Lele and Peggy Dodd.
