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OU President James Gallogly speaks at a press conference Aug. 16. Gallogly plans on doubling OU’s research output.
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DOUBLING DOWN OU President James Gallogly sets goal to increase research despite apparent challenges
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espite optimism and interest from faculty and students, OU President James Gallogly’s goal of doubling OU’s research output would require monumental increases in federal funding, the likes of which OU has not seen in the recent decade. Though Gallogly has yet to release details of how he plans to accomplish increasing research, he said federal funding for research programs will be one benchmark used to determine the success of this goal. Gallogly pointed to Association of American Universities schools as an example of what OU could become with greater research output. AAU schools are “leading comprehensive research universities distinguished by the breadth and quality of their programs of research and graduate education,” according to the AAU website. AAU membership is by invitation only. “ We n e e d t o d o u b l e t h e amount of research that we’re doing today,” Gallogly said in a press conference Aug. 16. “That’s incredibly important because at this point in time, that’s about the only thing that keeps us from being an AAU-type institution.” Gallogly said this initiative is part of his strategy to promote the graduate student experience at OU and better serve faculty members who conduct research. However, OU falls well behind the pack of AAU schools when it
NICK HAZELRIGG • @NICKHAZELRIGG comes to funding for research. According to the AAU website, the University of Kansas, Iowa State and the University of Texas at Austin are the only schools in the Big 12 Conference in the AAU. Among the most notable members of the AAU are schools like Harvard, Yale and Brown. In total, there are 60 public and private U.S. universities in the association. Ac c o rd i ng to t h e U. S. D epar tment of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, OU’s research expenditures per full-time equivalent student were $5,000 in 2016. The average for an AAU institution was around $23,000 per full-time equivalent student in the same year. Additionally, 16 percent of OU’s expenditures in 2016 went to research, while the average AAU institution spent around 25 percent on research in the same year. The most recent public university accepted into the AAU, the Georgia Institute of Technology, increased its research expenditures per full-time equivalent student by 11 percent between 2011 and 2016. OU, on the other hand, has seen its spending remain roughly the same during those years. Despite the loftiness of this goal, Gallogly publicly voicing these aspirations has created a buzz among OU students and faculty who conduct research at
the university. Alisa Hicklin Fryar, director of professional programs for OU’s political science department, said OU has not had a broader discussion about research like this before — something she looks forward to. “As somebody who’s on faculty at OU, it’s exciting,” Fryar said. “I’ve been here for 12 years, and we’ve had a lot of opportunities to build in other areas, but we’ve not had an institutional-level discussion about this part of what we do. So it’s nice to get to have that and see what it looks like.”
“There’s no world in which you’ll always have enough money for research, and other institutions have been doing this for a very long time. So we’re going to be playing catch-up, and catch-up is expensive.” ALISA HICKLIN FRYAR, DIRECTOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSIONAL PROGRAMS
At the press conference where Gallogly laid out this strategy, the head of OU’s Faculty Senate, Megan Elwood Madden, said university faculty have continued to excel in research, sometimes
without recognition. She expressed support for the administration’s intentions regarding research. “Despite resources and few raises, OU’s faculty has continued to excel in their research and creative endeavors, a core and perhaps unrecognized component of the university’s mission,” Elwood Madden said. “The (Faculty Senate) executive committee has been meeting regularly since April with President Gallogly to discuss how we can improve diversity, equity and inclusion across campus, as well as how we bolster faculty scholarship.” Gallogly has pointed to and praised the expanded undergraduate programs built before his appointment to the presidency, but said it is time to promote the graduate student experience. This is a goal that will be, by nature, intertwined with his objective to double research. “We have a great undergraduate program here at OU — we’ve created a wonderful undergraduate experience,” Gallogly said. “It’s time to broaden that base and build out a more robust graduate program.” Along with the faculty, graduate students are intrigued but have been left waiting for details on how these ambitions will come to fruition. Carrie Pavlowsky, who serves as the chair of OU’s Graduate Student Senate, is a doctoral
student in the Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability. Pavlowsky said graduate students are enthusiastic about Gallogly’s intention. “I’m very excited about it. I want graduate students to be more of a focus. After all, we are a part of the University of Oklahoma, and I want us to be more connected,” Pavlowsky said. “I am also just kind of waiting for specifics. It’s easy to say ‘Let’s double research,’ but it’s harder in practice.” When it comes to specifics, Pavlowsky pointed to one area where the graduate student experience definitely could use some attention — cost. Pav l ow s ky s a i d w h i l e O U waives tuition costs for graduate research and teaching assistants, most schools also waive fees, something OU does not do for its graduate students. “Quite honestly, the biggest issues graduate students have are fees,” Pavlowsky said. “We lose a lot of really good graduate students because they simply can’t afford to be here.” Gallogly said a main reason he wants to revitalize the graduate program at OU is because OU can recruit strong undergraduate students to campus but can’t convince them to stay for their graduate work. Gallogly also said convincing graduate students to stay in Oklahoma benefits See RESEARCH page 2
Gallogly denies Project Threshold shutdown OU president plans to seek funding source for beloved program ANNA BAUMAN @annabauman2
Among a group of concerned community members gathered late Friday, OU President James Gallogly denied rumors that OU’s Project Threshold program will shut down. A crowd of around 100 convened at 9 p.m. in the Jim Thorpe
Multicultural Center in response to rumors circulating on Twitter and other social media platforms that the TRiO program devoted to serving a combination of first-generation, economically disadvantaged and disabled students would be removed from campus within a month. Gallogly denied the rumors and said the administration will find funding to continue the program. He said he is unsure where the rumor started, as he has been involved in no discussions about ending the program.
“I understand why you’re worried about this,” Gallogly said before the crowded room. “But I’m going to tell you very, very clearly: There has been no decision to shut down TRiO.” Funding for the program will run out in September or October, Gallogly said, because the organization did not receive federal grant money it applied for. The OU administration will now discuss potential funding sources that will sustain the program after current funds run out. “I’m saying we will do this,”
Gallogly said. “Which account (the funding) comes out of is just an administrative detail.” In September 2016, OU agreed to bridge fund the program after it lost federal funding. Repres entatives from the Student Government Association, including SGA President Yaseen Shurbaji, OU’s Faculty Senate, Project Threshold participants, OU alumni and others attended the meeting. Students, some distraught and in tears, expressed the importance of the program to their
OU experience. The program is aimed at increasing the retention and graduation rates of its participants, according to its website. “ Yo u k n o w w h a t P r o j e c t Threshold did for me?” one student said at the meeting. “It gave me a home. It opened so many doors, welcomed me with open arms.” “When I got involved in t h e c o m m u n i t y (o f P ro j e c t Threshold), that’s why I stayed at See THRESHOLD page 2