Edmond Life and Leisure - December 12, 2024

Rose State president announces plans to step down from position

By Murray Evans Oklahoman.com

Rose State College President Jeanie Webb, the second-longest serving active president in Oklahoma higher education, has announced she will retire in July.

Webb, the first female president of Rose State, took office in July 2013. Among active Oklahoma college and university presidents, only Oral Roberts University President William Wilson, who started at ORU a month before Webb began at Rose State, has served longer.

During her tenure, Midwest Citybased Rose State built a new Student Union building, giving a school often thought of as a commuter college a hub for campus life. She oversaw the approval of a bachelor’s degree in applied technology in cybersecurity, making Rose State one of the few community colleges in Oklahoma to offer a four-year degree.

Earlier this year, Rose State became one of only three institutions in Oklahoma — and the only community college — to offer a degree program in artificial intelligence and machine learning.

According to the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, Rose State in Midwest City had an enrollment of about 6,800 students in fall 2023, making it the state’s thirdlargest community college, behind Tulsa Community College and Oklahoma City Community College.

Webb said in a statement that serving students during her 43-year career in higher education has been an honor.

“As I focus on completing key projects, I am looking forward to spending more time with my family,” she said. “I am profoundly grateful for the privilege of serving as president of this remarkable college.”

During Webb’s tenure as president, Rose State secured $22 million in grants and fundraising for campus enhancements, including a $900,000 U.S. Economic Development Administration grant and a landmark $1.3 million donation to the college’s Tanenbaum Aerospace and Cybersecurity Center.

Her recent efforts also brought in $9.4 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds, which Rose State used to help bolster its nursing program.Greg Smith, the chairman of the Rose State Board of Regents, said Webb worked to grow educational access and quality for students.

“Her leadership has strengthened Rose State as a resilient, forwardthinking institution, and I am confident that the momentum of excellence and Rose State’s reputation of agility for serving workforce development needs will continue as part of her wonderful legacy,” Smith said in a statement.

Rose State said it plans to conduct a “comprehensive” search for Webb’s successor.Before arriving at Rose State, Jeanie Webb held various faculty and administrative roles at Northeastern State and eventually became the dean of the NSU-Muskogee campus and the dean of the former NSU University Center in Tulsa.

Webb began working at Rose State as the associate vice president of external affairs in 1998. By 2000, she was the college’s vice president for student affairs.

Webb’s husband, Roger Webb, also served as a college president, first at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah and later at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond, from which he retired in 2011 after 14 years at the helm.