OU announced its new vice president and chief human resources officer who will begin working in her position Aug. 30, pending the OU Board of Regents' approval.
Dorothy Anderson, the new vice president and chief human resources officer, began her career at Las Cruces Public Schools in New Mexico, where she served in multiple roles for over 16 years, according to an email from OU President Joseph Harroz. She is a member of the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources, Society for Human Resources Management and Society of Higher Education Human Resources Executives.
Anderson earned a Bachelor of Science in education and a Master of Arts in educational administration from New Mexico State University and has served at OU as its human resources director and interim assistant vice president for human resources, according to the email. Most recently, she served as the vice president for human resources at the University of New Mexico.
In these previous roles, Anderson helped develop university-wide compensation guidelines, redesigned performance evaluations for exempt and nonexempt staff, and completed a full employee-dependent audit that resulted in an estimated annual savings of over $250,000, according to the email.
As the vice president and chief human resources officer, Anderson will create and direct human resources strategies for a motivated, diverse, and effective workforce, according to the email. She will also “ensure the clarity, establishment and communication” of human resource processes and help enable faculty, staff, trainees, volunteers, and students to “do impactful work” across OU’s campuses and program locations.
Anderson was selected out of three finalists by a search committee made up of nine members, according to the email. The committee included individuals from the provost’s office, OU’s administration and finance departments, OU Health Human Resources, the Norman campus’ office of legal counsel, the OU Student Government Association, the department of biology, the Faculty Staff Senate, the College of Arts and Sciences, faculty from the Fran and Earl Ziegler College of Nursing and the College of Allied Health and OU-Tulsa.
Harroz thanked Nima Zecavati, the director of international faculty and staff services, Carrie Irwin, the employee relations associate director, Jeffery Cooper, the learning & development associate director and OU-Tulsa’s human resources interim manager Tandy Gourd, in his email for their leadership and service to OU’s Human Resources office during its transition period.
Harroz wrote that Anderson is an outstanding choice to lead OU’s Human Resource team.
“(She has) extensive knowledge and significant leadership experience in higher education human resources, as well as her demonstrated ability to communicate effectively and build strategic collaborations to achieve institutional goals.” Harroz wrote.
