Email
PrintLunch With - Oklahoma State University-Tulsa president
Howard Barnett
Time: Noon
Date: Oct. 22
Place: Subway, OSU-Tulsa campus
Howard Barnett is clearly a well-known Tulsa face, but the day we do lunch at the campus deli, he is new in his role as Oklahoma State University-Tulsa’s president and can still enjoy some anonymity. It won’t last long.
After spending time learning the campus and getting to know the faculty, it’s clear he’s going to be out there everywhere in Tulsa pressing the case for new programs and funding.
Although not a professional educator, Barnett brings other knowledge to the job. His past posts — including chief of staff to former Gov. Frank Keating, Oklahoma secretary of commerce, Tulsa Metro Chamber chairman and managing director of TSF Capital — have grounded him in business and political matters. His volunteerism with nonprofits has made him a confident fund-raiser.
“There’s no real skill set involved, just a willingness to do it,” he tells me between bites of a jalapeño-covered pizza. “I understand people that don’t want to ask their friends for money, but I don’t understand people that won’t even introduce their friends to me to ask them for money.
“If you believe in the cause, it’s a lot easier.”
Indeed, he’s committed to increasing scholarship funds for OSU-Tulsa.
“We have the lowest tuition fees in the Big 12, but that still doesn’t mean it’s cheap,” he says. “There are still people who cannot afford to go but who are perfectly capable of doing college work.”
He says that identifying these potential students and “whatever it might be that is keeping them from showing up on campus” is critical.
He also wants to grow programs, faculty and student numbers, although when we talked, he wasn’t ready to say how.
“I have met with all the deans in Stillwater and senior administrators,” he says. “My request to them is to help me think strategically.”
Particularly, what could OSU-Tulsa do differently or better that speaks to students in an urban environment? Barnett admits there are “obstacles and issues,” including non-duplication of programs with Langston University and changing people’s perceptions about safety at the near-north location.
“I am really looking forward to the ballpark opening because that’s going to get a lot of people down here … it’s going to go an awfully long way in opening this whole area up,” he says.
Barnett comes by these thoughts via former OSU President Jim Halligan, whom he met when he was Chamber chairman in the mid-’90s. In fact, when I ask him what made him apply for the job, he tells me that decade-old relationship was the inspiration.
“Jim had a grand vision of what this university could be,” he says. “It may have been a little too grand, but it was grand. And I think there is still great opportunity … I don’t think OSU-Tulsa has near reached its potential, and I think with my community ties, I can bring to this job a perspective that will help us achieve that original vision, serving the needs of the Tulsa community, both the business community and the student body.”
